Back to the Land of the Blue, White, and Red!
Yep, I'm back!! :D
My trip overseas actually went quite smoothly. My flight leaving KC was an hour late, but that only meant an hour more with Mom ;) - upon reaching Detroit, I walked very quickly past about 38 gates and arrived at my flight after almost everyone had boarded. I was stressing about reaching it (after all, what would happen if I didn't make it and Rose was waiting for me in Paris?!), so I wasn't in the most agreeable mood... therefore, when I got to the gate, I handed my passport and boarding pass to the guy there who spoke to me in French. I understood him perfectly, but when he asked why I had that particular seat, I couldn't answer him in French and had to resort to English. I thought he was gonna hassle me about it (I had picked an aisle seat in the front row of the plane :D), so I just said that that's what I had gotten. He took it and changed it which irritated me a little, so I asked if my new seat was also an aisle seat. He said yes and then when I didn't say anything else, he asked if I wasn't even going to ask why he had done it and then proceeded to explain that the plane was practically empty and he had moved me so that I would have a row (of four seats) all to myself!! I felt really bad about being grumpy after that!! So, quite luckily, I was able to completely stretch out on the flight over and got about 4 1/2 hours of (somewhat interrupted) sleep!! YAY!!
Rose and I both got our luggage, no problem. ("Alas," says Rose, "my prayers were in vain." She had been hoping that her luggage would be lost, so that the airlines would deliver it to her in Normandy and she could avoid what followed, but no such luck!) It took two sweaty hours, three metro stops, and LOTS of stairs (I mean LOTS, including the four spiral flights leading to my apartment) to get "home." But with help from a few very nice people, we made it! (No doubt we sweated off ALL the extra calories we have had during the visit home for the wedding, lol!)
Later in the day, we went out and got a few groceries and a couple of baguettes and had spaghetti at the apartment. We waited up until 9:30 pm before we let ourselves sleep...
Tuesday morning, it was off to the "doctor's" office this morning, via a perfect wild-goose chase in order to get a stupid "timbre" which was to prove that I had paid the 55 Euro tax for my carte de séjours... in the end, however, we snared the wild goose and proceeded with the treasured stamp to my appointment (a couple of arrondissements over) where we arrived 20 minutes late. They took me in anyway, though, and after several sessions of waiting and being called into different rooms (it actually wasn't so terrible and the people were pretty decent), I walked out of there with my carte de séjours!! :D (Apparently, it's a "temporary" one - expires in March - but I'm guessing that they'll send the permanent one once the rest of the paperwork goes through...? I hope that's the case!)
Yesterday, I took Rose to Gare St. Lazare for her 12:25 train to Caen... I almost got forcibly taken to Caen as well! I was on the train, helping Rose put her luggage on the rack when the doors started closing!! I forced the nearest door open and hopped off, yelling "bye" over my shoulder (which no doubt embarrassed Rose ;)), and landing on the quai only a moment before the train pulled away. Close call! :D
Today, I ran errands and got my ticket to go to Lyon this Saturday. I was a little ticked because the guy at the counter said he was giving me the youth discount and then charged me the adult fare. I thought maybe I just had the wrong price in mind, but later when I looked at the ticket, he had given me an adult ticket indeed. Grrr... Oh well! Nothing I can do about it now!! At least, I've got a ticket for Lyon and that was my goal. It was only a difference of 6 Euros anyway...
I will be spending next week with a family who lives near Lyon and possibly the week after that with a family in Macôn. So I'll be out of pocket for a couple of weeks, but will update you when I can!! :) Thanks for reading!
My trip overseas actually went quite smoothly. My flight leaving KC was an hour late, but that only meant an hour more with Mom ;) - upon reaching Detroit, I walked very quickly past about 38 gates and arrived at my flight after almost everyone had boarded. I was stressing about reaching it (after all, what would happen if I didn't make it and Rose was waiting for me in Paris?!), so I wasn't in the most agreeable mood... therefore, when I got to the gate, I handed my passport and boarding pass to the guy there who spoke to me in French. I understood him perfectly, but when he asked why I had that particular seat, I couldn't answer him in French and had to resort to English. I thought he was gonna hassle me about it (I had picked an aisle seat in the front row of the plane :D), so I just said that that's what I had gotten. He took it and changed it which irritated me a little, so I asked if my new seat was also an aisle seat. He said yes and then when I didn't say anything else, he asked if I wasn't even going to ask why he had done it and then proceeded to explain that the plane was practically empty and he had moved me so that I would have a row (of four seats) all to myself!! I felt really bad about being grumpy after that!! So, quite luckily, I was able to completely stretch out on the flight over and got about 4 1/2 hours of (somewhat interrupted) sleep!! YAY!!
Rose and I both got our luggage, no problem. ("Alas," says Rose, "my prayers were in vain." She had been hoping that her luggage would be lost, so that the airlines would deliver it to her in Normandy and she could avoid what followed, but no such luck!) It took two sweaty hours, three metro stops, and LOTS of stairs (I mean LOTS, including the four spiral flights leading to my apartment) to get "home." But with help from a few very nice people, we made it! (No doubt we sweated off ALL the extra calories we have had during the visit home for the wedding, lol!)
Later in the day, we went out and got a few groceries and a couple of baguettes and had spaghetti at the apartment. We waited up until 9:30 pm before we let ourselves sleep...
Tuesday morning, it was off to the "doctor's" office this morning, via a perfect wild-goose chase in order to get a stupid "timbre" which was to prove that I had paid the 55 Euro tax for my carte de séjours... in the end, however, we snared the wild goose and proceeded with the treasured stamp to my appointment (a couple of arrondissements over) where we arrived 20 minutes late. They took me in anyway, though, and after several sessions of waiting and being called into different rooms (it actually wasn't so terrible and the people were pretty decent), I walked out of there with my carte de séjours!! :D (Apparently, it's a "temporary" one - expires in March - but I'm guessing that they'll send the permanent one once the rest of the paperwork goes through...? I hope that's the case!)
Yesterday, I took Rose to Gare St. Lazare for her 12:25 train to Caen... I almost got forcibly taken to Caen as well! I was on the train, helping Rose put her luggage on the rack when the doors started closing!! I forced the nearest door open and hopped off, yelling "bye" over my shoulder (which no doubt embarrassed Rose ;)), and landing on the quai only a moment before the train pulled away. Close call! :D
Today, I ran errands and got my ticket to go to Lyon this Saturday. I was a little ticked because the guy at the counter said he was giving me the youth discount and then charged me the adult fare. I thought maybe I just had the wrong price in mind, but later when I looked at the ticket, he had given me an adult ticket indeed. Grrr... Oh well! Nothing I can do about it now!! At least, I've got a ticket for Lyon and that was my goal. It was only a difference of 6 Euros anyway...
I will be spending next week with a family who lives near Lyon and possibly the week after that with a family in Macôn. So I'll be out of pocket for a couple of weeks, but will update you when I can!! :) Thanks for reading!
posted by Monnie | 6:13 PM
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