Paris - Day 1

We're back from Paris! Which means that now we get to tell you about our trip! I think the best way to do this is to do it in discreet installments so I can keep the posts relatively short. So, here we go!

Friday morning Andy went to work for the morning since our flight left at 1:30, which meant that Carsten and I were relaxing at home before our travels. I must admit that I was a bit antsy since I had gotten everything together (gotta love Excel lists!) and Andy had helped me finish packing on Thursday. After what felt like an eternity, Carsten and I went to the store to purchase our first baby food jars (carrots & potatoes and apples and bananas) and then caught the train to Zurich and made our transfer to the airport. I must admit that we almost missed our transfer, but the important part was that we made it :). At the airport, Andy came and found us (he came directly from work). You might be asking yourselves: how did Natalie get the luggage to the airport by herself? Well, I didn't. Andy took it to work (1 big suitcase and 1 small suitcase, and yes, most of the items were for Carsten), so that all I had to manage on the train was Carsten with his stroller and a couple of small bags. We got checked in and then made our way to our terminal, which took approximately 30 minutes to walk to - no joke. We apparently flew out of the smallest terminal ever as we actually had to take a bus to our plane from the terminal (again, no joke). We were expecting a small plane since we had to board it from the tarmack, however, it was a relatively large plane with 6 seats across. We got on, and a little while later, we were in the air. One of the pieces of advice that we've received is that it's best for babies if you can feed them during take off and landing so that the swallowing motion will relieve any pressure in their ears. In an attempt to do this, we started feeding Carsten some solid foods but since we had to wait a while before take off, we were done with this too soon. Fortunately, he still wanted to eat, so I fed him during our actual take off and he slept through most of the 1 hour flight, despite the 1-something-year-old in the seat behind me that continuously kicked my seat. Btw, I have a new pet peeve: parents who let their kid to whatever while they just talk to each other non-stop - please interact with your child and pay attention to what they are doing, especially on planes, as everyone else will appreciate it.

So, we arrived in Paris with a happy kid - woot! This is a photo of Carsten in the Charles De Gaule airport just after we got our luggage. He's ready for Paris!

We got outside the airport and were greeted with a very disgusting sewer smell. Welcome to Paris I suppose. I had heard that it smelled bad, but I was still not prepared for that smell. Luckily, we either got adjusted to it or it just happened to be at that terminal because I can't say I noticed it the rest of the time, which was nice. We texted Jess, who was on the airport shuttle to our terminal. Again, it seemed like we were stuck in the smallest, middle-of-nowhere terminal, which was only accessible by a long shuttle bus ride. Oh well. Jess arrived and we got to give her American hugs, and then we made our way to our hotel (via airport shuttle bus & train). We chose our hotel because it was next to a major train station, which gave us easy access to the metro, and this is the only good thing we have to say about the hotel. Let's just say that I wouldn't stay there again. After we dropped off our bags, it was supper-time so we headed out to find a restaurant. Since we were so close to the train station (across the street) there were plenty of options. We ended up choosing a nice and compared to our Swiss standards it was nice and cheap :). We went for the 'French' options, which included French onion soup (AMAZING!) and French fries (pretty much like the US). Here's a picture of our French onion soup & a photo of Andy and Carsten at the restaurant (notice Carsten's dinosaur hoodie :) ).

Thus ends Day 1. :) Day 2 is: Palace of Versailles!