Welcome to Paris!

I was stuck in NYC for two days, and I am thankful to have had a comfortable place to stay. The sun woke me up both mornings at 6:30AM. Its fiery beams spanned across the morning sky, reflecting off the windows of the surrounding buildings. I don’t do it justice with my description, but it really was beautiful (look at the pic). My days weren’t too interesting, but they were definitely relaxing. I started the day off by getting a coffee from the coffee shop around the corner from the apartment, and then I walked along the Hudson River to the Pier. My favorite thing to do in New York is to wake up early and go for a good walk before the city wakes up. The air is crisp, the city is still, and you notice sounds that you could never hear during the day. The rest of the day I spent reading and watching movies in the apartment – like I said, not very interesting. Tuesday afternoon quickly rolled around and before I knew it, I was off to the airport again - this time in a taxi. Sixty-seven hours since I first took off from Vancouver, and I’m happy to say that it was smooth sailing from there…

It had just gone past noon and I finally made it to Paris! Mark greeted me at the exit gates of CDG and I can still feel the sense of relief that came over me when I saw his face. “I’m finally here!” were the words that kept populating my thoughts. We took the train into the city and then had a twenty-minute walk along the Seine River to his apartment. He pointed out all the well-known sites and areas as we walked past, including Notre Dame Cathedral, la Bastille, the Latin Quarter, Shakespeare & Co bookstore, etc. As I relished in the beauty of everything, we arrived at his apartment on Boulevard Henri VI. At this moment, I realized the advantage of packing light – something that I am to this day incapable of. We tugged, dragged and jerked and my heavy bags up six steep, narrow flights of stairs. Maybe next time I’ll know better – then again, probably not.
Once settled in, Mark and I went to get my first meal in Paris. I had the pumpkin soup with a side glass of white wine. At $3/glass, how could you not? To end the day off, we went to see Harry Potter at the local theater. I think we were both quite disappointed with it, so we grabbed a slice of pizza and headed home for the night. All in all, a great Day 1 in Paris!

xoxo
- Alexis