Backtracking a bit - our arrival in Paris

First of all we agreed that though we will be in France for a year, we would bring only 4 suitcases + my computer bag/purse. (I hear they sell clothes in France...) Anyway, you can imagine that those 4 suitcases were pretty hefty. After we got our visas stamped, we collected our baggage and were on our way. (No stopping for baggage inspection except by a cute dog and his rather stern-looking handler.) We hauled our luggage through the airport to the RER station, David bought our tickets, and we got on the train (dragging our luggage), and were bound for the left bank. We got off at Place St Michel to change to the Metro that would take us to the stop by the Musee D'Orsay, a block or so from our hotel. But, we couldn't find the train! We knew which train it was, but where was it? At that point two very nice young ladies in an information booth told us that train wasn't running and was being serviced. (Actually, this makes sense from the French point of view, because so many people are gone from Paris during August.)

After some consultation, we decided to "just" walk to our hotel (~1 mile or so). But, first we needed to get through the exit kiosk and up to the street. Somehow David managed to get his luggage through (over?) the kiosk and up the stairs. Not me; I got stuck. I mean REALLY stuck. I couldn't reach the little slot to put my ticket in much less the little slot to retrieve it, and there was absolutely NO way my luggage and I were going to squeeze through the kiosk. That's when 3 or 4 wonderful young men came to my rescue. They took care of getting my ticket validated, got my luggage through the kiosk, and responded to my merci beaucoups with de riens and were on their way. (NEVER believe it if someone tells you the French are cold and rude.)

Now "all" we had to do was haul those suitcases that mile or so to our hotel on a hot summer's day. I won't bore you with the details - suffice it to say some ladies I passed were concerned and asked "ca va, madame?". To which I responded (lied?), "oui, merci, ca va bien." By the time we got to our hotel, we were totally wiped. I'm sure we looked equally as bad as we felt. Definitely time to dump the luggage in the room and seek out a nice, cold glass of wine - and LOTS of water.

We took a cab from our hotel to the TGV station when we left.