The flight out of Newark left about an hour late. They actually held the plane to wait for other flights that had been delayed by the storms we were having in the Northeast. By the time we pushed back from the gate we had gone from a mostly empty to plane to a nearly full one.
We pulled in at Charles De Gaulle in the late morning. Some of the other passengers wanted to know what gate we were arriving to so they could figure out where they needed to go to make their next connection. Well, like many European airports CDG has an area where the planes park and offload the passengers onto buses. There is no direct connection with the terminal. That's what our plane did to a few people's chagrin.
After lunch we walked toward the city center and went to the Eiffel Tower! Lu wasn't exactly keen about going to the top, but I insisted - especially since we were there and had no other plans for the day. We had to wait on long lines to take an elevator to the top. The view from the elevators was probably one of the best, but the observation platform at the top was great too. We were lucky to have beaten out some storms coming in and managed to get a few pictures before it started to rain.
On our way back to hotel we stopped at another sidewalk cafe for dinner. We both selected "formule" dishes from the menu. Formule translates to a fixed price with some selection for all the courses in the meal. In our case Lu got roasted chicken, salad, and french fries (no, I am not joking about the french fries) and I ordered beef sirloin with Bernaise sauce, salad, and fries. The last course was dessert. I had a chocolate mousse and we ordered raisson cake for Lu which was similar to a rice pudding.
We did well on staying awake for the day. By the time we got back to the hotel it was nearly 10PM! Lu turned on the TV and found CSI in french! The dubbing was pretty good and it was kind of fun watching an American TV show in a foreign language.
The flight was not bad at all. No turbulence and I was able to sleep for about 4 hours. Lucia did a little bit better than me in the sleep department. She slept most of the time.
We pulled in at Charles De Gaulle in the late morning. Some of the other passengers wanted to know what gate we were arriving to so they could figure out where they needed to go to make their next connection. Well, like many European airports CDG has an area where the planes park and offload the passengers onto buses. There is no direct connection with the terminal. That's what our plane did to a few people's chagrin.Customs and immigration was incredibly easy to get through. The police staffing immigration barely glanced at our passports and there was only one young man sitting in the doorway through customs and he was happily joking around with two lovely young women. We cruised right through with our mountain of bags. It was kind of surprising given all of the news about heightened security these days.
We took a cab into the Paris to our hotel. The cab ride was about an hour. The driver seemed somewhat unfamiliar with the address when we got in the cab, but he had no problem figuring out where to go. The fare was expensive - about 50 Euro (at a .667 exchange rate that's about $75). I am glad I can get reimbursed for it.
We checked in to the hotel, got settled, and decided to walk around and to stay awake as long as possible. We had lunch at a sidewalk cafe about a block away from the hotel. The staff was very pleasant and the food was good. We didn't have anything exotic, just sandwiches and a few beers.
After lunch we walked toward the city center and went to the Eiffel Tower! Lu wasn't exactly keen about going to the top, but I insisted - especially since we were there and had no other plans for the day. We had to wait on long lines to take an elevator to the top. The view from the elevators was probably one of the best, but the observation platform at the top was great too. We were lucky to have beaten out some storms coming in and managed to get a few pictures before it started to rain.
On our way back to hotel we stopped at another sidewalk cafe for dinner. We both selected "formule" dishes from the menu. Formule translates to a fixed price with some selection for all the courses in the meal. In our case Lu got roasted chicken, salad, and french fries (no, I am not joking about the french fries) and I ordered beef sirloin with Bernaise sauce, salad, and fries. The last course was dessert. I had a chocolate mousse and we ordered raisson cake for Lu which was similar to a rice pudding.
We did well on staying awake for the day. By the time we got back to the hotel it was nearly 10PM! Lu turned on the TV and found CSI in french! The dubbing was pretty good and it was kind of fun watching an American TV show in a foreign language. 
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