You know those trips or projects that just seem to be plagued with bad luck from the start? The ones that make you question whether or not they will ever ACTUALLY happen?
Yea, that was our France trip.
While it started out all sunshine and rainbows by scoring a great deal on airfare, I ended up spending more time working damage control over the next six months than I ever could have anticipated.
I'm talking corrupted tickets, missing seats on planes, cancelled flights, rude customer service agents, and a whole lot of BS. Seriously, I'm pretty sure it got to the point where I was speaking with customer service agents from Expedia and Air France more often than my own husband. Maxing out my desperation level, I'd even gotten to the point where I was arguing with customer service agents in public places (sincerest apologies to the poor souls who had to overhear those conversations). My personal favorite happened while running on the treadmill at the gym. I ripped into an Expedia agent who had lied to me and said we would have to cancel our trip because there had been a mistake there were no available flight options for us (mind you, this was merely weeks before we were scheduled to leave).
Amidst all the drama, May somehow rolled around, and my sister and I miraculously made it from Denver to Paris sans disaster (just one extra layover….its been a year, and I'm still bitter about that one).
So after 13 hours of travel and little sleep, we stumbled out of Orly airport jumped on the T7 tram and were on our way to our Airbnb. (For those of you who are planning a trip to Paris, I highly recommend you check out Paris by Train. They have so much great information on public transit in Paris as well as the best ways to get to and from the airport).
While in Paris, you'll frequently hear people referring to the arrondissement or neighborhood they are in. You see, Paris is sectioned off into 20 different arrondissements with the lower numbers representing the heart of the city. Our cozy Airbnb was nestled in the center of the Latin Quarter or the 5th arrondissement.
We found such a steal on our Airbnb! Tucked away off of Boulevard Arago and merely steps from the infamous Rue Mouffetard, our cozy studio apartment with a lofted bedroom rang in just under $80 a night. Seriously!
Not only did we have plenty of space for two people, but we were also super close to a handful of metro stops, within walking distance of Notre Dame and the Catacombs, and were even across the street from the remnants of the 13th century Couvent des Cordelières.
However, like most buildings in Paris, there was no elevator and no air-conditioning. I'd like to think those 6 flights of stairs helped even out all the pastries we'd demolished throughout the day.
After a quick change of clothes, we were ready to do some exploring and ventured out to see Notre Dame. Not long after, our jet lag hit us HARD. We were hungry, tired, and a bit delusional. Thank goodness we found pizza nearby!
We fueled up and made it back home just before the storm hit. From my first trip to France, I knew that early May entailed frequent rain showers, but I never anticipated such ominous, scary weather to welcome us. I'm talking HUGE, DARK BLACK clouds, violent gusts of wind and torrential amounts of rain. Que Google searches for the likelihood of Tornadoes in France! (FYI, this is still an unsolved mystery. Does anyone know if France has tornadoes?)
Taking that as our cue to stay in for the evening, we curled up and enjoyed some Spanish bull fighting on TV (with some really witty commentary on our end if I don't say) before nodding off.
Danielle
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