So almost had a little panic attack. How to pair my little keyboard!!!! Thankfully, I brought a pair of reading glasses so I could see the controls and it's paired and I'm good!
Let's just the flight was interesting. I originally could not get on the non-stop flight to Paris, so was going to go through Montreal. At 5:07, I reeived a notification that the flight was going to be delayed by 1 hour. Yikes - that left me with 15 minutes to make the connetion. Not enough time! Plan B.
I mentioned it to DH who has a higher airline status than I do. He called Air Canada and they very quickly got me on the non-stop flight that I originally wanted to be on. Why is that? So all is good, but now that I'm flying international, I'd better get to the airport as the flight was at 7:15. My original flight was to leave at 7:00 PM.
I arrived at the airport and could NOT get a boarding pass. WHAT!!!!! Yes -- I thought the agent had checked me in, I had checked in on the previous flight but had not even thought about checking into the new flight in my haste of the changes! They would NOT let me on. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I pleaded and explained the story that only minutes prior that my flight was switched. One person took sympathy on me and went to check and thank goodness, they let me get a boarding pass. Yippeeeee --- thank you Air Canada for your speedy service and for making that happen.
However, one I arrived at the gate, there wasn't much time to get on the plane, only to find that there was a slight delay. 10 minutes as the entertainment system wasn't working on the AC777 - one of those huge planes. Then another 10 minutes. Then the flight was delayed to 8:30 PM. We all started dispersing and then it was delayed again, when they realized they needed a NEWplane. Now where do you just pull a 777 out of a hat that you can use.
It so happened that one had just laneded from Montreal, but it would take time to turn it around. Both planes had to be unloaded and switched around, so it took time. And it wasnˋt until after 11:30 PM that we finally pushed back.
I donˋt think they were in for fuel economy on that flight. Iˋm not sure the normal ground speed of that aircraft, but we were doing 1,000 KM per hour!!! I did sleep on the plane because by this time, I was exhausted. I didnˋt sleep well, but it doesnˋt matter - I am in Paris!!!
Coming into France is so easy. You scan your passport and thatˋs it! Super simple.
Then I got the train from the airport to one of the metro stations. I could NOTremember the name of teh station I needed to go to. Well, I remembered it, but not correctly. I thought it was Parnaise, but it was MontParnesse. Oh crap -- but I got it figured out.
I bought a phone card so I can use my phone here as if I were at home. Only to realize on the train that the package did NOT have the tool to remove the sim card. Great! I was going to walk instead of taking the metro, but since I didnˋt have access to Google Maps, that was not going to happen. I found my way from the maps at the subway and all was good.
I arrived at Gare Montparnasse and I was HOME. I remembered the area from last year. I walked down the street to find a hotel as there are plenty of small ones around. Yikes -- I didnˋt remember the pricees this crazy. So I walked to the corner and looked around and found this hotel which has about 12 rooms The price was better and it has a bed.
I think itˋs an old house with four rooms on each floor. The rooms are tiny and I swear the closet has been converted into a toilet. There is a shower but not for the feint of heart!!
Luckily the guy at the desk had one of those keys to open the phone, so I was good to go. I switched out the sim cards and it took a few minutes to get everything but I managed. I struggled last year and never got the phone registered, but this year --- Iˋm good!
Then I was able to investigate step two of this crazy trip - getting to St. Jean Pied de Port. Hmmm - not working out quite as planned, but thatˋs OK. So I have my day planned out and thatˋs all that counts.
After a nap, I wondered around the neighorhood and visited the Cemetary Montparnasse, which is a huge place I went there last year as well, and I realized that my hotel almost backs onto that cemetary. One street away. Itˋs interesting as each space is a family plot. Most are the size of one casket and they are packed like sardines next to each other.
Loads of pastry shops around, but I didnˋt buy any. I donˋt need any extra food at the moment as we all got a voucher last night because of the delay and I bought some snack bars as sometimes that stuff is hard to find in the small villages. I now have about 1 lb of snacks!!!! I donˋt want to carry one pound of snacks, but Iˋll be glad to have them when I canˋt find anything to eat early in the morning.
I popped into a sidewalk cafee for dinner and had one of my favorite things. A green salad with goat cheese. The goat cheese was enclosed in an almond shell - like fried goat cheese with an almost coating if that makes sense.
It was yummy. As I was sitting on the sidewalk itˋs an excellen place to observe people. First off, there seems to be more locals than tourists in this area, but that could be me. And what is the difference -- tourists have backpacks, locals have cigarettes! OK- that is a generalization, but the amount of smokers is crazy. One must remember this is their lifestyle, so that's an observation not a complaint. If you don't like second hand smoke, I would suggest you don't come to Paris.
Second, these people get around on anything and everything. Bikes, scooters, e-scooters and I saw one guy who freaked me out. He's on one of those single wheels with a platform on both sides. The wheel spins while the platforms are what you stand on. There is NOTHING for you to hold onto. He was dressed in a business suit and had a briefcase in one hand and a box in the other! OK -- so that would not be me! But he was happily wheeling along and took no notice of the traffic.
Whatˋs refreshing is that everyone gets along or at least they seem to. The cars are just as happy as the cyclists and the motor scooters. And for the most part, they respect their signals - this is both cars and pedestrians. OH MY!!!!!
Please excuse any grammatical errors (sorry Pauline) or spelling mistakes. Iˋm trying to correct as I go but I might have missed a lot - especially those commas and my question mark is giving me a FRENCH e. So I have to figure that out.
But this will keep you up to date with what's happening.
And it's also a way for me to journal about the trip. I've been writing a quick recap of each day in my happiness journal and instead of bringing the journal, I'm going to try and remember to add it to the end here, so I can it to the journal when I get home.
OH --- I forgot to mention that because we were all late at the Toronto Airport, we all got chatting to each other and we met some team members of the Canadian Junior Rollery Derby team who are here to complete in a tournament this weekend. Check out their facebook page and cheer them on!!! Go Canada go!!!!
Here's my one sentence for the day:
A long day of delay and travel, but if you be nice to others and not lose your cool, they will be nice to you! Thank you to Air Canada for all your efforts to get me on that plane.
And on that note, I'm out of here It's way too early to go to bed but I'm tired. And there is certainly NO heat way here. Itˋs cool at 20 degrees and I was glad I took my sweater when I went out for my walk
Have a super day!!!!
Ciao!!!!
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