En France 2013

Enfin! We are in France. It took a while to get here. Our flight from Indianapolis to Detroit was delayed by about 45 minutes, but that was nothing to our delay in Detroit. On a previous leg of our airplane’s trip, it was forced to divert because of a medical emergency. It’s a busy time for the airline, so there was no other available airplane for us or even an alternate flight. Thus, we spent five additional hours in the Detroit airport. Our plane departed at 3:35 am Friday instead of 10:35 pm Thursday.

But our flight was smooth, the food good and the service incredible. An NETC rep met us at the exit and we were at our hotel in slightly over a half an hour. We met Linda, tour tour director, who is wonderful! She took us on a brief tour of our Montparnesse neighborhood. The Luxembourg Gardens were closed because it was dusk, but we got a feel for the neighborhood. Linda took us to a tiny park and had us act out 800 years of French history in five minutes. I have pictures!

The hotel is really great. Rooms are nice, clean and bright. The amenities are nice. I did happen to forget to David, Kayla and Bobbi about how the room electricity works. In French hotels, you put your key card into a fixture just inside the room and it unlocks the electricity. Oops!

Dinner was an extraordinary meal at Chez Clément on Boulevard Montparnasse. We had a salad of cucumbers and cream, followed by porc rotis and mashed potatoes. Dessert was a delightful crème brulée.

We dined with our new friends from New York. Compared to us, they are a large group – 17 students and 7 adults. It seems that we will hit it off with them very well.

Tomorrow will be a full day of touring finishing with the light display on the Eiffel Tower!