Disaster averted...again.

Nothing comes easy when it comes  to me, and generally I have come to accept this little quirk. However, this trip has had an extraordinary share of weirdness.  Beginning Sunday when I had a significant pipe leak under my kitchen sink resulting in a slowly babbling creek into the basement still full of unpacked boxes from the move a year ago.  (Let's not go there, shall we?)  Work got unexpectedly busy just before I left, but good co-workers are holding down the fort so no worries, right?  Then, Wednesday night I needed to make a copy of my passport to be especially diligently safe...but my home copier breaks with an error that I need to contact customer service!  It's after 10 pm, fat chance that is going to happen. Ok, quick problem solving skills remind me that I can go to my office and make a copy.  Disaster averted.

In the morning we are off to the airport, well before we need to be there, giving me plenty of time to work with AT&T to organize the international calling and data, which by the way is stupidly expensive. While I was partaking of my morning, "holy cow did I remember everything-too late now"cocktail in the airport lounge,

the loudest woman in the world was having a conversation on her cell with half the town of Belton making it not only difficult to hear but difficult to concentrate on the myriad of ways that AT&T was going to try to stick it to me while I was seeing the world.

Alas, I went with the cheapest options available and prayed I would find free wifi to message anyone necessary through Facebook and not data.  So far, so good. 

Reaching Dulles, we deplaned via the type of stairs you see the President or other famous people use and let me tell you, it's not as easy as it looks.  The nearly brand spanking new plane we boarded for the overseas leg had an "auxiliary power" issue that delayed us at least an hour and a half.  I'm not entirely sure what auxiliary power does for a plane, but I'm absolutely positive I don't want to find out somewhere mid-Atlantic!

The ever lovely teens seated behind us where in full gossip mode for approximately the first four hours of our flight when, apparently, they ran out of topics to converse over and I was able to fully utilize my eye covers and neck pillow and catch a cat nap.

Arrival Paris!

Or so the pilot claimed. It wasn't until our wheels were nearly touching ground that we could see a thing because the cloud was sitting on top of the airport.  No worries, the landing was successful and we were here!  We got our bags, rode the regional train _where we were treated to a karakoke serenade_ to the transfer station where we caught the metro, exited at Franklin D Roosevelt and found the hotel! We felt major triumph.  The Arc was built, obviously, to honor the crazy tourist who attempt to get into Paris with 50 pound suitcases on public transportation.

To celebrate, and to gather our second (or fourth or fifth) wind, we had an "American" coffee and water (17 euro) in the Lobby of the beautiful hotel in the middle of the Champs Élysées.  

After a bit, we set off to conquer the shopping the Élysées had to offer_from the Louis Vuitton flag ship store to Disney_we saw it all. Our big purchase of the afternoon? A beret, crepe and post cards because really who needs a Cinderella gown or a LV trunk?

After a much needed warm bath and a nap, we prepared to set off again to the Lourve.  While freshening up, I did try to burn down the hotel by using the hair straightener. At first, I plugged the appliance into the converter provided by the hotel_they are clever_which did not provide power to the Chi.  I recalled that the chi would work on 220 so I simply used the adapter and plugged it into the 220 outlet.  Bad idea, as noted by the melted Chi, the smokey room, and the fire alarm beeping.  

Another clue that perhaps it was not an ideal move was the very grumpy 19 year old who said, "I told you so" about 10 too many times. Alas, I twisted my fried locked into a messy bun and decided to get out of the room before they could figure out it was me.

Off to the Louvre! On Fridays it is open in the evening and it is surreal all aglow. The museum was originally a palace and was built over hundreds of years by multiple dynasties (do not rely upon me for your history) and was converted by the state into the museum.  It houses some of the most famous art in the world, including the Mona Lisa.

 It has an enormous amount of art.  A mind boggling amount of art.  Too much art for any one day, and so after a few hours we decided it was time to partake of a little supper the French way.

We found a sweet restaurant named Napoleon and ordered a lovely meal.  

I people watched the amorous couple beside us_these two needed a hotel room_ and understood why the French are known as lovers. Libby had her first glass of wine, which I think she enjoy and which I finished.  We finished our day the way all days should end_with ice cream!

And a stop at the store for a new hair straightener.