Iceland to France
I’m sorry that there wasn’t a post yesterday. The day was just too jam packed!
We got up in the middle of the night to be ready for our driver that arrived at 4:15 am to take us to the airport. He informed us, as he drove, that although we thought the day before was bad for weather, today was going to be much worse, with an expected 100 mm of rain!! 😫
Our flight departed Reykjavik at 7:30, bound for Paris. We arrived at 1:00 pm, local time. Charles de Gaulle airport is a challenge all in itself but we persevered! After waiting 45 minutes for our luggage to arrive, we wound our way through walkways and tunnels and eventually found the airport train that then lead us to the train that then took us into Paris. We piled onto the train, loaded down with luggage, just to sit and wait....and wait some more....as they announced that our departure would be delayed as the result of an “incident “. We eventually rolled out of the station but, by that time, we had accumulated a “lot” of people so we were packed like sardines. Just when we thought we were at maximum capacity, we would make a stop to allow even more people to cram onto the train! The next challenge was to find our way out of this huge train station (Gare du Nord). We thought for awhile that we just may have to resign ourselves to living there! Finally, a sweet employee took pity and led us up and out to the daylight! Don’t think our challenge ended there! Now we had to figure out how to find our hotel, while rolling our suitcases and dodging people everywhere! Luckily, our hotel was close to the station so the frustration was only temporary!
We arrived at the hotel at 3:30 to find Shirley, Kathy and Larry waiting for us since 2 pm!!
We quickly settled into our rooms, freshened up and hit the streets for a “turbo tour” of Paris! Our first destination was the Eiffel Tower. We hopped in the metro and were treated to another “up close and personal “ experience!! We checked out and took pictures of the Eiffel Tower. Sadly, times have changed and you can no longer go right up to the base of the tower unless you are ascending to the top (we didn’t have time to Do This).
Once we were satisfied that we had enough pictures in front of the tower, we set out on a stroll along the Seine River, only to discover that we could have got much better pictures from further away!
By this time we were near starvation, so we found a great restaurant for an early dinner. By the t8me we f8nished eating, we realized that we couldn’t accomplish everything that we had set out to see. We made our way to the Champs-Élysées, got some pictures of the Arc de Triomphe and continued our stroll down Paris’ most famous avenue.
We walked the entire length of the Champs-Elysées, through the Place de la Concorde and on to the louvre. By this t8me it had grown dark and we were able to enjoy the lights of Paris. We walked to where we could get a glance at Notre Dame Cathedral but did not walk right up to it as it wasn’t lit up so it was difficult to see much.
We finally hopped back on the metro and returned back to the hotel at 10 pm, ready for bed!!!
We got up in the middle of the night to be ready for our driver that arrived at 4:15 am to take us to the airport. He informed us, as he drove, that although we thought the day before was bad for weather, today was going to be much worse, with an expected 100 mm of rain!! 😫
Our flight departed Reykjavik at 7:30, bound for Paris. We arrived at 1:00 pm, local time. Charles de Gaulle airport is a challenge all in itself but we persevered! After waiting 45 minutes for our luggage to arrive, we wound our way through walkways and tunnels and eventually found the airport train that then lead us to the train that then took us into Paris. We piled onto the train, loaded down with luggage, just to sit and wait....and wait some more....as they announced that our departure would be delayed as the result of an “incident “. We eventually rolled out of the station but, by that time, we had accumulated a “lot” of people so we were packed like sardines. Just when we thought we were at maximum capacity, we would make a stop to allow even more people to cram onto the train! The next challenge was to find our way out of this huge train station (Gare du Nord). We thought for awhile that we just may have to resign ourselves to living there! Finally, a sweet employee took pity and led us up and out to the daylight! Don’t think our challenge ended there! Now we had to figure out how to find our hotel, while rolling our suitcases and dodging people everywhere! Luckily, our hotel was close to the station so the frustration was only temporary!
We arrived at the hotel at 3:30 to find Shirley, Kathy and Larry waiting for us since 2 pm!!
We quickly settled into our rooms, freshened up and hit the streets for a “turbo tour” of Paris! Our first destination was the Eiffel Tower. We hopped in the metro and were treated to another “up close and personal “ experience!! We checked out and took pictures of the Eiffel Tower. Sadly, times have changed and you can no longer go right up to the base of the tower unless you are ascending to the top (we didn’t have time to Do This).
Once we were satisfied that we had enough pictures in front of the tower, we set out on a stroll along the Seine River, only to discover that we could have got much better pictures from further away!
By this time we were near starvation, so we found a great restaurant for an early dinner. By the t8me we f8nished eating, we realized that we couldn’t accomplish everything that we had set out to see. We made our way to the Champs-Élysées, got some pictures of the Arc de Triomphe and continued our stroll down Paris’ most famous avenue.
We walked the entire length of the Champs-Elysées, through the Place de la Concorde and on to the louvre. By this t8me it had grown dark and we were able to enjoy the lights of Paris. We walked to where we could get a glance at Notre Dame Cathedral but did not walk right up to it as it wasn’t lit up so it was difficult to see much.
What an awesome day, even with the "setbacks"!
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