Jet Lag and Technical Difficulties

For those of you who followed this blog the first time, we were traveling to France so that I could do some archival research.  And we were going for six weeks.  This time, I hope to still do a little archival work, but the main reason I had to be here was to lead a study tour in Brussels next week.  So, this first week is the boys and me in Paris, en route to Brussels.

And, we made it.

The flight was smooth.  The only real headache came when we realized we had the very last row in the airplane.  So much for the adults getting any sleep.  But, luckily, the boys slept fine.  Almost six hours in total. Not bad.

We got to Charles de Gaulle Airport, made our way through customs with two very inquisitive boys who thought they were in the longest line ever (it is going to be a long week if lines elicit that much exaggerated frustration), got our luggage, and then boldly proceeded to the RER train despite the forewarnings of a massive strike. Past experience has suggested that the warnings, while valid, merely serve to scare away tourists who naively shell out a hefty sum to the taxi drivers (and others) who manage to peel them away from the RER by pointing to the signs that say to favor other transit options.  And it worked out for us.  We made it into town just fine, found our apartment, and were happy to see that the pictures on the website did not deceive.  It is beautiful, spacious, and right on the Seine just a block away from the library I will visit on Monday.  Some exploration that same afternoon proved there are also a couple of Seb and Eli approved playgrounds within a stone's throw.  And we can also get a lot of mileage out of walking around the ever-fascinating Bercy Park and Village across the river.  So, we'll count that as a win.

We managed to keep ourselves going right up until we all were ready to sleep around 8 or 9 p.m.  Then we mostly got a full night sleep.  So, another win.

But we lost most of our photos from the day due to a technical glitch with the new loaner phone I got from Pitt.  Ugh.  But here are some photos of the apartment that I took the next day, so you can see what we found waiting for us when we arrived.

Today, we did a bike tour and went to the top of the Eiffel Tower... but that will have to wait until I have caught up on some more sleep.  Bonne nuit!