A Roam of My Own: Paris and Beyond

Sunday, November 5, 2023

Well, it’s once more time to relearn the art of blogging. I have had numerous requests (actually only two requests, but who’s counting?) to write a blog in the same vein as I did when we traveled to Norway in 2018 and New Zealand and Australia in 2020. There’s a reason blog rhymes with slog, because some days one just doesn’t feel like being witty and informative. So at the very least I will strive to be informative with full disclosure that the wit may not always be sparkling. I hope you will get some enjoyment from my latest effort!

Yesterday afternoon at 6 PM we flew out of Atlanta on a direct flight to Paris. Actually we booked the flight on Delta, but the partner for our flight was Air France. Although Delta doesn’t always offer stellar service, we know what kind of comfortable mediocrity to expect. Air France is, well, lacking. Our flight attendant was a bored angsty young French man with a pencil thin mustache who impatiently threw stuff at us and then ran away. Of course, it didn’t really matter because it was late and we were tired, but I did wonder why he seemed so desperately unhappy.

Full disclosure for those of you who haven’t read my blog before: I am an unapologetic eavesdropper. Last night after we boarded the plane, I heard this exchange from the people in the aisle in front of me. They didn’t know each other and were chatting back and forth across the aisle. After short introductions, Passenger 1 (flirty female) asked Passenger 2 (nerdy male) where he was headed. He retorted, “France.” Weird, since we had all just boarded a plane headed to France. Their conversation faltered at that point.

So, we arrived at Charles de Gaulle at the crack of dawn after sleeping about an hour on the plane, came by cab to our hotel, dropped our luggage but couldn’t check in because it was far too early. Then we walked over to the Louvre, which is quite near our hotel. The Louvre is 652,300 square feet, houses over 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century and is the largest museum on earth. To say it is overwhelming is a vast understatement. That vastness, along with our foggy, sleep deprived brains, made our visit there challenging. We will head back there tomorrow and try to better absorb what we are seeing.