We left Nashville on time at 2:30 Thursday afternoon, arrived in Chicago early and had a bunch of time to kill before our 6:30 departure. Then we just had an 8 hour flight separating us from Paris!

For the most part there were no problems with the flight. I sat next to two really funny musicians from San Francisco who were going to Paris for their first time. I taught them some French and they bought me a drink haha. I tried sleeping, mostly to no avail and about halfway through the flight, I ended up feeling really sick - oveheated, dizzy, nauseated - very strange. But the flight attendants gave me snacks and sprite and by the time we landed, I felt better.

Getting our bags took forevvvvvvver and I was in a pretty cranky mood since I hadn't slept hardly at all and everyone else in my party had. I just needed a nap! So we get our bags, don't even go through customs, and get into the main part of the arrivals area. Exchange some moolah, call the person who is meeting us at our apartment and get a cab to take us into the city.

On the ride in, if I hadn't been feeling so sick to my stomach, I might have thought to snap a few photos because we came on the Stade de France side, through the 18th, a part of Paris I'm very unfamiliar with. Lots of poverty, lots of north Africans, Indians and people of middle eastern descent. Just as we were crossing in Paris proper, on the outskirts, I saw a little shanty town on the side of the river. As we drove through the 18th, we passed about 25 shops selling Indian dresses and robes. So many colors - of clothes, of people, of street vendor signs. One whole face of a building was painted in bright oranges, reds, yellows - colors that just don't show up on buildings in Paris. I'm glad we drove in and didn't take the train because we wouldn't have seen this other side of Paris.

We finally push through all of the traffic and make it to our apartment building. We only wait a couple minutes before Christian, the greeter, comes out and welcomes us. He helps us move our bags into the courtyard and thankfully, our apartment entrance is on the rez-de-chaussée (the ground floor). Of course, inside is the devil's staircase that I've already slipped down once. But Christian was super nice and spoke in a mix of French and English explaining how to use things in the apartment. He was so friendly and welcoming.

Then we all had some naps because the trip out was just exhausting, especially for those of us who did not sleep on the plane! When I woke up from my nap, no one else was awake and I was hungry so I ran down to the first Franprix super marché I could find and the first bounlanger I came across, getting some essentials (namely a baguette and some croissants! haha). I watched a bunch of French game shows and Friends dubbed in French waiting for everyone else to get up.

Nastasha and I ran out to pick up things I'd forgotten on my first grocery run (like toilet paper!) while the boys continued to sleep, and we walked around and took some pix and took in the 11e arrondissement un peu.

After my dad took a business call, he, Natasha and I let Adam sleep and went out to find a place to eat. The great thing about Paris is there is never a short supply of restaurants. We probably looked at five or six before we settled on one. It was so lovely. Not rushed at all. The waiters were so friendly, and humored us as we stumbled through our French. We ordered a delish bottle of wine and one of the menu prix fixe and had a delightful time. I think we were there 2 hours. We finally headed home, and found Adam watching one of the soccer games, and trying to find last night's basket ball game online. The three of them just went out for drinks - and to finish watching the France/Ukraine game - while I stayed home to shower and crash. I'm so tired. I'm going to pass out on this very uncomfortable looking pull out bed in the living room. As long as I can get some sleep before our four days in the rain start, I should be good. :)

We haven't decided what we're doing tomorrow. Maybe la Tour Eiffel? perhaps if it's raining, the crowds will be smaller? Or the sewer tours? Or walking through le Pantheon? Tomorrow, we're having dinner with someone we befriended on our last trip. Should be fun!

Bonne soirée, tout le monde!