YES! We made it! ...and then some.

07/19/11 AM

OK, it’s been an interesting trip so far.  I have not been able to get online, so the blog is not updates regularly.  I apologize for that, and I’ll try to do better.  It doesn’t help that the hotel server was down.

When we got on the bus in Portland the driver, Wally, toild us he had just come North from Boston and the traffic was backed up in the Southbound lane for several miles around Saco.  We fretted about being late but I hoped I had built in enough fluff time.  Luckily Saco was clear.  The York toll booth on the other hand was a different story.  And the Pisacataqua River bridge was backed up too.  Wally was telling us, and we agreed, “It just takes one.”  One to slow down to admire the view.  One to be on the phone and slow down, (not that they’re distracted.) and the whole ballet gets out of synch.

We managed to get to Boston on time.  We checked in through Security.  Anne was chosen for the full body x-ray, I was not.  We both got right through.  I was delayed because I forgot to remove a half-finished soda from my bag.  The officer asked if I wanted to go back out so I could finish it.  “Are you kidding?  Pitch it”  He laughed and did just that.  He had to run my bag back through the x-ray and returned it to me, broken.  One of the wheels and snagged in the machine and been pulled off.  I now had a very heavy purse with my camera and lenses and this laptop and a host of other gadgets.  Oh well.  I really didn’t want to upset the nice TSA man, so I just looked at him disgusted, and went on my way.

We were late departing by about an hour for some reason.  The plane was not full so we had an empty seat next to us, and we were able to move up to the exit doors where you have a lot more leg room.  Anne was soon out but I could not get comfortable.  I barely slept 3 hours.  Usually I konk out as soon as I hear the engine drone, but not this time.  I watched the move and subconsciously kept track of the number of times everyone went to the bathroom.  It was nice when I did manage to get to sleep.

We touched down in Paris where I had made arrangements to be picked up by a shuttle service called SuperShuttle.  Since we were late, they were not there.  Anne called them and they soon zipped in to pick us up.  They took us directly to our hotel from the airport, smooth and easy.  HIGHLY recommended.  (I use them most often when I travel on business too.)

We were, overall, very pleased with the hotel.  The description we got was that it was a little worn, but comfortable.  Accurate.  The staff however, was just perfect.  Real, old school customer service.

We got there a bit before check in time but they held our bags for us and Anne and I went out for a walk.   We stayed in the area of the hotel and discovered all the touristy junk shops.  We did buy lunch at a street vendor, and the sandwiches were very good. We went back to the hotel and we were allowed to check in early because our room was ready.  Then we went for another little walk.  Five hours of walking.  Those of you who know Paris, we walked from our hotel, right next to the Louvre, to the Eiffel Tower, and over to the Champs-Elysees, then to L’Arch de Triomphe, then all the way back to our hotel, next to the Louvre.  For those of you who don’t know Paris, there’s Google Earth.

Oddly enough, we had dinner at a great Japanese restaurant.  (I know, I know!)

Edited – deleted – stuff I can’t tell you.  But here’s a picture of the room before we messed it up.  While Anne was sleeping I tried for two hours to get on line with the hotel server.  I visited the desk a couple of times to help them trouble shoot it.  Turns out one of their servers was down and they didn’t know what to do.  (I didn’t offer.)  I just eventually went to bed.

In the morning we paid way too much for breakfast, but I had to eat.  I had made arrangements, while at the front desk last night, to have a taxi come for us at 8:30 to take us to the train station.  The taxi came late, but everything was OK because again, I built in extra time for this.  I had shown the “Concierge” our tickets and he told the driver where to take us.  We got in the cab and the cab driver blurted out something and Anne and I both said “Oui!”  Well, after a 10 minute drive we got out at the station.  We went inside to check in.  We couldn’t quite figure it out so Anne asked at an information booth.  Opps!  Wrong station!  And you can’t step out into the street in Paris to hail a cab.  We tried that.  The driver sternly told us we had to go around to the other side of the building and get in the que   Man, was I pissed.  So we went around the building and waited in the que.  Behind what had to be 30 people.  I never even looked at my watch.  I didn’t want to know how late we were going to be.  We finally got a cab and I showed the driver our tickets directly.  He repeated and we were off.  After hitting every red light in Paris, we finally made it.  We ran inside where we were supposed to get our tickets stamped.  Where?  The little yellow machines.  WHERE?  We found one, all by itself between two ATM like machines.  A nice young man helped us and showed us how to do it.  /he then pointed us in the general direction of the correct platform, of course, miles away.  After much stress and running with luggage, we found the platform and a train.  Of course my first question was – Is this the right train?  We boarded and stowed our luggage.  Anne went outside to confirm the train.  In the meantime I overheard the family in the seats in front of us speaking English.  I asked them if they could confirm the train destination as Grenoble.  They said they could confirm it, because they had to ask.  Anne came back in and said this is the right train.  I told her I knew and that the nice people in the next seats had confirmed it too. 

A little later I was looking at the tour package information folder and the wife of the family noticed the logo.  She asked if we were part of the Spyns tour, and I confirmed that we are.  She said they were too.  Here we sit, blazing though the French countryside on our way to spending way too much money to torture myself while on vacation in France.  The TGV reminds me of the Bullet Train in Japan.  Fast, comfortable with plenty of large windows.  Time to stop writing so I can look out them for a few kilometers.  So here I sit, on a train for 3 hours, and no Wi-Fi connection.

07/19/11  PM

What a ride today.  Now, I’m not one of the “Great Ones” or anything, but I think I’m a pretty good hill climber on my bike.  I got schooled today.  We, 20 of us, went on what was called a “Warm Up Ride” today.  We went DOWN into the valley below.  (Keep in mind, we’re up in the French Alps, and then we came back UP.  We went about 35 kilometers with a killer hill climb back up to the hotel at the end.  I learned a little about myself, and it wasn’t all bad.  I took video from my helmet cam and I’ll try to get some of it loaded into the blog as soon as I can.  (Gotta figure it out.)

Anne went for a hike today to a real pretty waterfall.  She ad some good company and maybe made some new friends.  She had a good time and took some good pictures.  I'll get some loaded her soon.  

Now that I have an internet connection, I've run out of day.  It's 10:30 right now and I gotta get to bed.  Big ride tomorrow.  Alp d'Huez.  I'll post an update.