Thursday/Friday (Muskegon to Paris)…

We awoke in Muskegon to snow. Deep snow. Fluffy White Christmas snow added to the ice-covered snow already on the ground. But soon after piling into our trusty, frosty Ford Focus rental–heated seats fully engaged–we quickly left the snow behind on our drive to Chicago.

Arrived at ORD on a sleepy Thursday afternoon and easily navigated our way through The Process. With a slight delay, we boarded our aging 767 and headed non-stop to Paris, anxious to satisfy a seemingly insatiable wanderlust. We landed under cloudy skies at Charles de Gaulle airport, and taxied to the grey pillbox bunker that is Terminal 1. We adeptly navigated the concrete layer cake, through passport control, baggage claim, and customs, and popped out in the arrivals area. Easy signage pointed us to the inter-terminal tram, and we soon found ourselves at sprawling Terminal 2 where we awaited Paolo’s delayed arrival on American Airlines.

In no time, we piled luggage into a cozy cab and zipped through traffic-free late morning streets to our apartment in the stylish Marais neighborhood (3rd A.) of central Paris.

The daughter of our Airbnb host met us at the apartment, greeting us in perfect French 🙂 Jeff’s broken French and Paolo’s and my exceptional English worked our way through a short orientation.

The charming third floor apartment (second floor in European numbering) is the primary residence of its owner, a painter named Paola. Although a bit quirky and with a few deferred maintenance items typical of a historic building, the apartment was just perfect for our stay. Multiple sleeping areas–which will come in handy next week when Sherie arrives–gave us plenty of space to rest and spread out a bit. A triangular bookshelf dividing the main room into a living and sleeping space was trimmed in strings of tiny white Christmas lights.

Our inaugural walk led us to a small nearby museum in the Marais–the Musée Cognacq-Jay. The free museum was housed in a historic mansion, and contained an accessible 18th century collection of paintings and other collectible, displayed in a series of rooms containing pieces of historic furniture.

Our walk continued to the 17th century Place des Vosges–the oldest planned square in Paris– and eventually back to the apartment. We popped into a nearby grocery store to stock up on water, juice and nibbles. Definitely one of the big benefits of apartment stays.

The short European winter day faded quickly to night. We crossed the Seine to the Île Saint-Louis for dinner. We returned to a favorite restaurant that Jeff took me to on my 40th birthday. The Auberge do la Reine Blanche is small and intimate, with a menu to match. Classic French dishes seemed the perfect way to kick off our visit. French onion soup. Coq au vin. Boeuf bourguignon. A creamy chicken and mushroom dish. Fantastic French red. And profiteroles au chocolat to finish. Fantastic!

We crashed easily and hard, travel weary but full of life.