Bonjour from Paris!!

        

     Well...the title says it all! After delayed flights that somehow arrived on time, we're here! Looking every bit of jet-lag that I felt, this is a picture taken of me in the living room of the apartment we've rented for two weeks, on Boulevard de Grenelle, in the 15th arrondissement. The view is even better than shown in the booking photo...and...we decided to take this photo to show the view, with me in it :)

     Well, travel here was fairly smooth; it seems as if the airlines add extra time - we thought our flight CLE-JFK would be 2 hours, by the schedule, and it was just over an hour...the JFK-CDG was listed as 8 hours, but took just about 6. Oh well...I don't need to know why or how...just that it all worked fine. Btw, if you plan to voyage on Air France, and can afford the extra $ to book their Premium Economy seating (it's minimal, compared to jumping from economy to business class, and, well, let's not even dream about first class - no drooling on electronic devices :) - do it! We were looking around JFK for something reasonable (ha!) and somewhat nutritious (ha again!) to have before our 9:40 pm flight...then I decided to ask the gate attendant if a meal was included - her response was that both dinner and breakfast would be served on the flight. So...problem solved :) Dinner, although prepackaged, was a 5-course French meal - appetizer of pheasant tourine, marinated scallop with four (yech!) caviar blobs (at least I think that's what they were - I tasted one and regretted it immediately!) on top, midget sweet pickle, choice of entree - we had the pasta shells with marinara and ricotta and spinach (so French!), because we didn't know what the chicken and its sauce would be and we were h-u-n-g-r-y.  The flight attendant didn't know any more info about the food than we did, so we erred on the side of caution. A small piece of cheese, roll with butter, choice of beverage - a lovely cabernet sauvignon was sampled, along with Perrier as our other choice - and an almond-Grand Mariner cake that looked like tiramisu completed the dinner. I did wonder what Business and First-class might have had. Breakfast was pre-made, not impressive, but included plain yogurt, blueberry muffin, and Mott's (yes, that's right, from USA!) granny smith applesauce. 

     We  made arrangements prior to leaving home for a car transport - Blacklane is like Uber, but a business-type rather than everyday type. It's kind of hard to explain, so let me just say we were led to a Mercedes sedan, and had a nice ride to meet our apartment host, Sylvain. We got a tour of the apartment - sparse, but with a spectacular view that also included a far-off Sacre Coeur view. We thought about planning some activity, but the lack of sleep and time change seemed more important to consider than a "first night in Paris" experience, so did some food shopping, a quick nap, dinner at a brasserie across the street, and back to try to reset and turn in at a decent time. All went as planned except the last part - it's well past midnight here, and we're both wide-awake. We'll get the hang of it soon, I'm sure. 

     Tomorrow's first plan is to go across the street to the "best bakery in this area of Paris" (from our host's opinion) and get a baguette, possibly croissants, and come back to the apartment to enjoy breakfast like we live here. After that, (although we might need a nap if we indulge too much!) we'll decide on a plan, and hopefully, have something wonderful to add to our memories and this blog. Wishing all of you a trip of your dreams...it's been worth the wait for us, already!