While I had the thought to go visit the departure gate for the inaugural flight from Paris to Indianapolis, which would have been another party with the governor, speaker of the house, and other dignitaries riding along, I decided I’d rather dive into seeing Paris.  The walk from the gate to the train to passport control was long, but once there, the line moved quickly.  I was through it in about 30 minutes, which is much better than some European airports I’ve visited.  I had not yet booked a hotel for my two nights there, but was eyeing a couple not too far from the Opera House that were reasonably priced.  The Roissybus was 12.50 Euro, departed every 15 minutes, and went straight from the terminal to the Opera House, so it seemed like a logical choice.  After driving around a couple more terminals for pickups with good views of several Airbus A380s and a static Concorde, we made the hour long drive to Opera, which would probably have been about half that with no traffic.  Regardless, it was comfortable and efficient.  During the ride, I booked my hotel for $85 USD a night via Hotwire.

Once reaching the Opera House, I could have hopped on the Metro (subway) and gone a few stops to the hotel, but I opted to walk the 20 minutes along Rue la Fayette to get an idea of the area.  It was a bit confusing that the Hotel du Pre, and my hotel, the Relais du Pre, were right next to each other and had the same color awning and same font.  After going in the wrong hotel first and waiting 5 minutes for the desk agent to finish a phone call, I discovered that I still had a few more steps to get to my hotel!  I arrived around 11, and though they didn’t have a room for me yet, the agent offered to store my bag if I could come back around 1pm.  While I was desperate for a shower and had hoped they may have a room available, I certainly understood not being able to accommodate well before check-in time.

Having done research before the trip, I made my way south on Rue du Faubourg Poissonniere, southwest on Rue de Clery, and South again on Rue due Louvre before reaching Fromagiere Danard.  I was taken in by all the cafes along the way, each with the chair facing outward, so that patrons could enjoy people watching while they dined.  From the time I started crossing the street to Danard, I could smell the cheese, upon entering, I was in awe of the cheese case immediately to the right upon entering.  The dining room was small, with several tables for two, and a couple for four.  The server invited me to sit, and I asked about the Tour of France, with options of 2 meats and 3 cheeses, or 3 meats and 5 cheeses.  I initially told him I wanted the former, with a request for a blue, an unpasteurized (stinky) option, and a chevre (goat cheese), along with his favorite meats.  Upon further review of the cheese case, I decided to go big and opt for the larger portion, as a couple other cheeses caught my eye.  This was all served with a glass of Sauvignon blanc, and with baguette, which I learned was the preferred delivery method over crackers, as there was nothing to mask the flavor of the cheese using bread.  While I sat, several more couples came in, some with reservations.  One couple was from Chicago but was now living in the Netherlands.  I sat there for over an hour enjoying my food and wine, and loved every minute of it.

After lunch, I saw that the Louvre was only a few blocks south, so I took a quick stroll down to check out the exterior and to see the famed Pyramide du Louvre, before walking to the Palais Royal metro stop, taking it to Poissonniere stop by my hotel, and checked in.  I was assigned room 205, which was small but adequate.  The one interesting part was that the bathroom was tiny and there was no wall or shower curtain separating the tub/shower from the room.  Along with this, the only means of taking a shower was to use a faucet on a hose that was hung at knee level.  Needless to say, water got everywhere each time I showered.  After a shower, a nice two and a half hour nap had me feeling refreshed.

I’d been in communication with three women from my company who were on the flight over, and we’d agreed to meet up for dinner.  They were finishing up some sightseeing, and were headed toward Notre Dame.  I headed south again, taking a different route for variety.  I spent a few minute sitting in the courtyard on the west side of the cathedral admiring its grandeur, before finding the three ladies and walking with them to the south side of the Seine to eat at Hippopatumus, where one had eaten on previous trip.  We enjoyed a nice meal and good conversation.  My appetite was lacking, so I had two small plates: froi gras (I’m sure I’ll catch flack, but I wanted to try it once) and asparagus with a poached egg, along with a glass of rose.  For two of the three, it was their first trip abroad, and one of their first times enjoying their benefits. I’d like to think that by telling them of my family’s adventures, I may have convinced them to give it a try a bit more more.

Upon finishing dinner, we took the RER C train in the wrong direction for two stops before realizing our mistake, then changed platforms, and took it in the right direction to a station near the base of the Eiffel Tower.  By the time we got off the train, thunderstorms had moved into the area.  We waited in the station for a bit hoping it would clear up, but eventually donned ponchos (glad they grabbed an extra for me from the tour bus they’d taken) and ascended the stairs into the storm.  The next few minutes turned into a comedy of errors, as we tried to find out way to the base of the tower, crossing a flooded street to find no sidewalk on the other side, walking through flooded grass, finding a dead end, finally finding our way to the base of the tower, though not being able to go along the path to it, as it was flooded, getting soaked all the while.  By the end we were laughing about it.  Once going through security to go under the tower, we spent some time trying to find where to get tickets to go up.  At this point, I was soaked and exhausted, and because I wanted to wait to spend the money to go up when Laura was with me, I opted to head back to the hotel.  Luckily I found that a bus would take me from just a block away to the hotel.  Unfortunately the bus terminated service at Opera, though I caught another that took me the rest of the way.  In the meantime, waiting for the next bus, I talked to a couple from Lahore, Pakistan.  The man had attended Ohio State, so we talked a bit about the Midwest before parting ways.  After a small bottle of wine from the hotel, I feel asleep in minutes.