What I Learned Today

Guys! I made it to Paris! But just barely (see #1 below)! The flight was really long and the weather is pretty crappy and umm, I don’t speak French, but it’s still pretty great. I got in at around 8am, went to the train station at the airport to reserve my train for tomorrow (to Agde), jumped on the Metro, and by the time I got to my hotel it was 11. I was SO glad that they had a room ready so I could drop my bags and shower before heading out for a cafe and charcuterie plate. There was this crazy ladder/elevator thing outside my hotel when I got there that they were using to move mattresses from the street to higher floors. Turns out – they were replacing all of the mattresses in the hotel today. When I got back from lunch, I desperately needed a nap. They had replaced my mattress while I was out, but the sheets were on the floor. I didn’t care, so I just made up the bed myself and hopped right in. After I woke up, I went on a really long walk to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and wandering around neighborhoods. I got back around 6:15 and was hoping to catch a quick dinner so I could get to bed early, but none of the restaurants are open until 7pm. So I hung out in the lobby of the hotel until then to avoid falling asleep in my room. So that’s what I did today. Here’s what I learned:

You can’t travel within three months of your passport expiring. This is only my fourth time abroad, so I had no way of knowing that this could present an issue when I got to the airport. My return flight is 3 months to the day from my passport expiration date. I was sweating at the ticketing counter for about 15 minutes until I realized that the agent actually just couldn’t do math (she was worried if the rule was 90 days and some of the months had more than 30 days…).
Parisians hate escalators. They must. I only carried my heavily packed carry-on up and down about 40 flights of stairs while changing trains at various metro stations. I am all about getting my work-out in, especially after 12 hours of flying, but this was a little extreme even for me! And I was so tired. SO tired.
There are a lot of dogs in Paris. Most of them are small, and many are off-leash. One of them, a golden retriever named Samba, lives in my hotel. He is great.
I can easily be identified as an American. Is it the neon yellow rain jacket that I had to put on for my walk to la tour Eiffel, or the look of panic on my face when someone starts speaking French to me?
There is a boulangerie, charcuterie, and cafe (not Starbucks) on every corner. I fully support this.
I’m going to need more lactaid. There has been cheese and/or heavy cream in every meal I’ve had today. And it has been delicieuse.