le 1 janvier, 2011

The year is off to a good start.  Juan Luis Guerra plays as I stare out the steamy window of my European-sized hotel room in the airport.  The shower felt heavenly but was uncontrollably scalding hot! Now begins the impossible task of staying awake.  My eyelids suddenly are made of wrought iron as my body yearns for rest--it is 4:11am in Minnesota, after all.  Still, it's worth the effort to remain upright and alert until it's really time to sleep (French bedtime). 

My journey went surprisingly smoothly.  Having heard predictions of sleet, ice pellets, and snow forecasted for the exact time of my departure, I had anticipated a rough pond-crossing.  As Murphy's Law would have its way, it started sleeting the minute we were aboard and excited to beat the weather.  Not to worry, we only sat for about an hour, eagerly awaiting the deicing that would be our ticket to ride.  A smooth connection later, I found myself sitting next to the two most deeply-in-love birds on the entire plane.  After kissing a bisquillion times, they finally cooled off about halfway to Paris.  Rub it in why don't you?!?!

Waiting in line to clear immigration, I was, as always, uber-excited to get a stamp in my passport (yes, lame but true).  To my disappointment, the official offered no greeting, no conversation, and worst of all, no stamp.  One look at my picture and he sent me on my way.  At the baggage claim, I took my sweet time and let my bag pass so I wouldn't have to squeeze through all the anxiously waiting passengers.  The second time round I had mustered the courage to actually take the bag off the conveyer belt and, to my surprise, didn't have to talk to a single customs officer.  Huh.  Weird.  Maybe the French just trust.  

I found a kind, English-speaking man at the information counter who informed me how to reach my hotel.  Walking for what seemed like miles, I couldn't help but smile as I struggled to walk against the flow of traffic--a fish out of water and swimming upstream.  At the hotel desk I stood at a polite distance as I waited for the two attendants to finish their conversation.  Not so fast, Madame Minnesota nice!!  A Frenchman walked right in front of me and interrupted the conversation with a pleasant, "bonjour!"  Oh yeah, I forgot.  I'm not in Minnesota anymore.  Ha.  


And that brings me to this lovely, modern, clean, and most importantly, cheap ibis hotel room literally in the Charles De Gaulle airport.  Thankfully 24hrs of internet access is included in my rate, and I once again feel connected to the world (yes, pun intended).  Tomorrow I embark on another adventure--high speed train!  Yep, no clue how that works but I will figure it out and tell you all about it tomorrow.  


Oh, one more thing.  As I'll be here in France for the next two weeks attempting to learn a bit of le francais, I will undoubtedly have both more to say and more time to write.  I am very much looking forward to continuing my solo venture to Lyon.  Bonne anne a tout le monde!!


Much love,  Caro