Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Journal of Israel Trip - First Day and a Half

Tuesday, March 4, and Wednesday AM, March 5

Eric drove us to the airport. I felt like God woke me up an hour before my alarm - 3AM!! - which proved absolutely important since I barely had time to get the essential financial reimbursement forms sent, take a quick shower and be ready by 8AM.

All went well at the San Jose airport. A Cinnabon stand had just opened there, so we were among their very first customers in San Jose. Yum! I felt very excited about the upcoming trip, both for Paris and for Israel. I held expectations loose for Paris since we were only scheduled to be there from 10AM on, and you never know about flight delays!

Once boarded in Costa Rica, our pilot optimistically told us we were departing and arriving on time. His prophecy was not fulfilled. Neither was on time. We did take off from the gate on time, but a few feet later we sat for nearly an hour.

Though we arrived late into Dallas, we still had enough time to step into the Admiral's Club. We enjoyed a quick Shiner Bock, cheese and crackers. Nice perks of the membership! From there we boarded our plane to head on to Paris - about an 8 hour flight. After supper we both slept. I slept more than Woody.

We arrived in Paris on time! YEAH! The Charles DeGaulle Airport and the transport systems were a bit challenging, but we managed to buy a day pass for the RER and Metro trains. Woody had a map on his Palm to find our hotel in Paris. It took good teamwork to figure it out, but we found the Hotel Ville Saint Martin by noon. The room wasn't ready yet, but they graciously stored our luggage for us and we headed out to quickly explore a little bit of Paris!

FYI, it was VERY cold and windy. With only a windbreaker and a warm vest, the cold air took our breath away. The views in Paris also took our breath away, but I'll leave that story for the next blog entry.

No comments: