Hello Paris...and the Gas Station!

Kelly and I had a FANTASTIC time in Paris. We were able to see so much and do so many things in such a short time. I will, of course, be breaking these posts up to keep the suspense going…and so I have something to talk about all week. I just hope I can convey the amount of fun and laughs we had over the past weekend. I am very glad Kelly and I get along so great. It allows us to have fun wherever we go!

We decided to drive to Paris. There are cheap train tickets (35 Euros) that get you there in 3 hours, but you have to buy them a month in advance for the good price. We didn’t, so have a brief cost analysis, we figured it would be cheaper to drive. We loaded up our small, cute Opal and headed down the road. This was the first time that we have put luggage in her and let’s just say that my carryon bag and Kelly’s L.L. Bean bag just about filled up our “trunk” space. So visitors please pack wisely or else we might have to make multiple trips!

The good thing about driving was that we were able to see a lot of the country side of Belgium and France. It was so pretty; lots of rolling hills and green fields. Of course, the further south we headed, the more sunlight we got. This was nice because we also got to witness a beautiful French sunset. The traffic wasn’t too bad on our way there and the speed limits are fast enough you are able to really move. By the time it was all said and done it took us 6 hours to get to our hotel, including all traffic.

So this is where the fun really begins. We’re driving along and highway and we are on the outskirts of Paris and will be turning off the highway into the city loop pretty soon. We have a quarter tank of gas. The question: Should we get gas at the last highway gas station or wait till we get off the highway and in town? The chosen answer: Wait. What we should have done: get gas at the highway stop.

We take the exit to our destination and what do we get ourselves into? Parisian rush hour. Friday evening, 6:30 pm. Not fun. I thought Kelly and I were goners’. We only had 15km to drive (9 miles) and I figured ¼ tank, we’re fine! Nope, I didn’t plan on sitting in stop and go traffic. We as we barely move I watch the gas dial get closer and closer to empty. That is only one part of the stress. The other: the traffic. Apparently, people drive motorcycles in France so they can be faster and go in between lanes. So, we are sitting there, irritated an all of the sudden motorcycles ZOOM by Kelly’s window and we freak out. Guess I better scoot over and leave the “middle lane” open. We slowly crawl along and start to get nervous about the gas situation and I ask Kelly to have TomTom find the closest gas station. All of the sudden she shouts that it is only a few hundred meters away, she saw the sign. We try to switch lanes and I am not used to looking for the motorcyclist zooming in between traffic, but being the good driver I am I take a last glance out my window to check for any more traffic (mind you, we’re all at a dead stop in a traffic jam) and it’s a good thing I did because had I started to wiggle my way over any more aggressively I would have taken out 3 bikers. That would have been a sad, sad day. We traverse the lanes, safely, and take the exit. What do we find? A 3+ lane roundabout. I don’t really know how many lanes there are because everyone just zig zags around until their designated exit is found and they shoot off in that direction. Well, I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown. We take the wrong exit, I think we run a roundabout red light, have to do a U turn, and finally enter the gas station from the wrong side. Oh well, we’re there just as our low fuel light clicks on.

We pull up to the pump and it is credit card only and our credit card doesn’t work. I try to go in and pay for the pump but we HAVE to use credit card on that one. Kelly is waiting in the car for me and a bike comes up and starts knocking on her window. She is panicking, thinking this is the end of her and she is going to be car jacked. No worries, he is just informing her that the gas cap is off. So I come back and tell her the bad news and give her the keys so she can move the car to another pump. Well, due to our current positioning at the pump, to get to the closest one, she has to go the wrong way around the gas station, cuts some guy and pulls into position. She fuels up and I head inside to pay.

I get to the door and CANNOT for the life of me, figure out how to open it. I try to push, there is no handle to pull on, I grope at the hinges, I feel like a total idiot. So I look at the guy and hope he will “buzz” me in. I guess I’ve been hanging out at too many jewelry stores. I finally find the handle, it’s a hidden one. I go in to pay, and come out to find Kelly doing laps around the gas station. She stops so I can jump in the driver’s seat and she runs around to the passenger seat and we buckle up and we’re off. Well, not so fast says a big truck driver who parks his truck precariously near our car “sandwiching” us in. We slowly approach the opening where our dear Opal just barely fits. Everything is fine until the truck starts to pull forward at the same time. We scream and look up at the driver, and just in time he looks down at us before crush our dear car. That would have been a story to have to come back to tell everyone. We finally leave the gas station and get on the road to our hotel. No more major happenings.

We find the hotel relatively easily and we pull up in the front, no parking zone while Kelly runs in and asks where we should park. The lady gives her instructions and we head around the back of the building for the entrance. Well, there is a small, elevator looking blue door. Kelly tells me we need to ring and she will buzz us in, I insist that it’s a human elevator and we should park on the street and then ride it in. Kelly wins since she got the instructions and goes and buzzes. The doors open and it’s an elevator for our car!!!!

I pull and don’t even think about shutting off the engine. Kelly is standing infront of the car and is yelling at me and I have no idea what she is saying. Good thing it was a short elevator ride because I might have killed us both otherwise! We pull into the lone parking area where we plan on leaving our dear Opel for the next 2 nights. We unload and head upstairs to our room. They don’t have any rooms available with two single beds so we get the “king.” We’ll be fine. Turns our King in French equals a double in English. To say the least, Kelly and I really bonded over this trip. After ditching our stuff we headed out for food and to see the Eiffel Tower at night. We grabbed dinner at a café across the street from our hotel and the metro stop and it wasn’t good. It was just bland. The French do have some nice cuisine choices, but hamburger is not one of them.

As we are walking towards the tower, it starts to shimmer, or sparkle, or glitter, whichever adjective you would like to use to describe it. I included a video at the bottom. We got some great pictures. The nice thing about going to Paris in the off season: no lines. The bad: everything is being remodeled or closed for maintenance. We weren’t able to go up to the very top of the tower but still had some great views from the 2nd stop. Nothing is ever negative being around the tower!

The tower from the ground. So Pretty!

A view of the city and river from the Eiffel Tower.

After our tour, we had to get a crepe and sit and stare at the tower and let the fact that we are in Paris for the weekend sink in. The crepe was good, and the weather was great. It wasn't raining and relatively warm compared to what we have been slowly getting used to. A nice change of scenery.

Below is the video of the tower lighting up. I hope you enjoy it. I aploggize for it being sideways, but I guess we didn't think ahead to our blog. We are bad bloggers. Wish you there!!