Perusing Paris - Day 2

The next morning, Justine and I headed to the airport to pick our third musketeer, Alexandra. It was quite the ordeal but once we found her, we were ready for the adventures to begin…or were we. We returned to Justine’s all a little exhausted and Alex was in need of some rest. So it was off to bed for Alex and off to caffeinate at Starbucks for Justine and I. We found a little window seat that was just perfect to people watch, surf the net for job postings and study a little German. An hour and two Grandes later, we went back to check up on Alex who was still fast asleep, eye mask intact. I decided to go exploring on my own while Justine got a little work done and Alex caught a few more hours of beauty sleep. The flight to Europe is a killer!

So off I went with Justine’s discrete little black road map book, my camera and my Paris soundtrack playing through my ear buds. First stop was walking through the narrow streets of the market. It was a lot like in Germany with the exception of fish markets, fromageries and an abundance of scarves. I love scarves! I stopped at almost every store, tried on a few items, checked the prices and put them back. Europe on a budget… I ate a granola bar and an orange that I brought along from Fritzlar for lunch after 2 hours of “just browsing”. Then it was off to some tourist hotpots: Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens and my first sighting of the Eiffel Tower through a thin fog. Yes, I had fallen in love with Paris.

Back at Justine’s, Alex was repacking to head out to find our hotel – Best Western’s Montcalm. It was nothing to talk about but the price was right. After taking Justine’s Metro 101 class, she was confident enough to leave us on our own to meet up later that evening. So the unpacking, showering, primping and beautifying began. Two hours later, Alex and I were on the metro- destination Galerie LaFayette. We met up with Justine, shared a chocolate crepe for supper. We posed in front of The Opera House and on Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge across La Seine in Paris. (You can see the Eiffel Tower lit up in the background) before we ended up at a little restaurant where we shared a bottle of wine and patates frites. We made the metro just in time to get back to the hotel and catch some ZZZZ before our next busy day.