edgecorp

Part 1 - In which we almost have to turn around and go back home.

We are a family of six who left the eldest two children home "in charge" - DH, DD (17), DS (12) and I began making plans in January for our July-August trip. (Eldest two children - DS1 (21) and DD1 (19) got to make the trip five years ago.) We own our own business - a farm where we raise baby pigs for a corporate entity - so I had a hurry-scurry week before we left trying to pre-pay bills and payroll for the 12 days we would be gone. I was the only family member who had a cell phone that would work internationally (and, the family member voted most likely to not have anyone call her just to shoot the breeze while we were on $1.29/minute Cingular international roaming), so my cell phone was the only one to make the trip.

We live in central Illinois, so we have a four-hour drive to O'Hare in Chicago. Our Air France flight was scheduled to leave at 5:35 pm, so we - in a spirit of being cooperative international travelers - decided to try and be at the airport by 2:30. We were almost completely packed by the time we got up early Tuesday morning - we had been following a hint I saw here to try and adjust our sleep pattern gradually before we left, and we had managed to hit the hay and subsequently arise about an hour-and-a-half earlier than normal by the time we left. Contrary to everything I read here, we each had a 29" Delsey Lite rolling suitcase to check and good-sized backpacks to carry on with a change of clothes, toiletries, and essential paperwork. We each had a down travel pillow from Restoration Hardware (hint read here - thanks), and DD and I had regular-sized Healthy Back Bags from LL Bean to use as our purses. (They worked great, other than the curved design meant that any 9"x11" paper items had to have a corner folded over. They were large enough, however, to stuff rainhats or light sweaters into in a pinch.) Both kids had iPods to use on the plane, DH had his favorite hand-held Solitaire game, and I brought my Anacrostic puzzle book. (Wow - hasn't traveling life changed in just one short week? Now, none of those things would be allowed in the cabin.) We had opted to take the large suitcases both because we had them, and because we felt compelled to pack two complete travel wardrobes - one in case it remained shorts-and-sandals weather the entire time, and the other in case it turned cool and rainy the moment we touched European soil, which is what we usually experience.

We had been on the road for less than a half-hour when my cellphone rang. It was one of the farms for DH - it was 100-degrees-+ F, and the water was not working. The regular manager was off for the day, DS1 was on call and en-route (but not mechanically inclined anyway), and DH's father (who IS mechanically inclined and retired) was not at home. We put in a call to our one local restaurant (town of 600) to leave word for D-in-law if he showed up there. DH had left his cellphone at home for DS1 to have in order to access emergency phone numbers, but DS1 had gone directly from his house to the farm; my cellphone didn't have any of the essential numbers - Screw-Up #1 for the trip. (There will be more, you can be assured.) We not only called the restaurant, we called the veterinarian's office to get some of the phone numbers, and we finally tracked down the electrician to have him meet DS1 at the farm. (The water was important not only for drinking by the breeding sows, but it is used to cool the buildings where the animals are housed.)

DH was on the phone almost the entire drive, trying to resolve the situation before we got on the plane. The electrician called back to say that the water was working - just not at full-tilt, so we managed to get a call in to a well-digging company just before we hit O'Hare to schedule the digging of a new well upon our return....

edgecorp

Part 2 - Air France to Paris, July 26th

Screw-up#2 - The shoes. I wanted stylish, comfortable shoes that could be worn with a multitude of outfits, and I chose Clarks Privo Tequinis, which I wore on the plane sans socks. Mistake. Blisters on my heels before we made it to Paris. Threw on the pair of wool socks (wool? don't ask me) I had in my carryon, which I wore until we made it to our hotel. Had to switch to sandals to allow the blisters to heal....

I had expressed concern on the "Airlines" forum after I read negative comments about Air France, but I'll say upfront that we had a very good experience with them. I had checked in online at home the night before we left, but we still had to get in line at O'Hare to check our bags and to get boarding passes. Air France had e-mailed me when we booked our tickets in January that we had seats 25D, E, F, and G (the center four seats) on an Airbus 340, so we got on www.seatguru.com to look at the layout of the plane. When I checked in at home, however, we found out that our seats were 17A, B, D, and E. Depending on which version of a 340 we were to take, this would either be the first row of economy or the 4th - having had no experience with the in-seat tv's, we didn't know which version to wish for! (Turned out to be the 4th row, which was just fine.)

A first word about Paris's CDG airport - I had read here about the craziness, but, until you experience it, you can't imagine it! We de-planed on the tarmac at 8:30 am and were bused (on the scenic route, it seemed) to the terminal. Here comes one of the first instances of choosing the path of least resistance, which is not necessarily the most economical way to go: we had decided to buy Paris Visite passes for zones 1 - 5 rather than the Carte Orange. (I have to say, however, that this method worked quite smoothly for us, and I sincerely feel that I would do it again.) DD and I left DH and DS standing with the luggage while we headed downstairs and across terminals at CDG to go to the RER station to buy the passes. Lines were long there, it was getting hot, and we had no way to communicate with DH and DS that we were going to be longer than they thought.

Got the passes, rejoined the men, and began to look for the Roissy bus that headed for Opera Metro station. We had reservations at Hotel l'Eveque on rue Cler, and I had read here that this was the best way to get there (thanks, Robespierre). Note: I had also read here that the Roissy bus was air conditioned, but it is not, if that is important to anyone. We knew that we were going to get Museum Passes for DH and I, and I had noticed in my investigations that there was an Office of Tourism right next to the Opera station. Once again, DH and DS guarded the luggage while DD and I went inside to buy Museum Passes. (This worked quite well; plus, the office was air conditioned for a brief breathe of coolness!) We found the steps to the Metro, knowing that there was no escalator, but rejoicing that we were only dragging our big suitcases down, not up, for now. We took the Metro to Ecole Militaire stop, which has an escalator up, and we were on our way over the cobblestones to the hotel.

We were hot and sweaty and would have loved a shower, but the rooms were not ready yet at noon, so we left our suitcases and found a Chinese place on rue Cler; ate outside, which only added to our sweatiness, so it was probably a good thing we hadn't had a shower yet. By the time we got in our rooms and showered, we were starting to get tired. None of us had slept more than an hour on the plane, but DH and I made the executive decision to keep on the move until a normal Paris bedtime in order to try and become acclimated. We walked to the Eiffel Tower, thinking that would be a good introduction to Paris, but the lines looked to be about 2 hours or more, and the tired kids decided they didn't care what Paris looked like from on high. There was an international competition for beach volleyball going on at the opposite end of Champs de Mars (DD plays high school volleyball), and we glanced around, thinking we might glimpse Misty Mays....

We took the Metro to the Louvre and leisurely followed the crowds around to see the Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa; during the caffeine-ingesting break in the cafeteria we met a nice couple from Wichita, Kansas who had already done the London-Paris leg of their trip and were leaving for Munich in the morning. We exchanged notes and took their suggestion to head over to the Bateaux Moches Seine cruise. I had neglected to ask what RER stop we needed, but I thought I recalled that it was the Pont de l'Alma. As we looked at the map in the station to figure out our route from the Louvre to Pont de l'Alma, we saw that we could make a switch at Charles de Gaulle-Etoile; DH and I thought we might as well see the Arc de Triomphe en route while we were that close. After a short breather on the train and fueled by our Cokes at the Louvre, the kids announced they wanted to climb all 284 steps of the Arc! As it turned out, this was a nice temporary substitute for the top of the Eiffel Tower, even though I thought I would die before I reached the top....

We made it to the Bateaux Moches in time for the 7 pm ride - it would have been a nice excursion with our vantage point on the top deck, but so many tourists stand at the railings all around the deck for the entire trip that those of us who felt compelled by the 284 steps they just climbed to spend the duration sitting down miss a lot of the sites. Plus, the caffeine wore off as the boat glided down the river.... DS fell asleep in his chair.

We returned to the rue Cler area to find somewhere to eat dinner, and we landed at Cafe le Bosquet. It was okay, although I tried my first Croque Madame and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have to interject some thoughts on Rick Steves here. I had looked at his book but relied on and brought with me Frommer's. We just happened to walk by le Bosquet and saw that we could get in, so we decided to eat there. After we were inside, I saw so many Americans clutching a Rick Steves book, I knew without a doubt that the cafe had been mentioned in it. I almost got the sense that the family next to us would not make a move without consulting their book. This experience and all of the Americans on the rue Cler in general detracted somewhat from what was otherwise a delightful hotel.

As we finished our dinner, a thunderstorm blew in, scooting all of the outside diners inside, whereupon the owners shut the place up tighter than a bank vault. We were glad to walk back to the hotel in the rain, feeling quite a bit like Gene Kelly, even though none of us sang....

flsd

Great report - can't wait for more!

edgecorp

Part 3 - Paris, in which DD dances with the Greek waiter

The cure for jet lag is sleep. We know that, because we slept for fourteen hours straight. DH and DS had a travel alarm clock for their room, which they set for 7:30 am. DD and I had the cell phone, on which we also set an alarm for 7:30. DH and DS CLAIM the alarm didn't work properly; the cell phone alarm would have worked, I'm sure, if the time on it had changed from American time to French time. (Note to others - just because your cell phone changes time zones automatically in the US doesn't mean it will do so in Europe.) DH phoned our room at 11:20 am to see if it was really 11:20 am. We had wanted to be at Versailles at 9:00. Oops. But we felt great!

The Museum Pass worked wonderfully at Versailles, even though the lines didn't seem as long as they had in March, 2001, when we were there before. Got in right away, but had to go back to rent the audio-guides - they were at a counter before we showed our passes. The kids were suitably impressed with Versailles, and the opera theatre had opened for viewing since DH and I were last there. As noted by others, the Hall of Mirrors is under renovation, but one half was open for viewing. We got back into Paris around 5:00 and thought we could make it to Notre Dame to get inside before it closed; it closed just as we walked up. Our trip from the hotel to Notre Dame had taken much longer than it should have - the RER line we intended to take was closed for renovation and was replaced by a slow-moving bus that easily took a half-hour. We walked around the Cathedral, snapping pictures in case we didn't get back to see the inside on another day.

We decided to find somewhere to eat in the Latin Quarter, and we wandered by cafe after cafe. A large man slamming plates onto the doorstep of one caught our attention, and we were immediately drawn into the world of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." The Meteora at 9 rue de la Huchette had a small band playing Greek music; the menu wasn't truly Greek, and the food wasn't the best I've ever had, but the waiter - ooh, now, that's another story. Did I mention that DD is 17? At some point during the evening, the young male waiters came around to the tables to get the women to join in a Greek line dance. DD went, but I claimed shyness (and blisters). As the dance wended its way around the room, female dancers began to laughingly return to their tables, but not DD, and not our waiter. (I have to wonder if anyone was hoping that their waiter - OUR waiter - would stop dancing and ask them if they needed a refill.) DD and the swarthy young waiter danced and danced; I noticed not much conversation flowed between the two of them. DD told us that he asked her if she went "clubbing" - one would have to assume he didn't realize she was 17....

Barbara_in_CT

Edgecorp, great report so far. I can hardly wait for the rest. Whatever points you lost for too much luggage is more than made up by your smooth handling of your tribulations on the way to the airport and your great attitude.

ira

Hi E,

Interesting report.

I agree with you about The Meteora. Not really Greek, but a pleasant and fun place.

Anya

Don't you think this report is a bit too detailed and those details are not terribly fascinating? Gotta admire your diligence though.

kureiff

I don't think it's too detailed. I think it's a great report and I'm loving the details.

Thanks for the great trip report!

edgecorp

Part 4 - Friday, July 28th: A trip to Normandy and Omaha Beach, on which we discover that, one, Omaha Beach is pretty much just a beach, and that, two, some men should just not wear Speedos

We had scheduled a bus trip with ParisVision to visit the American WWII sites of Normandy. (Both DH and I asked for wake-up calls this morning!) Originally we had intended to take the train to Bayeux the night before, stay in a B&B, take a local tour with Battlebus, and bring the train home that night, but we didn't know what to do with our luggage for the night we were in Normandy. I hadn't prepaid with Battlebus, so I cancelled with them and rescheduled with ParisVision. Battlebus had pretty much told me we'd be disappointed with the ParisVision tour and that we would probably just have a recording instead of a real tour guide. We did, however, have a wonderful woman as a guide - she was very knowledgeable and pointed things out along the way. DS hadn't really adjusted to the time yet, and he was very tired as we left Paris. He kept claiming he was cold, so we piled our jackets on him; still, he shivered and shivered. He didn't feel feverish, but he has been known to throw up if he gets a headache, so I was constantly on guard for that. We stopped at a rest stop about an hour out of Paris and forced him to drink a Coke and take some Tylenol. He finally fell asleep and, when he awoke, he was a 12-yr-old boy again - ready to get out of the bus and get moving! It was the most beautiful day imaginable - the temperatures had cooled down, and the sky was the bluest I'd seen. We stopped for lunch at Arromanches, where the sailboats lay next to the English Channel, and the headstones at the American Cemetery almost glistened in the sunlight. DS and I spent some time looking for the headstone of any soldier who had been killed on D-Day itself; we were intrigued to find that you could almost tell what "position" a soldier had by which month he was killed - soldiers in reconnaissance died in the months preceding the invasion, etc.

We parked a distance away from the landing site at Omaha Beach, and, as we walked up to it, its significance seemed to grow in our minds. This was the one place that DH had said he wanted to go when we began planning the trip, and friends from home all told us they really wanted to see it someday as well. Maybe we built it up into too much in our minds, but, as we reached the top of the overhang above the beach, we felt ourselves holding our breath. We walked up, peeked over, and saw....

Bikinis and Speedos: Little pails of sand with tiny little boys in tiny little Speedos. Beach blankets with little girls in tiny little bikinis. Then, as we looked closer, we saw great big people in those same tiny little Speedos and tiny little bikinis. Yuck! Had we expected the wreckage of landing craft? Had we expected a sacred piece of ground left barren to celebrate those who had died there? I'm not sure what we expected, but it certainly wasn't something that resembled Laguna Beach....

We stopped next at Porte du Hoc, a spot where German soldiers had built gun battlements capable of hitting both American landing sites. Warplanes had bombed the area prior to Rangers scaling the cliffs to overrun the site; DS really found this place really interesting. Our goal here became to find a crater that had been hit not by one, not by two, but by three bombs. (We were sure that one of the large craters we found had to have been hit by at least three bombs.)

When we returned to Paris about 9:00 pm, our goal was to find a sandwich to eat as we walked toward the Eiffel Tower. All of the sandwich shops were closed, however, so we sat outside at a cafe called Le Dome, or something, on the way. It was here that we ran into our first instance of being duped. When we got ready to pay the bill, it was 55.6 €. DH handed his credit card to the waiter, but he told us, "cash only." We had seen other waiters with those handheld credit card machines, but he insisted on cash. Of course, we didn't have exact change. The bill had included a VAT of 15%, but, when we handed him 60 €, he just said, "thank you," and walked off, not offering any change back. We had to shrug our shoulders and write that one up to experience. It was all forgotten, however, as we sat on the grass of the Champs de Mars and watched the Eiffel Tower's light show....

Michael

Bateaux Moches: great unintended malaprop.

edgecorp

Yes, they were kind of ugly, weren't they? Should always look up the correct spelling before I go guessing on my French words! lol

tcreath

edgecorp, I'm really enjoying your trip report!

By the way, I too live in central/southern Illinois. We live close to St. Louis (in Glen Carbon, IL, near SIUE) but drive the five hours to Chicago because the prices are usually better and they have direct flights.

Tracy

edgecorp

Tracy,

We're just a bit north of Springfield.

Kim

edgecorp

Part 5 - Last day in Paris, in which we never quite make it inside Notre Dame

DS has decided he wants to live in Paris. I have always loved Paris, and one of my hopes for this trip was to instill some of that in my children. He loved the architecture, the dogs riding on the Metro and eating in the restaurants, and the bread!

We spent the last day here seeing the remaining sites (most) that were on our list: we went up the Eiffel Tower first thing, saw the Opera Garnier, and headed once again toward Notre Dame. As we approached it, I saw a sign for Sainte-Chapelle. Let's go in, I urged, because I had read that its windows were incredible when the sun was shining. The sun was shining brightly, and we spent a half-hour agog at the beauty of all the stained glass. Even though we're not Catholic, DS has decided that he will be married here.

I just read a biography of Marie Antoinette, so I convinced everyone else that we should head next door to the Conciergerie. Yawn. (And that one was from ME, who had wanted to go there.) Of course, by this time we discover that we need to hightail it back to the hotel to wend our way back to the airport, so we promise ourselves that we'll see the inside of Notre Dame the next time.

missypie

What town do you live in/near? One of my best friends in college grew up on a pig farm north of Springfield.

rosetravels

edgecorp -
I'm so enjoying your trip report. I especially like the details so please don't change your style!

edgecorp

missiepie,

We're in Chandlerville. My best friend growing up lived on a hog farm in Oakford. Did you go to Illinois?

edgecorp

Sorry for misspelling your name, missypie.

Also, to those who have offered words of encouragement, I sincerely appreciate it. I have been debating since we got back whether I wanted to post a report or not, because I view the world through rose-colored glasses - criticism makes me blanch. I decided, however, since this site gave me so many helpful hints, that I "owed" it the things I learned. I know that my details won't interest those who travel widely, because we just did normal, tourist-y things, but my details may be more helpful to those (like me) who are relative newcomers here.

Kim

tcreath

I'm very familiar with Springfield. One of my DH's best friends lives in Chatham, not too far from Springfield. I have been meaning to visit Springfield and see the new Lincoln museum, as I heard its wonderful.

Tracy

edgecorp

Tracy,

You definitely need to see the Lincoln Museum.

Kim