We are in Paris!!!! We had a very easy flight, as far as international flights go at least. We connected in Charlotte, NC and it was a great airport to connect from! It was very small and manageable and we had zero issues finding our gate or getting there in time. Then we got to Paris before 7:00 a.m., breezed through customs, I mean it couldn’t have been smoother. We met the two ladies who were meeting us in Paris flying from Atlanta as soon as we got down the stairs from customs, I mean, it was like SO easy!! We had to take 2 taxis to get to our AirBnbs in the Marais. One of them was supposed to meet us there at 8:45 while the other one we were going to pick up the keys and then check in later in the afternoon. We got to the first Airbnb right at 8:45, again, it couldn’t have gone better! It was going like clockwork! That’s where it all fell apart though. There was nobody there to meet us. I called the 3 numbers I had about a dozen times each, I emailed them, I texted them, I even messaged them through Airbnb. No response for over 2 hours! Here we are with 5 women, it’s cold out, we are VERY tired and we are pretty much stuck waiting for someone who may or may not show up at some point. Finally, Emily went and looked for someone to talk to and found the landlord for the building who spoke no English but was so sweet and nice and was clearly upset that nobody showed up to meet us and was trying so hard to help us. But the language barrier was tricky. Then this young lady walked in whi sooke excellent English and translated for us. It turns out she works in the shop next door to the apartment and was also very upset by what was happening. She offered to store all of our luggage for 7 people in their shops basement and kept apologizing saying, “please don’t think that all Parisians are like this because of this”. She wouldn’t take any money to store the luggage because she was just happy to help us! So, all of you that are afraid because of the stories you hear about rude French people, especially in Paris, that can’t be further from the truth! So, we started our day, finally and went to our favorite patisserie. It was perfection, as always! We all took our goodies and had a little picnic in the square in front of the Hotel De Ville, one of our favorite spots. As we are eating and planning my phone starts ringing and beeping over and over again. It’s the Airbnb host, finally. Apologizing over and over again, making excuse after excuse why it happened. Bottom line, it’s going to be reflected in the review. We then went to Notre Dame, which is just amazing, especially to those who haven’t seen it before. Then to St Chapelle, our favorite church in Paris! We made sure to climb the steps first so we could watch everyone’s reaction who hadn’t seen it before. That was a true highlight! It always blows people away, it’s been doing that for almost 800 years! We came back and checked in to the other Airbnb and that went very smoothly. Both places are very nice and in great locations. One block away from eachother. We rested for about 2 hours and then went to dinner at our favorite “Day 1” restaurant, La Jacobine. It was amazing. As good as ever! We know how to pick food, that’s for sure!! LOL. It’s obvious that this year will be very different. It’s not just the two of us on a romantic trip. It’s us leading a group and that’s a whole new world for us. I think we are handling it really well so far. We embrace these challenges and know that this is part of the process to live the life we want to live. We have been up for almost 30 hours with little sleep so there won’t be a ton of pictures or detail today, but we have cooking class tomorrow and some great sightseeing and, as always, GREAT food! We are so glad you are following our adventures and can’t wait to share it all with all of you! Thanks!
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