With no real fanfare, I arrived in Paris…a day late. I had gotten in touch with my family and let them know about my travel troubles.  I usually take the train into Paris from the airport, but this time, I decided to get a cab and just get straight there.  Right, so a quick stop at baggage claim and I’m on my way…

Ok, I know the suspense is killing you.  My bags did not make it to Paris.  Not that I am surprised at all.  The airline switched my flights so many times trying to figure out how to get me there, I am only surprised that I did eventually get my luggage.

I sat in the airport dealing with the oh so helpful customer service folks.  I was on the verge of an epic meltdown.  The only thought that kept me going was the hope that maybe I would get some sort of clothing allowance and be able to go shopping for clothes!  Now I know that a couple hundred dollars doesn’t get you much when shopping in Paris, but even sweats are cooler when you can say you bought them in Paris!  Wait…do they even sell sweat pants in Paris?

Well, we may never know the answer to that question.  The airline gave me a toothbrush, a razor and a t-shirt and told me that if they couldn’t find my luggage within three days then I would get an allowance to purchase new clothes.  What they thought I was going to do for three days with only the clothes I was wearing, a toothbrush, razor and t-shirt I have no idea…maybe shave my head and wander the airport with a daisy and a blessing?

After a thoroughly terrifying taxi ride through Paris, I finally arrived at the apartment we had rented in the Marais for our time in Paris.  We prefer to stay in apartments instead of hotels so that we can all stay together and we love staying in the Marais.  Also, we tell ourselves that we like having a kitchen so we don’t have to eat out every meal, however in our previous trips we had never used the kitchen for more than coffee no matter what our intentions!

Once I had received the appropriate sympathy, we decided to just wander around the Marais, find a cafe for some wine and nosh and just relax.  I was hardly dressed for anything else!  We headed out towards Centre Georges Pompidou as we knew that there would be plenty of pedestrian traffic and places to eat and people watch.  Personally, I do not like the exterior of Centre Pompidou.  I find it a terrible contrast to the masterful architecture that makes Paris so beautiful.  But that is just my opinion, I am sure there are some people that love it, and the exhibits that are presented inside the Centre are usually first class and usually worth a look.

What I do love about the area is the street performers, market stalls and in the Spring a sort of festival set up in the open space with musicians, artists, games, etc.  I also love the Stravinsky Fountain.  I think its moving sculptures are a bit of whimsy in the area.

We grabbed a bite to eat at a cafe on a side street, learned more than we ever needed to know about Rugby and continued on our jaunt.

We also decided that we would take a day trip to Versailles the following day.  Although I have been to Paris several times, I had never taken a day trip outside the city.  There is so much to do and see within Paris, I just hadn’t made it out there yet.  However, it was not to be on this trip either.

When we got back to the apartment, there was a message on the machine that the airline would be delivering my luggage the next day sometime between 10am and 2pm.  While this was good news for my companions, I will admit I was disappointed.  Beside this ruining my fantasy of a Parisian shopping spree, this also put the kabash on my going with the clan to Versailles.  We decided that everyone else should go ahead and go, there was no reason all of us should sit around waiting for my luggage.

Still to come…Of course I will have dinner ready when you get back…what else would I do?