Paris Day 1

I wanted so much to focus on the content and experience of the conference I left out the sightseeing and Parisian life I managed to soak up in the intervening hours. I arrived on Sunday morning into Charles De Gaulle airport. It’s a very very long walk from the cool round terminal 2A where Gate 39 is, to the RER train to Paris. A very very long walk…and the escalator was broken. But I’m so excited to make my way to the hotel and try to squeeze in some site or a walk on one of my completely free days I just focus on following the Metro map and heading to Rue Cambronne and the Ibis Hotel.

After a quick fitful nap and I head for the Eiffel Tower, an easy walk from my hotel. The Parc du Champ de Mars which runs up from the Ecole Militare to the Tower reminds me of Central Park in NYC. It’s Sunday so the shops and many restaurants I pass on my way there are closed but the park is full of families, friends, kids, sweethearts and visitors, relaxing, eating, playing, walking and enjoying the beautiful warm clear day. I get a crepe with sucre and citron, made fresh on the spot and rest my aching feet for a moment. I walk on the grass in bare feet the rest of the way and notice that wine corks are the most common of the relatively sparse litter on the grass. I imagine the picnics that have concluded and diners who have moved on, cleaning up their plates and napkins but for some reason the cork stays behind.

The Eiffel Tower is more worth the 12 Euro and 30 minute wait to get a ticket and get on the elevator than I had expected. As one of the only major sites open on Sunday and so close to the hotel it wasn’t high on my list to see otherwise. There’s so much more up there to do and see than I remember from my only there visit 18(!) years ago. I buy and write postcards, Post Office is closed, or I could mail them from the 1 level up if I wanted. There is a café where I enjoy a sandwich and glass of wine and of course the views. On 3 levels and in 360 degrees I can see for miles on the sunny day with only spotty clouds creating shadows and streams of lights over the city. I will mostly serve as my own photographer on this trip but I do ask a fellow American to help me take one decent picture up there. You can see the Y-shaped UNESCO in the background behind the Ecole Militaire. I consider waiting all the way to see the sunset but fatigue takes over and I haven’t been able to get through to check in with home so I head back to the hotel.