Paris For The First Time: And we're off!

Our favorite chauffeur, Ellen, picked us up on time and dropped us at the door to American Airlines...very nice desk agent printed our Chicago to Paris boarding passes and surprised us with the news that our seats had been changed ( we no longer are sitting in front of the lav), had a nice lunch (waitress Sandra -no relation to Sandy, the hurricane, was a delight), boarded on time and left just a few minutes late. A good start to a wonderful trip!

Arrived in Chicago in the terminal which we fly from to Paris. However a long walk between gates. Flying Iberia for the first time and had read negative reviews. However, we got lucky - the flight turned out to be flown by American ...overbooked, full flight, large sardine can...but, on time departure, excellent flight attendants, reasonable food and French wine.

Little sleep as always, but a pleasant experience.

Arrived at CDG on time. Took less than 5 minutes to get through Passport control...for some reason, there was no check of our luggage...however the belt that delivered the luggage to us broke down causing a 20 minute delay. Not to worry...the driver from Inter Shuttle ( which I booked in advance ) was waiting for us (with a sign with our name) just as we came into the exit area. We were quickly transported from the airport to the highway to Paris where we immediately got into a slowly moving traffic jam...very glad that I didn't have to watch a taxi meter ticking away!

We were in a hurry to exit the airport and, therefore, didn't stop at an ATM machine. Our very nice driver stopped at 2 different ATM locations, both of which rejected both of Art's cards :(. So we arrived at the Renaissance Paris Vendome with 40 Euros left over from a previous trip and US$. The desk clerk converted some money for us and we were able to pay for our transit to the hotel. We were amazed at the helpfulness and friendliness of our driver and of all of the hotel personnel!

We were upgraded to the room I had requested...quiet facing an internal courtyard (not the Irish Pub across the street) and with a stand-up shower not just a tub. The room would be ready in an hour and a half, so out we went...walked to the Tuilleries on this gray day for pictures, then across a bridge to view the Seine and our first views of the Musee D'Orsay, L'Orangerie, and Place de la Concorde. We stopped at the L'Orangerie to buy Museum Passes to go with the one that Julie gave us and then back to the hotel to check.

A quick look at the room and we were off to our 1 PM reservation for lunch at Le Soufflé ( highly recommended by Tina Nolan and Trip Advisor). Fabulous! Since all we had eaten was airline breakfast ( need I say more?) we splurged on the Formule - a special 3 course plus a glass of wine and coffee menu for 25€. Worth every Euro and then some! Will add a link to pictures later as I'm running out of steam. After lunch we walked to a local boulangerie to pick up sandwiches and dessert for a light dinner in the room, took naps and showers and relaxed in anticipation of our first full day in the city of lights tomorrow.

Weather today....high 40s/low 50s and cloudy - NO rain!