Very, Very, Very Long Travel and Sightseeing Day
Well, here we go with the first post about this trip. This is a kind of long one sooooo just warning you haha.
Greg and my mom drove us to the airport which was uneventful. For some reason, I kept thinking this trip was a long ways away, even when it wasn't so it was surreal to finally be getting to the airport to start the traveling.
Our first flight was to Charlotte, North Carolina. The flight was fine but of course, the guy in front of me put his seat back. Also, my headphone jack didn't really work (I had to push the headphone connection or I wouldn't get sound). There was one really big set of turbulence.
Our second flight to Paris was pretty bumpy for the first couple of hours. It was definitely the worst turbulence either of us remembers. An older lady across the aisle didn't know how to work her tv which provided us a little bit of entertainment. I watched Marvel movies and Lacey watched Disney movies. I was very impressed with the movie selection, which came in handy because neither of us slept. Food was okay, and our dinner had weird mashed potato pellet things.
We got to Charles De Gaulle airport and had one of the longest passport check lines ever. We got lucky and they moved us to a shorter line area thankfully. We got our bags and walked past a store selling pre-paid cell phone service. It seemed kind of expensive so we skipped it (which we really should have just done that, more on this later). Then we walked around the airport looking for other cell phone service stores but couldn't find any. Finally, we just decided to get on the train to the city center. The workers selling tickets said we could ride the train for free to Gare Du Nord and then buy a much less expensive ticket to our final destination so we didn't get a ticket for our first train ride.
Here's where the problems started. We got to Gare du Nord after they told us it was a free train ride. But every single exit we found for the train station required a ticket. We walked around and around and around trying to find an information desk or a ticket window to buy our next ticket. We both got frustrated and eventually asked a random worker. They pointed us upstairs (where we hadn't checked yet). Of course, this worked haha. We bought our super cheap train ticket and moved on.
Now that we were in the city center, we went to Les Halles which is a decently sized shopping mall. We walked around (more walking with our big and small backpacks) looking for a cell store. We found a store but they were sold out of sim cards which stunk. To complete the initial journey, we finally finally finally dropped off our big bags at a small hotel using an app called "Nannybag". Nannybag lets you set up a time and place to drop off luggage for a fee. We needed to do this because we had about 3 hours before we could check into our Airbnb.
Altogether, from when we stepped off the airplane in Paris to when we finally dropped off our big bags, we had walked about 4 miles looking for sim cards, getting lost, freaking out about being trapped in a train station, and walking to places. We were in rough shape haha.
We didn't really have a plan for this morning so I decided to have us walk to Notre Dame. On the way there, we walked on Pont Neuf which is a beautiful, famous bridge. Notre Dame first started to be built around 1250 which makes it all the crazier how gorgeous and awesome it is. We walked around the inside (which was free). Next, we needed food so we walked around looking for lunch for a while and decided to have some quick sandwiches. Our last tourist destination of the morning was seeing the outside of the Louvre. The modern pyramid entrance to the Louvre is so cool compared to the older style mansion of the museum itself. The Louvre has over 380,000 pieces of art and we were very, very tired so we didn't go in.
We got our bags and took the subway to our Airbnb. The Airbnb is in the Eastern part of the city called Bastille. It's nice but SUPER small and on the 6th floor (luckily there is a super small elevator). We are watching her cat while we stay here which we don't mind. The apartment is 2 floors. The main floor of the apartment is super tiny with a kitchen and bathroom and there is a steep stair up to the bed. Just like one of our hostels in Thailand, the shower and toilet are in the same very small room. We were absolutely exhausted after not sleeping all night and walking over 6 miles total already so we napped for about 3 hours.
We made ourselves get up and go out again. There's a cell phone shop about 7 mins walk from our place so we went there to get cell phone sim cards. The problem (of course there was a problem) was that we needed our passports. So we ran, literally, back to our place and grabbed our passports to finally have cell service. The sim cards we got will work here in Paris and in Portugal later.
Then we walked about 25 mins through the Marais neighborhood and got falafel sandwiches for dinner. The walkthrough Marais was gorgeous and quiet and both Lacey and I really loved it. The falafel shop we went to was called L'as Du Falafel. It has been open for over 40 years and is pretty famous. We both got vegetarian falafel pitas filled with falafels and veggies. Good stuff!!
Lastly, we walked another mile or two back to our Airbnb neighborhood and got the best gelato. I got chocolately type flavors and Lacey got mandarin and Raspberry. Mine was good, hers was excellent. They arrange the gelato in a flower pattern which was super cool.
Today was a looooooooong day. For us, Wednesday and Thursday were one long big day. There were trials and tribulations with our backpacks and cell phones. But, at the end of the day, we were all set up for the rest of our time here in Paris.
Big day tomorrow including Saint Chapelle church, Orsay Museum, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triompe, and Eiffel Tower.
Au Revoir!
Greg and my mom drove us to the airport which was uneventful. For some reason, I kept thinking this trip was a long ways away, even when it wasn't so it was surreal to finally be getting to the airport to start the traveling.
 |
| Ready to go! |
Our first flight was to Charlotte, North Carolina. The flight was fine but of course, the guy in front of me put his seat back. Also, my headphone jack didn't really work (I had to push the headphone connection or I wouldn't get sound). There was one really big set of turbulence.
Our second flight to Paris was pretty bumpy for the first couple of hours. It was definitely the worst turbulence either of us remembers. An older lady across the aisle didn't know how to work her tv which provided us a little bit of entertainment. I watched Marvel movies and Lacey watched Disney movies. I was very impressed with the movie selection, which came in handy because neither of us slept. Food was okay, and our dinner had weird mashed potato pellet things.
 |
| Airplane food |
We got to Charles De Gaulle airport and had one of the longest passport check lines ever. We got lucky and they moved us to a shorter line area thankfully. We got our bags and walked past a store selling pre-paid cell phone service. It seemed kind of expensive so we skipped it (which we really should have just done that, more on this later). Then we walked around the airport looking for other cell phone service stores but couldn't find any. Finally, we just decided to get on the train to the city center. The workers selling tickets said we could ride the train for free to Gare Du Nord and then buy a much less expensive ticket to our final destination so we didn't get a ticket for our first train ride.
 |
| Notre Dame |
Here's where the problems started. We got to Gare du Nord after they told us it was a free train ride. But every single exit we found for the train station required a ticket. We walked around and around and around trying to find an information desk or a ticket window to buy our next ticket. We both got frustrated and eventually asked a random worker. They pointed us upstairs (where we hadn't checked yet). Of course, this worked haha. We bought our super cheap train ticket and moved on.
Now that we were in the city center, we went to Les Halles which is a decently sized shopping mall. We walked around (more walking with our big and small backpacks) looking for a cell store. We found a store but they were sold out of sim cards which stunk. To complete the initial journey, we finally finally finally dropped off our big bags at a small hotel using an app called "Nannybag". Nannybag lets you set up a time and place to drop off luggage for a fee. We needed to do this because we had about 3 hours before we could check into our Airbnb.
 |
| The cat we are watching (his name is Jackie) |
Altogether, from when we stepped off the airplane in Paris to when we finally dropped off our big bags, we had walked about 4 miles looking for sim cards, getting lost, freaking out about being trapped in a train station, and walking to places. We were in rough shape haha.
 |
| Outside the entrance to the Louvre |
We didn't really have a plan for this morning so I decided to have us walk to Notre Dame. On the way there, we walked on Pont Neuf which is a beautiful, famous bridge. Notre Dame first started to be built around 1250 which makes it all the crazier how gorgeous and awesome it is. We walked around the inside (which was free). Next, we needed food so we walked around looking for lunch for a while and decided to have some quick sandwiches. Our last tourist destination of the morning was seeing the outside of the Louvre. The modern pyramid entrance to the Louvre is so cool compared to the older style mansion of the museum itself. The Louvre has over 380,000 pieces of art and we were very, very tired so we didn't go in.
 |
| The Marais neighborhood |
We got our bags and took the subway to our Airbnb. The Airbnb is in the Eastern part of the city called Bastille. It's nice but SUPER small and on the 6th floor (luckily there is a super small elevator). We are watching her cat while we stay here which we don't mind. The apartment is 2 floors. The main floor of the apartment is super tiny with a kitchen and bathroom and there is a steep stair up to the bed. Just like one of our hostels in Thailand, the shower and toilet are in the same very small room. We were absolutely exhausted after not sleeping all night and walking over 6 miles total already so we napped for about 3 hours.
We made ourselves get up and go out again. There's a cell phone shop about 7 mins walk from our place so we went there to get cell phone sim cards. The problem (of course there was a problem) was that we needed our passports. So we ran, literally, back to our place and grabbed our passports to finally have cell service. The sim cards we got will work here in Paris and in Portugal later.
 |
| Delicious, delicious falafel |
Then we walked about 25 mins through the Marais neighborhood and got falafel sandwiches for dinner. The walkthrough Marais was gorgeous and quiet and both Lacey and I really loved it. The falafel shop we went to was called L'as Du Falafel. It has been open for over 40 years and is pretty famous. We both got vegetarian falafel pitas filled with falafels and veggies. Good stuff!!
Lastly, we walked another mile or two back to our Airbnb neighborhood and got the best gelato. I got chocolately type flavors and Lacey got mandarin and Raspberry. Mine was good, hers was excellent. They arrange the gelato in a flower pattern which was super cool.
Today was a looooooooong day. For us, Wednesday and Thursday were one long big day. There were trials and tribulations with our backpacks and cell phones. But, at the end of the day, we were all set up for the rest of our time here in Paris.
Big day tomorrow including Saint Chapelle church, Orsay Museum, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triompe, and Eiffel Tower.
Au Revoir!
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