The road to Paris has been mostly uneventful. All 6 us of had only a carry on and a backpack. Janna did a masterful job of packing the girls, especially when you consider the fact that we had to bring Christmas presents in for some friends of ours. More on that later. We had a short trip to Chicago prior to our Paris leg of the journey. That did not stop all the girls from getting their extended flight sleep gear out on the way to Chicago. The fact that it was 2:00 in the afternoon didn't stop anyone.
The Paris flight was packed. A mad dash by everyone on board trying to secure overhead space resulted in some hurt feelings and awkward moments, but in the end everyone who deserved a spot for their bag got one - even Team Northrup. One lady had a bag so big and red and fat that I would be surprised if it fit down below. Funny how she kept trying to squeeze it in the next overhead, despite the fact that, as far as I could tell, all overhead bins were manufactured with the exact same measurements with the same plastic material. I enjoyed that little rodeo.
I sat next to a duder from France while the rest of my family was in a group of three and a group of two. The girls did great. After a quick dinner and some Dramamine, we were all unconcious by 9-9:30pm. I slept about as poorly or as well as anyone sleeps on any flight. Totally vertical. Drooling. Waking every six minutes or half hour - I have no idea. I just remember an annoying noise waking me up at 12:30am. It sounded kind of like a TV show being pushed at high volume thru someones Ipad or Iphone (without the ear buds). I kept looking around, but could not find where the sound was coming from. I think I found the culprit when a non-cute couple sitting in front of Janna was asked by the flight attendant to "turn that down". Not sure what they had on, but it was loud enough to wake me up 10 feet away. Oh, and they needed to get a room.
We landed at 9:00am (2:00am CST) and zombied our way thru customs and to our Israeli-French driver who got us to our apartment by 11:30 (sounds like a long time, but it didn't seem like that long). On Rue Damremont on the north side of Paris in the 18th district. A nice lady was there to welcome us. She didn't stay long and we didn't want her to. We were beat. We all got in our jammies and took a 2 hour nap. Janna woke us all up at 2:00pm.
It was snowing when we woke up. So we bundled up at fumbled our way out of the apartment and down to a market. There we picked up some gear (lotion, shampoo, snacks, etc.). After a quick stop at a local bakery, we went straight back to the apartment, gaining some confidence. Everything is hard to do when you don't speak the language here. I don't even think I am saying Merci' properly. And the locks are wierd here. And the outlets are different. And I haven't slept much. Thank goodness we don't have any schedule to keep.
Anyway, we unloaded at the apartment, ate a fresh bagguette or chocolate croissant and then packed up all the Christmas presents that we had brought for our missionary friends. Joe and Suzie Schlie and their three girls, Collette, Isabella and Sophia. We had packed not only presents for them, but also some very American essenials, like giant bags of chocolate chips and baking powder. Needless to say, our carryons should be much lighter going home. We had so much stuff that we needed to bring a little cart with us as we left the apartment a second time. This time, we were taking our adventure one step farther - the Metro.
Paris is not a clean city. I would guess that people here are very comfortable throwing something on the ground that would normally go in a landfill. And the Metro, like most subways I have been on, take the dirt to another level. Plus there are bums (hobos? homeless? crazies? not sure what the PC vernacular is). But once again, it wasn't the dirt and the bums that posed the biggest challenge. It was the language barrier. The dude working the Metro ticket counter didn't speak English, so we were pretty much on our own with the kiosk. We figured it out after a while and thanks to a couple of strangers. With tickets in hand we made our way down 120 steps (seriously, we counted) and got on the train to the 6th district (south of the Seine or Left Bank). Joe was there to meet us when we emerged from the Metro 20 minutes later.
Joe and Suzie live in a very nice apartment near the University where they have their ministry. They think it is small, and I am sure it poses problems at times, but I loved it. After a quick appetizer of pork pate' (gross and delicious all at the same time - we all loved it and wanted more) Suzie fed us a salmon quiche and a bacon quiche. Yum.
My mom used to always make quiches for church dinners growing up. I had never had one until tonight. A very dangerous delight. Then we had some cheeses and coffee and tea followed by the most delicious macaroons I have ever had. She had picked them up at a local bakery. After a couple of hours, the Schlies walked us down to the local Bon Marche (like Dean and Deluca) where we shopped for some specialty items.
After brief goodbyes in the snowy, wet streets of Paris, we left the Schlies, hopped back on the Metro, and found our way back to our apartment.
It is 11:15pm here. But it is 7 hours earlier. We are hungry (why? We just ate a huge dinner. Must be the jet lag) and tired. Hopefully we will be sleeping soon. -- Jeff
P.S. This is Janna, here, I tried to upload some photos of snowy Minnesota (the snow piled up taller than me!) and couldn't figure out on Jeff's computer. It is lovely here, we are tired, but grateful.
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