Day one in Paris was not at all in Paris. Our red eye on Icelandair was 90 minutes delayed, which meant we missed our connection (in which we only had 30 minutes to get to if we landed on time) and were stranded with a bunch of other disgruntled New Englanders (including an actual New England Patriot – through some excellent Google stalking skills and some observations that James and I both made, we have confirmed that we sat next to a player).
To make up for this bad connection, Icelandair arranged for us to still arrive in Paris on the same day, but it meant changing planes again in London. And a three hour layover. Great. Except they at least made this leg of the trip first class which meant lounging in amazingly massive chairs with lots of leg room, getting on before anyone else, and enjoying the first class lounge at Heathrow. I was very excited for all the free food and wine until I remember that I don’t like British comfort food. So many carbs and curries. And bad tomatoes. Where are my roasted veggies at?! (But in reality, this was awesome because I really wasn’t planning to eat lunch at the airport – this was supposed to be happening in Paris).
For the last leg of our trip, James and I fell immediately asleep only to be woken by some very nice British flight attendants offering us afternoon tea. Apparently on British flights they serve this tea in a porcelain teacup when you sit in first class. It was so ridiculously cute it almost made being woken up for it worth it.
We finally landed in Paris a little after 5 p.m., five hours later than we planned. By the time we figured out the train system, purchased our weekly passes, and got to the AirBnb, we’d been traveling for 18 hours straight (oomph!). James very begrudgingly went to the grocery store with me. Now that I’ve been to grocery stores in Iceland, London, Spain and France…. I have to say, we’re really lucky in the U.S. I know, I know, I should be going to the farmers markets, but you try finding one that’s open at 8 p.m. on a Saturday night.
Because we landed so late, I had to move our dinner reservation to another day. So our first night in Paris we had an Against the Grain roll from home, smeared with goat cheese, some spinach, and a “Neat” burger (a vegetarian burger mix we buy at Target and let me tell you, this was a life savor!). Tomorrow, I promise we’ll have better food tomorrow!
So, it was a waste of a day, but at least my plans weren’t too substantial and we did make it here on Saturday, which meant that we’ll be hitting up free Louvre day tomorrow as soon as they open.
Adios 😉 (or you know, au revoir – working on it!)