Spring Break 2018; Day 8: Paris and the Big Airplane

April 6, Friday

I was up and ready,  then had to pack.  I finished the last of my muesli and the last of my milk (worked out perfectly!).   Antoine needed me done packing and out of my space by 2:00 so that he could clean for the next person who was coming at 3:00.  My flight wasn't leaving until 6:15, but I didn't have any specific plans besides packing and leaving for the airport on time (around 2:30).  Antoine asked me this morning what my plans were and when I shrugged he guessed that I was going to hang out until I had to leave.  I finished packing and it was only 11:30.  I didn't want to spend the next three hours sitting on the couch reading.  I was in Paris!!  But where?

I picked up a guide book and leafed through and the Luxembourg Gardens popped into my head, so I looked it up online, then looked up how to get there.  I wrote a note to Antoine that I had gone out after all and would be back by 2:30.  It was only about an hour walk, so I headed out.

Another of those weird mosaics

The back of the Louvre

A small garden

Note the new metal roofing on the new building to match the roofing on the old

Small garden in front of a church

Bridge crossing the Seine

The tip of the Ile de la Cité--a popular spot for picnics

A small church I passed by

Accordian player on the Pont des Arts

The Seine

Google Maps took me through a few very quiet neighborhoods, very nice.  And this day was the awesome fantastic day that makes people want to go to Paris!  Warm (almost 70) and sunny!  What a great day for walking!  Google took me to a building surrounding part of the gardens which you cannot go through without security clearance.  So, I went a few blocks down and found an entrance to the gardens.  I 've walked through slightly different areas of the gardens before, but this was a new area.  It seemed that all of Paris was sitting at the gardens, enjoying the beautiful day!  I found an enclosed garden with benches and found one bench open.  I sat there for awhile and enjoyed the sunshine.  Kind of wished that I had brought my book, but I people watched instead.  Some super cute little boys were playing and were fun to watch.  I sat there for awhile.  I figured that I was going to walk another hour to get back and then have to make my way to the airport with my luggage, so I didn't want to wear myself out walking around.  Sitting and soaking up sunshine was a nice way to spend my last afternoon in Paris.

Jardin de Luxembourg

People playing chess

tulips!

Museum

The two outer boxes seem to be sandboxes.  The one in the middle seems
to have originally been a wading pool and was changed into a sandbox.

Eventually, I walked back, arrived just before 2:30 and gave Antoine my keys.

Interesting combination of rooflines

Classic postcard of Paris

Another accordian player (and my finger!)

The sides of the bridge are covered with plexiglas so people can't put locks on them.
They put them instead on a lightpole

A street full of electric car chargers.

Then off the airport. Taking the metro is a great way to be among actual Parisians and very few tourists.  I took the metro to the RER.  The RER is more of a regional train.  The metro pass I bought was good for zones 1-3 (I knew that I wouldn't really need to go out of those zones to see things.  The airport, however, is zone 5.  So I could use my pass  to get into the RER area, but I didn't want to buy a separate ticket to the airport when I had my pass to go most of the way.  And I didn't think that I could but a separate ticket for the last part of the journey.  I suppose that I could have gotten off the train at the edge of zone 3 and bought a ticket to go the rest of the way, but I just stayed on until I reached  the airport.  Google Maps suggested getting out before the airport and taking a bus, but I couldn't see a reason for doing that, so I stayed on all the way to the Terminals 1 and 3 stop (Terminal 2 was the end of the line).  I needed Terminal 1.  You needed to scan your metro pass again to get out and, of course, mine didn't work.  I tried it a few times and stepped back.  An RER employee came over and said, "I help" and scanned her card for me to go through!  So helpful and I saved the extra money and time that getting another ticket would have entailed.  So I had to navigate the terminals to find Terminal 1 boarding and got in line for Norwegian Air.  The line wasn't too long.  I got there, gave him my passport and put my big bag on the belt.  It was 10.2 kg.  Norwegian Air sells very cheap flights, but then charge you for everything.  Any bags you bring on the plane (up to 2) need to be less than 10 kg, weighed together.  My big bag is more than that alone, which is why I paid for it to be checked both ways when I flew to Paris.  The man at the desk said that my ticket did not include a checked bag, so I showed him the picture the woman at JFK had taken with my phone of her screen that showed that I had purchased it (thank goodness she did that).  So I was good to go.  Found the cluster of gates mine was in, went through security, and found my gate.  I knew that Norwegian wouldn't feed me or give me any drinks without paying a huge fee.  They don't even provide blankets, pillows, or earbuds. You can purchase each of those things.  I needed food, but the only food in our cluster of gates had some dubious looking sandwiches and a few pastries.  So I filled my water bottle and sat at the gate to eat the rest of my trail mix.

When it was time to board, people were clustered around the gate and in a long line, so I (and a handful of other travelers) waited until the line was much shorter.  My backpack was going under the seat in front of me, so I didn't need to worry about overhead bins or anything and knew that they weren't leaving without me.  I joined the line to board when it was very short and found my seat right in between 2 people.  They were both very nice and we tried to help each other out with the limited accommodations.  They had pre-ordered food.  I just ate my almonds and watched movies.  I saw three movies:  The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Goodbye Christopher Robin.  Then I noticed that we were going to land two hours early.  I was very excited about that!  I tried to sleep in the last hour before we landed, but wasn't able to so I read my book and played a trivia game on the screen in front of me.  It was surprising to land early since we had left about 45 minutes late.  Oh well--glad to be back.

I got my bag and put on my sweatshirt, jacket, and scarf to head for the airport train to the subway.  I got to Anneliese's stop and walked to her apartment.  I was very tired and very hungry.  She made pasta for us (she hadn't eaten either) and we talked for awhile.  None of her roommates were home.  We were both super tired, so we went to bed early (around 1:30).  One roommate came home as were were getting ready for bed.  Anneliese gave me her bed and she slept on the couch which was nice.  A little more privacy for her, and her roommates wouldn't feel uncomfortable coming into the common room with a strange woman asleep on the couch.