We flew IcelandAir, which meant we were going to get to go to (wait for it) Iceland (shocking right?). IcelandAir is very kid friendly.
. IcelandAir was pretty good. They have touch screen monitors in the backs of all the head rests and you can choose from about 20 different movies, shows, documentaries (about Iceland) or see about 10 different views of the progress of the flight. Of course little to no leg room. Jeff has legs that go "up to there", and I am not short, so it was still uncomfortable for the 3 and a half hour flight. The flight attendant brought Kendra "head ears" and a meal of little hot dog things, over peppered mashed potatoes (I think they were mashed potatoes), pretzels and chocolate.They even brought Kendra a postcard to color and promised to "post" it for her. So she colored it and told herself what a wonderful time she was having in Paris and wished she was there, and addressed it to herself. Jeff and I got a drink.
With the time zone changes, I actually watched the sun rise as we arrived in Reykjavik. Passed through customs and visited the food court. As I looked around the food court, and it was 6:45am Iceland time, every table but ours had a glass of some type of alcoholic drink (wine, beer).Tax free or not IT WASN'T EVEN 7AM (I guess it was 5pm somewhere, right?).
On the flight to Paris I watched The Kings Speech. Enjoyed it, and slept a little on the rest of the 5 and a half hour flight to Paris.
Arrived at CDG, gathered the luggage and headed by taxi to our hotel in Paris. Taxi ride was 38 Euro, ("oh, my card reader doesn't work") more than half of the amount of cash that I had been recommended to bring with us. Tipped 2 Euro (Jeff was not convinced that you don't tip more than a Euro).
Day 1 Saturday April 16
Arrived at Hotel Scribe in the Opera Neighborhood. Headed up to our room on the 6th floor, and threw open the windows to our view.
Not too shabby right? That is the Opera Garnier right there with the green roof. Yes, doesn't it figure, a whole side of it is covered with scafolding and temporary walls. See that sky-how exciting, what a beautiful day. Quick showers for all of us and off to find our way.
We decided to get a little bite to eat and found a small shop with baked goods and sandwiches. I had a "Flan Pie" (YUM) Jeff and Kendra had beignets (sugar donuts). We also bought a chocolate croissant, but put that away until later. Of course, this place didn't take cards either(it was getting to be a trend) so that was another 7 Euro or so. I had only brought 70 with us so we were running out quickly.
We walked toward the Concord, which is a long park of trees, paths and flowers. At the other end I learned later was the Louvre. We crossed the Seine over the Pont des Arts bridge.
When I got home I found this story about the padlocks and what they meant. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7720365/Love-padlocks-vanish-from-Paris-bridge.html
Then we went over to the Esplanade. We enjoyed watching some guys play Frisbee, and some roller skaters. We also saw a group lawn bowling.
We could see the Grand Palais, and the bridge leading over to it. Pretty Grand.
Now, we weren't going to go very far our first day, since we had not had much sleep. Jeff kept saying "Let's just go right over here. Just a little further. Oh, you've got to see what is right around this corner". But we made it there. And it is huge.
We walked further to the Tower, and there were huge crowds. And there were guys everywhere selling all different sizes and colors of Eiffel Towers. You could even get one that lit up. Or even a little helicopter thing to shoot into the air with lights on it. Of course you could buy "fresh wine" (do I want "fresh wine"?) or Heineken from these guys. But when the police came by (and always in groups) the guys selling ran.
We walked across the Seine to the Trocadero. It was really crowded over there.
Even more guys selling trinkets, hats, beer, wine, water, little walking toys. But, there were free bathrooms, and they weren't too bad (even though they were co-ed).
We decided it was time to head back to the hotel so we pulled out the map to find the closest Metro stop. Now, later in the week, we found the stop right on the other side of the Trocadero, but we didn't walk that direction and start walking downhill to find a Metro. Once we found one we would try to buy our 5 day, 3 zone pass that would take ust just about anywhere we wanted to go all week (except Disneyland and Versailles).
The first station we found wouldn't take our card. WHAT! It didnt have a PLUS symbol on it and they wouldn't take it. The lady at the ticket counter was helpful but there was nothing she could do. She told us which station to go to use our card and we walked a little more. We were successful at the second station. The ticket booth person tried to convince us to just get a one trip ticket since it was 7pm and would be a waste to incude it in 5 day pass. We didn't care. We were tired and just wanted to get back. And who knew if the next day we wouldn't be able to find a station that took our card. We bought our 5 days pass, and went back to the hotel.
I asked the hotel concierge for a recommendation for a restaurant that was good and kid friendly. We didn't want burgers and chips, though. She made a phone call and got us in a restaurant a few blocks away, Royal Madeleine.
Jeff ordered Chateaubriand, I ordered lamb and we ordered chicken and noodles for Kendra. We told the waiter "no sauce" and that was very confusing for him. "What, no sauce, it will be very dry." (Yeah, that was kindof the idea) Jeff enjoyed what he had, Kendra and I switched plates and were fine. I guess the "no sauce" was confusing because there was sauce, and it was very good, but Kendra liked mine better so that worked out. I ordered Crepe Suzette for dessert. They made it at the table and the crepes were drowning in lots of brown sugar and GrandMarnier. It was the sweetest thing I have ever tasted, pretty much inedible. We also ordered the cheese plate. Which meant they brought a plate, and the cheese cart and asked us what we wanted. Then they brought a huge candy bowl and put it in front of Kendra and she took a few pieces.
The bill came, and I asked the waiter "is the tip included?" (which I had read that it always was), and he said "No". So we left a 15-20% tip. Well that guy had a pretty good night because the receipt that I didn't see until after I signed the card slip said "service compris" (tip included). Shoot. Dinner took about 3 hours so it was after midnight by the time we got back to our room.
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