Day 2: Paris Diversion, a $13 Piece of Cake and Buying Free Tickets
The flight arrived on time, around 9:30 am.

I always forget that customs are really a formality when traveling to Europe. The customs desk was unmanned. We just passed through. As Jason put it, there was much more rigorous controls flying to Canada than to Europe.

TRAIN RIDE TO PARIS



I had researched how to get from Charles de Gaulle airport into the city. RER line "B"--No sweat. When we arrived at the automated machines, each had a note. I didn't take the time to read what the note said. I just assumed that the machines were out of order. After all, they normally are!

Alas, they very well might have been broken, but upon further inspection, I found out that the note said that the route from Charles de Gaule to Gare du Nord station was free of charge for two days! Score! That 16 Euros back in our pockets.

Arriving at Gare du Nord, we were surprised by all of the holiday travelers. Long lines. We found some lockers at the far side of the station. It felt good to leave our heavy bags filled with cookies, candy and other fragile Christmas deliciousness.

The line to a functioning RER machine was long, so I said "screw it, let's take a taxi."



Twnty minutes and Ten Euros later we were at the base of the Eiffel tower, the item that was #1 on our list of things to do. It was cold. After being in line for 45 minutes, we boarded a small inclined plane "tram" up the base of the tower all the way to the 2nd level. We didn't opt to go to the absolute top, as that would have meant another 45 minute wait.



We took some interesting pictures and walked ALL FLIGHTS of stairs down. I don't recall why we did this...



Jason really appreciated the sight, but was a bit disappointed because the place is so hyped and looks so cool on TV--he was expecting a bit more.

The place de la Concorde had a special Ferris wheel and there was a holiday mood. We decided to get a bite at a small café on Rue de Ravioli, and both chomped down a rather cheese/ham baguettes apiece. There was a cake that looked good. I ordered one for us to split. I was delish. But NOT worth the price. It cost 9 Euro! WTF?

Our bellies full and the wind having died down a bit, the walk across the Invalides (one of my favorite parks) was rather enjoyable, as was the walk around the Louvre. Jason was impressed at the size of the building.

From there, we crossed la Seine, and walked toward l'Île-de-France, past the booksellers. What pretty light!



We finally found Notre Dame de Paris

Not seeing any taxi stands, we decided to try to use the Métro (not the RER, the Métro. There is a difference. It's a French thing, I guess.)

The métro reminded me of the Boston subway. A bit run down. What surprised me is how long we had to walk to switch lines Châtelet station. We made it to Gare du Nord and easily retrieved our backpacks filled with bricks. Or so they felt.

The next task was to get tickets from Gare du Nord back to the airport.

Oddly, there was no line in front of the RER machine at this hours. Amazed, I stepped up to the machine. Now, I'm not a slow person, but I struggled with the RER automatic machine, mostly with the payment options. I could not get a credit card to work. And the two tickets together would cost 16 Euro payable ONLY in change (i.e no bills.)

I tried all 4 credit cards on one machine. Jason suggested that I pull the cards out slower. Still no dice. I tried another machine. Nope. French systems at their best. I got flustered and pissy, which I'm not proud of.

I finally decided to go to a tobaco store and buy a magazine. I bought a Tetû magazine with a special calendar--and asked for special change. It was not so bad.

The flight to Hannover was uneventful, despite the meal of duckmeat. We arrived in Hannover 30 minutes late. It was so nice to see Julia, Peter and Christine waiting for us outside the baggage claim area.



Went to Julia and Sören's and had a nice spread of meat/cheese. Jason broke out the Christmas cookies that he had made the previous day, in Cincinnati.

We had a nice visit. Jason had trouble sleeping because of having sat badly on the plane. The difference was that I had plane pillow and he did not.
- posted by Matt @ 4:16 AM