We's Here

Getting from Albuquerque to Europe just takes a long time. It's a minimum of 2.5 to 4 hours to get to a major hub like Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, or Washington to catch your flight over. Then it's 7-9 hour depending on where you take off from and there is time in between for changing planes and time up front to get to the airport and through security.

Everything went like silk for us. No lines or nothing in Albuquerque. Right on our plane in DC. Smooth flight and we went through customs with no problems...only to have to wait four hours for daughter #1 and son-in-law 1A to get in. And there were virtually no chairs to sit in so we stood most of the time. Hard to imagine a major air port without a facility to sit down.

But once they were in we got our shuttle to the hotel which is small but clean, quiet, and has excellent beds. We walked around a bit and to get our bearings. By then we could check in to the hotel. It's nice, in a non-toursity part of Paris to the East of Central Paris near Place de la Nation (put it in Google Maps). The rooms are small but the mattresses on the beds are FANTASTIC. We took a little nap. Then went out for more walking, stopping in cafes, walk more, stop for a drink again. Then it was on to dinner.

We went to a restaurant recommended by our hotel which advertises itself as a 'traditional cooking' place. 1A and I had a lamb shoulder roast for 2. It was excellent. #1 and I both had raw milk Camembert cheese. Sooooo good. You just can't get that at home.

After that it was back to the hotel for sleepy time. We were out in seconds.