After gathering our luggage and walking through the whole damn airport twice thanks to such awesome signage, Maggie and I met up with Sue. A 50 euro cab ride later and we were in the hotel. We are staying at a Holiday Inn hotel in the Place de République, near to our office. A much needed shower and change of clothes was had by all and we set off in the drizzle to pack in as much as we could. After a delicious meal of French onion soup, or as they call it here - soup, and a croque madame, or as we call it - grilled cheese, we got on the metro to the Notre Dame. It was windy with a lot of dirt in it so we didn't stick around very long.
From the Notre Dame, we made our way to the Louvre where there was a fashion show going on. We posed for the paparazzi in case they wanted to take our picture. We went through the gardens to the Champs-Élysées where they were having an aerospace exhibit all along the walk. We wound our way through all the exhibits, including a stealth fighter on display. Walking past the crepe stands was a special treat to the nostrils. Sweet smells of batter cooking over a gridle, fresh fruit and chocolate, carmel. Even after just eatting, it was tough not to buy one of everything. From there, we wandered our way to the Arc de Triomphe and took the underground passage to the middle of the Arc. We decided we'd had enough walking and headed back to the hotel.
Me at the Arc de Triomphe.
We made it to the subway, found our train, and boarded only to be hit by a wall of stench. Being disoriented by the smell, we didn't have enough time to get off the train before the doors closed. We were stuck. The stench was one I recognized from my previous travels to Paris: a body odor that would make vomit kill itself. Both Sue and Maggie covered their noses with something to mask it, but that didn't stop Sue's eyes from tearing up. Fortunately we were one stop away from a train change.
Back at the hotel, we sat in the glassed in restaurant and people-watched. What a place to people watch. Each of us would take turns nodding off while the others talked. A few glasses of (really good) house Bordeaux wine and we were ready for bed. Maggie and I were in bed by 8:45. Thanks to a well-timed ambien, I slept until 7:30 the next morning without so much a turn in bed.
This morning Sue and I had breakfast in the hotel and headed out for the office. We've been in meetings since in a conference room with our colleagues. Right now Abder is demonstrating some javascript and AJAX libraries they use for their extranets. I'm doing everything I can to not show the jetlag. This is the boring (work) part of the trip.
Sue giddy from the jet lag. This is our conference room.
The view from the roof of our office.
