A stop-over in Paris

I'm writing this from our hotel in Paris. We're on our way to Venice tomorrow, and will come back to Paris after Christmas and fly out from here, so it made sense to fly in here, as well. Stopping over was a good idea. I already love Paris and can't wait to come back and explore it some more in a week and a half.

Our journey started yesterday afternoon. Lori (who is taking care of the animals while we are away) was so kind as to drive us to JFK in the midst of mid-week commuter traffic. She's a star in so many ways.

We had a little scuffle with TSA (who doesn't these days?) because they didn't want to accept our print at home boarding passes, even though Air France had just accepted them when we checked our bags. Frustration at the inefficiencies in the system does not even BEGIN to describe my emotion at the time. I should have expected it, though, because the attendant at the Air France ticket counter was so amazed that our print out actually worked... like it was a new thing... what is up with international travel being so behind the times???

But we made it onto the plane, and more importantly, so did our luggage! And we caught our shuttle from CDG to our hotel here near Montmartre...

A view from our window

Another view from our window! Don't mind the crane ;)

 After we checked in, I was starving (even though Air France had fed us very well, the red-eye flight took it out of me). So we ventured out in search of food...

Bees handing out fliers by the Metro

Right down the street

 Being a vegetarian in France is somewhat of a letdown...

 We settled on crepes. Did I say settled? I mean, we GORGED on crepes and cafe au lait with chocolate in it... yum! Then Noah wanted to go find the Montmartre cemetery, also near our hotel...

A cute antique shop on our path had this whimsical figurine in the window

 We wandered around the cemetery until Noah was frozen solid...

The ravens added ambiance and kept a close eye on what we were doing.

Then we came back to the hotel to sleep some. So tired, but I think we will have kicked the jet lag by the morning. After a nap, we found some delicious pasta for dinner and then took the metro to see the Eiffel Tower. I didn't want to go all the way to it... just wanted to take a quick photo or two, because they make it sparkle at night so spectacularly. It snowed on us as well, but I don't have the mad skills at taking night photos yet, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Now, Noah is watching some Schwarzenegger film dubbed into French... and we're thawing out. So far, the trip is meeting my expectations. I'm looking forward to getting to Venice tomorrow and getting settled in for a few days to really get to know the area.