Tuesday, June 10, 2014 (Flying Seattle to Paris, France)

(It has taken us a couple of weeks to start this blog, but they have been  fun, hectic weeks and we want to catch you all up on our trip)

We left home and flew first to Milwaukee, then had just enough time to get across the airport to catch our connecting flight to Paris. Flying international business class is a true pleasure with great service, complementary food and drink, and fully reclining seats that allowed for pretty restful sleep.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014 (Versailles, France)

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport just outside of Paris, France around 11:00 AM Paris time, rented a car, unwisely declined the rental of a GPS device and drove directly to Versailles without incident… then the fun began. Vague maps, undecipherable signs and a crazy patchwork of roads kept us driving in circles for several hours looking for our hotel outside of Versailles.

Finally found the hotel, almost by chance, and got settled in. We tried many times in vain to get anywhere else but the hotel and drove uselessly in circles for several hours before giving up and had dinner at the hotel.

Slept at Best Western

Thursday, June 12, 2014 (Versailles and Paris, France)

We set out first thing in the morning in search of a Sims Card so that we could adapt our phone to France… But we continued to be lost, lost, lost! Finally found the palace in downtown Versailles, parked and got our first look at Palace of Versailles…

We spoke with someone at the tourist info who directed us to the Post Office for the purchase of a SIMS card. That was when we determined we would not be able to use our phone for navigation and needed to buy a separate GPS.

Found the main Tourist Info in town who directed us to shopping mall where we might be able to find what we needed, but even with directions and a map, we circled uselessly until we finally gave up and decided to try to find the hotel again. After not finding a road to get to the hotel, we stopped at a pharmacy (BIG GREEN CROSS) …Then… voilà! Suddenly before us is a sign with the name of the shopping mall we had been directed to. We found real mall parking and a real indoor shopping mall with stores! Found their version of “Best Buy” (FNAC store) and bought a TomTom so we can cease being lost and start getting where we want to go. Much better!!!

Easily drove back to our hotel (thanks Tom!) and decided to take a nap before heading out for the evening.

Drove to Paris and discovered that the traffic and the impossibility of parking are both over rated. Everyone drives so badly in Paris, they barely even bothered to honk when Bill drove the wrong way down one way streets or stopped in the middle of intersections to figure out which way to go. If you manage not to hit anything or anyone, it’s considered winning!

We drove by the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame for some quick pictures, and then found the restaurant where we planned on eating. Bill double parked, walked up to a very surprised Maitre de and calmly asked for a table for two and would he please take care of the car? It seems the French have a very eloquent way of sputtering and when he had collected himself he just looked at us unbelievingly and said something that sounded like “simpossible”. We then returned to the car, found a parking garage several blocks away and walked back to have dinner at the restaurant next door. Hummph!

Once seated for dinner we engaged the young couple next to us and discovered that she was from Bellevue Wa., and he was from Thousand Oaks, Ca. We had a fun evening discussing our mutual travels and wondering at what a small world it really is getting to be.

After dinner we parted ways with our new friends, picked up our car (32 Euros or about $40 for parking)

and drove to the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame for night pics.

While getting some spectacular pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night, two girls came up and asked if they could help by taking a picture with both of us in it. I paused a moment, decided I could outrun either of the girls and handed my camera over, while expressing my thanks.

 After they took the picture for us we chatted with them for a while only to find out that they were both from Anaheim Ca! That’s the thing about travel, you meet so many exotic people!

Finally we departed Paris, returned to Versailles and back to our hotel for the night.