After passing out for most of the flight to London, we went through a little food area and bought lunch before making it over to the gate to leave for Paris. I slept the whole way to Paris. The full 50 minutes. We got our bags and walked to the metro area.
We found the train we needed and went to the ticket machine to buy our tickets. It was 9.20 euro for each ticket. Interestingly enough, the money had to be in change, no bills. We can a combined total of 2.40 euros, Mike portion being 2.40, mine being 0. The change machine didn’t work and all the surrounding shops certainly didn’t want all their change gone so after thirty minutes of walking around, Mike went into a hotel and got some change. I don’t know what he did to convince the person to give change, but with a broad smile he returned with several euro coins.
It was easy enough to get to the metro stop but hard to find the street we were staying on. I went up to ask a guy if he could help us and he just completely ignored me. His girlfriend looked at him in a very suspicious way and stopped to help us. The man eventually came back and apologized because he thought I was selling something. I was carrying two bags and clearly looked like a tourist. Anyway, they were both really nice and walked us all the way to the apartment.
We took the elevator made for one up to the floor and knocked on the door. I heard Katie and Laura on the other side of the door but much of the excitement went away as it took forever for them to open the door. Actually, it wasn’t so bad. I am exaggerating. After two and a half years, we finally met.
We stayed around in the area that night going to the store and buying dinner and just catching up more or less. They had arrived only three hours before us so they were tired as well. We all went to bed early.
Day 2
We got up pretty early the next day. I went online to see how much it would be to rent a car because Mike wanted to go to Normandy and getting a bus, etc. would be a huge hassle. I found a car and we made a reservation for the following day. Soon thereafter we headed out the door.
Katie made breakfast…
The weather wasn’t the greatest but we had to go out. We went to the Notre Dame and walked around the surrounding area then headed to the Musee d’orsay. The line was super long so we went to a small restaurant to eat lunch. I don’t have a clue what I got but it resembled an inside out grilled cheese with an uncooked egg on top. Afterwards we bit the bullet and got in line for the Musse d’orsay. The line was super fast and thankfully so as the second we got under the overhang, the heavens opened and water doused everywhere.
The museum was great. It was not like the Louvre. The Louvre is too big and can be very overwhelming. The d’Orsay was really nice because it was manageable and had a lot of great paintings in there including Renoir, Monet, Manet, and Van Gogh. Really like Van Gogh and it was really nice seeing those paintings.
The weather got a bit better so we took a stroll down the Avenue des Champs to the Arc de Triomphe. There we saw some kind of ceremony. Looked like some kind of veterans day thing but we weren’t really sure. More or less got bored with it an left.
After being out the whole day, we were ready to come home. We bought some wine, cheese, spread, and cuts of meat and had that for dinner.
Day 3
I think what surprises me more than anything is how nice people are here. Everyone says “Pardon” if they even barely graze you. Always a thank you, and a smile especially if you try and speak French. France has been great.
So, after waking up super early, we headed over by metro to the AVIS car rental place. Forty five minues later, we were on the road.
Mind you that the last time I drove on a highway or in any kind of traffic was before I went to Peace Corps 26 months prior. It was a bit overwhelming for me to get back behind the wheel of a car, during rush hour, in the middle of Paris and drive us out of the city. Later on, it really caught up as when we were driving back, I was just exhausted. We drove for 4 hours to Caen, went to the tourist office to find out we hadn’t gone enough, drove another hour to Omaha beach and finally could relax, for the time being.
Walking from the parking lot and looking over the beach, it was just beautiful and peaceful. Hard to believe that close to 65 years ago this was not the scene here. Nothing really hit me until we got to the cemetery.
You can’t help but get emotional as you walk through row after row of white crosses and stars in perfect unison as far as the eye can see next to where the fighting had occurred. Basically kids, younger than I am, coming all the way across the ocean to fight, dying in battle. The ones that were really hard to see were the ones labeled “Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God.” Really inspiring.
After walking around for 45 minutes, we got back in the car and drove straight to Paris so return the car by 7:00pm. With 15 minutes to spare, we got back. I didn’t think we had time so I dropped it off half empty but then the man said he would have to charge me service fees and two euro per liter. I asked if I could take the car and drop it off again. He said he would wait so I drove the car to a local gas station and filled it up.
Basically again, we got back to the apartment and passed out after a short while of hanging out.
Was it worth the time we took to drive to Normandy? Yes, absolutely. Sure it would have been nice to take more time there but the eight hours of driving was certainly worth the 45 minutes we spent there. Also, it allowed me to use a rental car to relearn how to drive and the best way to get into things is to just be thrown in there. I don’t know if there is a better way than to be thrown into Paris traffic…
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment