Let's start in the beginning...

I've been waiting to start posting about my trip, because flickr is acting up with loading photos. And what is a blog of a trip abroad without photos?

So, I'll start today with my first day of the trip...which had very few photos. And we'll hope the flickr thing gets resolved to take you along on the rest of the week.

Thursday, last week, I got up at 5:30 to get ready for my flight. As I was getting around I thought it was totally insane what I was about to do. I tried to chicken out the whole week. Max was sick, Steve was stretched with work, and I was about to leave it all for a week in TWO other countries.

But, the time had come, and there was really little reason for me not to go. So I got around, and Steve took me to the airport, while my mom stayed with a sleeping Max. To say I was a ball of nerves would be an understatement.

I have only been away from Max for one weekend prior to this trip. But it seemed different, I could quickly get back to him if I needed. We were sleeping at the same times, and awake at the same times. I really had no idea what to expect being away from him for so long.

We got to the airport, and Steve went in with me to see me off. I know now, I probably said good-bye at the car. I tried my hardest to hold my tears in as I was checking in for my flight. And then when we were heading down the escalator, Steve showed me where he would wait to see me go through security. That's when I started crying. I just wanted him to go on through with me.

I kissed him goodbye, and went on through security, and off I was on my own! I walked past my gate twice before I realized it. But once I saw it I got a good seat to wait for boarding.

The flight from Denver to Dallas was pretty uneventful. It was a smaller plane, which always makes me feel a little sick. So I was just happy to land! I got there and started looking for my friend, Kris. I hooked up with her, and we got lunch.

Some of you may wonder who this friend is. I've known Kris for about 4 or 5 years. Mostly through online, but we have met in person before. She has been to Paris more that you can count on 2 hands, so she was a natural tour guide!

We changed out our monies and waited for our flight.


Here I am taking a photo of my passport with the iphone, in case it got lost.

When it was time to board, we got to our seat and noticed the plane was a bit of a ghost town! One of Kris's friends had notified her friend flight attendant that she was on the flight, so she came over trying to introduce herself. She told us the flight was nearly done boarding, so if we wanted to move to a row we could. Meaning a whole row to ourselves!

We should have...but we stayed put, and they filled up before we could get one to ourselves. But we did have a couple of seats each to spill across.

We had our meal, and then it was time to sleep. Which is something I never found. I tried and tried, but I just couldn't get there. So when we were about an hour out, I was feeling pretty edgy. Tired, off my normal body schedule, and totally ready to be off of that airplane!

We landed in Paris, and got through to customs. This was pretty uneventful, as far as customs go. The lady looked at me, looked at my passport, and stamped it. Done!

We then made our way to get our museum passes, and metro train tickets. The airport was crazy busy! It didn't look like there was much order to the lines, or checking in. I remember thinking I was glad we weren't flying out of there, because that sort of thing makes me go bananas!

We found our train into town, and away we went. The first thing I noticed was all the graffiti...and thinking how much Steve would love to see it all.


Kris showed me the sights as we were getting closer to the metro area. I kept thinking, wow...this is someplace I've never been! That was pretty great...but kind of scary too!

We got to our hotel, and checked in. It was so tiny! Not unbearable, but so tiny! I guess we could call it quaint. ;) But we weren't there to hang out in the hotel room, so it really didn't matter!


Once we got freshened up, we went across to a little cafe to have a crepe for lunch. We shared a egg, ham and cheese and nutella and banana!!!



I felt much better, and found some energy after eating. I was ready to see it all! And boy oh boy...did we see it all!


(I'll post the next portion either tonight or tomorrow. I have a ton of emails, and housework to get caught up on. In the meantime, you can head over to flickr from any of the above photos to see the whole trip.)