First day in Paris

On Friday the 19th I left. Unfortunately for the last three weeks I was very sick with a cold/flu which consisted of a sorethroat, bronchitis and a terrible cough. Luckily I got it early enough so that I was well enough to go.

My flight was on Lufthansa from Vancouver to Frankfurt and on to Paris. I chose Lufthansa instead of Air Canada because the flight left in the afternoon and arrived in Paris in the afternoon. The Air Canada flight to Paris through Montreal requires leaving early in the morning (and getting up even earlier) and arriving in Paris early in the morning (way before your hotel/apartment is ready to be occupied). Also, I went on Aeroplan airmiles and discovered that flying on Lufthansa meant I didn't have to pay the fuel surcharge!! This saved me close to $200 dollars.

The flight on Lufthansa was pretty good. The positives: recaro seats, very clean, food served on the one hour flight between Frankfurt and Paris. The negatives: the food was so/so (no rouladen or knackwurst or spatzle....), I had an asian flight attendant, the confusing Frankfurt Flughafen (having to go through security again!! and the very long way to walk through a maze of corridors and elevators [it is much easier to connect in Montreal].

But I arrived safe and sound in Paris and my luggage arrived too!!! I took the RER to Gard du Nord and then the metro to Blanche which is just a short walk to my small apartment in Montmartre (close (too close?) to the Moulin Rouge). This is the same apartment I stayed at with my son, Glen, in 2004, except this time the second floor.

Nichole was waiting for me at the apartment and showed me everything in a few minutes. After she left I went to the Monoprix to pick up a few things (milk, dessert, Orangina, etc.). When I got back I was so tired (only had a couple of hours of sleep on the plane) that I went to sleep for only an hour as I had to go to the Liane Foly concert at Le Grand Rex.

Well I got up in plenty of time but I was so disoriented from the travel and lack of sleep that it took me 45 minutes to gain my wits and figure out how I was going to get to the theatre. Well the outside fresh air revived me and with great haste I managed to get there on time.

I love Liane Foly, great voice and great song styling. To my shock/dismay the first half of the show was her doing not her songs but parodies of famous french chanteuses from the last 30 years. The crowd was laughing uncontrollably but I had two problems: 1) my french isn't as good as it should be and 2)I didn't grow up in Paris so didn't watch all the french variety shows that she was having a great time recreating.

Thankfully the second half made up for it. Great songs, great voice, great encores, the crowd went wild. There was a three or four song set that had me and everyone in the audience enthralled.

I think it will be hard to top that concert on my trip. PS. Ask Mary to get Liane's hairstyle (so cute).

Back to the apartment and late to bed after midnight.

From the time I got up in Vancouver to going to bed in Paris it was 32 hours and with only 3 hours of sleep.

Not bad for an old man!!!!