Back in France Again

Back to tour de France 10 years later.  And we would accept no less than a plan to go from Paris to Cassis by car.  And then fly back starting from Marseille. It had to be done!

When we made our flight reservations for the trip, it was done kind of quickly, with time running out and fares going up and us finally having the resolve to say to ourselves...yes, we have so much going on at home but we'll never be invited by good friends to come to France for a party again.  And what a special party it was.

We found that the best fare had us flying Iceland Air and connecting through Iceland before arriving in Paris.  It's too bad we didn't figure out a night or two in Iceland to try to see the Northern Lights   We were so happy to finally nail down all the details of our adventure in France that we couldn't fit Iceland too.

However, shortly into our first leg on Iceland Air I realized the northern lights were inside the plane!  "Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the aurora borealis. If you haven't already done so, please stow your carry-on luggage underneath the seat in front of you and focus on the overhead bin."

After the long flight and the 40 minute train ride in from Charles De Gaulle, to come up the steps of the Saint Michel metro and out into the sunlight of the Latin Quarter was so surreal.  Just an incredible feeling to suddenly be in the heart of Paris.

And we were so excited to know our accommodation was right there in the Latin Quarter, just a couple blocks from Place Saint-Michel. When we got to our door we found our airbnb instructions to get into our place were exactly as stated.  When we opened the apartment door it was obvious that the pictures taken for the Airbnb listing were all taken from standing in the exact same spot. The accommodation was true to it's neighborhood, in that it's size was only a quarter of a normal apartment. The kitchen was ridiculously small.  But it really didn't matter. It was a terrific location, with a comfortable bed and a balcony view of Paris life.

After dropping off our stuff we got right back out there.  Not sure we how it happened but we ended up on a hop on and off.

We didn't have a plan for that day of arrival and ended up for dinner near apartment at a touristy spot we felt.  But we were tourists too.  We were there to see the city's history and maybe get a glimpse of the real Parisian life elsewhere.  We had a table outside on a beautiful night and we made it there.