PARIS: CITY OF DREAMS
2010
Our slow passage through passport control is brought to a halt when all booths close and the attendants leave. Tired travelers continue to arrive and fill up the long lines until there’s a sea of heads as far as you can see. Over the loudspeaker we hear a repeated request for M. Gamal (?) to pick up his luggage. The female voice is very low and controlled and we have a hard time understanding the message, but it becomes clear that Mr. Gamal left his luggage unattended and that in the middle of these travel warning times this has caused a certain ‘frisson,’ so we wait patiently until apparently the situation is resolved no less than an hour later. The taxi, on the other hand, is very swift and soon we enter the research complex at Rue Suger in the 6th arrondissement, where a Grand Suite apartment awaits us. A shy young woman, Naton, take us up some ancient steps to the elevator - we have 5 pieces of luggage - then presses the button to the 2nd floor. We get out and she takes us down a winding set of ancient stairs - Oswaldo has to lug the pieces of luggage down one by one - to the door of our apartment on the first floor next to the elevator..... Wtf? Oh well.
When we have freshened up we head for the street, have a quick - and indifferent - omelet and head across the river to the Place d’Opera, where we have to run an errand. We end up walking for hours, down Blvd. Haussmann, then Rue Montmatre, where we stop for a snack. Then on across the river back to our place, where we collapse, totally fatigued. With the 5hr time difference we know we cannot go to sleep yet, so at 10pm - we still think of it as our 5pm - we venture out to catch a light meal of crepes, after which we find the most divine icecream I have EVER tasted, fittingly named ‘L’inimitabile’ from Amorino - creamy Nutella, unbelievably good. Then off to bed.
ARRIVING IN PARIS
Monday, October 4, 2010
ROMANTIC VIEW OF PARIS ROOFTOPS FROM THE TRANQUIL MONCEAU PARK
No comments:
Post a Comment