European Tour 2011: 18 Nov - Travel and London

On our way to Paris we decided to drop by London. We are in London to celebrate the 80th birthday of my mother-in-law Marie, and to visit Westminster Abbey.

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My mother-in-law is a real world traveler.  She's been to Japan, Hawaii, Australia, Ireland, Paris (for someone's wedding) and Egypt to name a few.  She has even been to London a few times.  In fact, her first time in London was at the same time as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June of 1953. Unfortunately, Westminster Abbey was closed to prepare for the ceremony and Marie was not able to go in and see it.  Throughout the years she returned to London, most recently in 2005, and each time Westminster Abbey was closed for one reason or another. 

So, Fred and I thought that it would be cool to try again. We decided to make a trip of it.  Fred, Marie, Bianca - Fred's daughter- and I hopped on a plane, which was delayed due to a "Suspicious" Man, and went to Europe.  

Here are some pictures of our European Tour 2011-18 November - Travel and London

We did get to go into Westminster Abbey, but there is no photography allowed, so no pictures of the inside.  BUT we do have the ticket stubs to prove it!

Enjoy,

Johnette

Visiting Paris: Things You Will Need Before You Go

Paris...the mother ship...I am often asked by friends and family who are going to Paris - or who have friends and family going to Paris - to recommend things that they might need, see and do while in the City of Light.  I've compiled a pretty good list that I'll share below.

Takeoff over NYC from JFK International 

Airplane tickets:  Of course you should start with airplane tickets. I recommend taking the Air France Airbus A380 which currently flies from CDG Paris to New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Johannesburg and Tokyo.  There is a link to the Air France A380 website below so you can see how awesome it is.  We first took this airplane in November 2010 from JFK-CDG.  We sat in the cheap seats, which weren't so cheap.  We were cozy and squished, and I sat next to the window as usual.  There are ten seats across each row (3/4/3), with little to no leg room and we really felt sorry for the giant sitting in the aisle seat across from us.  It's good to be short sometimes. We did get a chance to see how the other half lived.  Since we were all the way in the back of the plane, we were able to run up the back staircase...yes, the back staircase... to the peek at the second floor business class cabin above.

Sunrise over the Atlantic flying East to Paris 

The food on Air France is pretty darn good for airplane food - especially when flying out of Paris. There are even snack and beverage self service areas for the passengers conveniently located throughout the cabin.  BUT... this convenience comes with a price.  Sadly, the service on the A380 left something to be desired. If you want a drink in the middle of the flight, you have to get up and get it yourself. The air hosts/hostesses no longer serve food or drink outside of the designated serving times. They don't walk up and down the aisles anymore between meal services with their drink cart, a bottle of water or even a small plastic garbage bag.  They also don't clear your tray if you are a slow eater - not that I"m talking from experience... twice on the same flight!

Safe landing at CDG Paris 

Not such a glowing review you say, well besides being a very smooth and FAST ride, there are CCTV cameras mounted on the nose, belly and tail of the aircraft. During takeoff and landing all of the TVs on the airplane show the video from the tail-mounted camera.  The pictures above are of our actual flight, but not taken by me... I was kinda nauseous watching.  Puketastic!

On the #69 with our Rick Steves' Paris 2008

Guidebooks :  Preparing for our Paris wedding back in September 2008, I bought a lot of guidebooks. As a pre-Paris welcome gift, I sent a different guidebook - and notebook- to each couple or person who was coming to our wedding.  We thought it would help our friends and family take better advantage of their time in Paris, but secretly I was super excited about it for another reason.  Not only did I get to spend a lot of time in bookstores buying these guides with discount coupons, BUT...I also quickly read each one of them before I sent them out. What????... I secretly wish to do this for each of my vacations ;) 
 
So, that is how I realized that Rick Steves' Paris is one of my favorites.  This guide is very user friendly, easy to navigate and to understand. There are suggestions for what to see and do broken down by length of stay as well as some great walking tours in certain neighborhoods and near most monuments. There is even an entry for the "BUS #69 SIGHTSEEING TOUR From the Eiffel Tower to Père Lachaise Cemetery".  Besides riding with locals, as many tourists take the Metro, this bus passes by the Bastille, the Louvre, and many other cool destinations on the way. In fact, Rick suggests that at the Bastille you "hop out and begin our walking tour of the Marais, page 263)."  Convenient and thoughtful! Rick Steves also offers walking tours by podcast for free on iTunes. http://www.ricksteves.com/

Notebook: Along with the guide books that we sent out, we also included a small notebook for...notes.  Your notebook can be as simple or as fancy as you want.  It can range from a small monochromatic spiral bound notebook to something fancier that has a pocket for the business cards you take from each place or restaurant you visit.  A pocket-sized notebook is a great way to help you stay organized and gives you easy access to important information.  

Being particular, I like to organize my notebook in a specific/chronological way.  I put our travel information first with the airline name/phone number, date and time of our flight...including the reservation numbers. The names and numbers of the pet camp where our dogs stay is usually next.  Any necessary transportation information such as car reservation number, phone number of the car service or even the bus info*. Our lodging information next, name, number, address of the hotel or door code/ entry directions when we rent apartments.  I always include any places we would like to see, anything we would like to do, and places we would like to eat.  Don't forget to include their closest Metro stop and their days/hours of operation.  I also use this notebook through out the trip to jot down any notes or suggestions you might get while still in Paris. Plus, this is a great way to jog your memory when people ask for recommendations for stuff they might need, see and do in Paris.    

Bon voyage! Paris is always a good idea!

Air France Airbus A380: 

http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/common/guidevoyageur/classeetconfort/A380_presentation_airfrance.htm


*Another Air France bus that we like is their bus service between CDG and Paris.

Waking up to French confusion

Waking up to French confusion - I wonder if this is how the few prisoners felt when the Bastille was stormed?

We are renting an apartment in Paris for the second leg of our "Winter European Extravaganza" - not the official title- and I let the apartment owner know that she can call me any time after 5:00am Eastern to process the credit card deposit.  Well I forgot! and so this morning I was not only woken up at 5:00 sharp by our hungry and barking dogs, but by the telephone.  On the other line was a very sweet French woman who might just be thinking twice about renting her apartment to some crazy drunken American.

The conversation went something like this:
Me: What?  Hello? What's wrong?*
Florence: Bonjour Johnette.  This is Florence from France.**
Me: What? Who? Where? Huh?*
Florence: Oh, is this too early? I am sorry but you told me that you wake up early and that I can call you after 5:00am.  My husband is here with his iPhone and I can now call to the US and we can process the credit card for the deposit on the apartment.  Is this ok now? Are you awake or have I woken you?  Hello? Johnette are you there? **
Me: What? Huh? Oh, yes. I'm sorry. No, no, I'm awake (drop the phone), I'm here, It's no problem. I just have to find the phone. *
Florence: Excuse me? Yes, I am calling you on the phone.**
Me (talking on the standard corded phone): No, no... I just have to find the...can you hold?***
Me (wondering to myself): How do you say cordless in French?

*In groggy English
**THIS WAS ALL IN RAPID SUCCESSION FRENCH - which is usually no problem as I would like to think that I am fluent, but just not at 5:15am!
***Talking now in the hybrid language of French-English-Sleep

I found the cordless phone and we were able to get through the transaction quite smoothly after that. My French even improved a bit, but really, I can't be held responsible for my grammar in my mother tongue before 6:00am let alone in a second language.

Taking the Airbus A380 EV1

Flying is always an adventure, an adventure in anxiety. I hate flying so much that I even get anxiety when I buy the airline tickets.  This past trip was no exception.  

Flight 007 JFK-CDG

In November - December 2010 we took a two-week trip, including Thanksgiving, to Europe to see some friends in Switzerland and Germany, and to chill out in Paris. After much hesitation and hemming and hawing, I booked two tickets on the Airbus A380, operated by Air France, flying from NYC to Paris Charles de Gaulle. 

The massive wing and tail wing.  Crazy big!

Since we were flying from JFK on a Friday afternoon, we didn't want to ask our friends or family to take us to the airport.  I booked us a private car with one of Fred's customers who is a private chauffeur to the stars - Danny DeVito and George Carlin when he was alive.  This should have been my first clue.  The trip to JFK which, at 3:00am, is a 45 mile/50 minute trip door to door. Since it was a Friday afternoon, the trip to the airport took us about 1.5 hours, it was no big deal as we built in enough time for typical traffic.  I figured it should cost about $300.00 round trip, and it wound up costing 1.5 times that.  Note to self, when the driver quotes you a price per hour, remember the price includes the time it takes him to get to you and to get himself back home, i.e. too expensive, so next time we just might ask a friend or family member to drive us.  


Who's game? 

A Korean Air Boeing 747 parked next to us. 
Our plane's bigger! (scary) 

This is the first post in the European vacation series.