June 16, 2023

I need to start off by saying, if you are not packing in carry-ons for your vacations, you are missing out. It has been a total game changer for us. We are no longer leaving our luggage in the possession of the airline and the kids backpacks are small enough that they are responsible for their own luggage. I still find that I over pack and ususally don’t use all the clothes I pack.

Our flight was a red eye. We left Chicago at 8:59pm and arrived in Paris (Paris Time) at about noon the next day. We really tried hard to rest on the flight so that we were ready to go and hopefully we would minimize jet lag. I slept through the dinner, but was very impressed with the breakfast on American Airlines. Also, I bought these AirFly devices, and loved it. You pair the device with your wireless headphone/earbuds, then you plug it into the Auxillary port of the airplane. You can listen to the plane’s entertainment with your headphones.

I did some research on public transportation on the plane and decided to get the Visite pass. There are many passes and other may work best for you, but this worked best for us. It was a 5 day pass ( You can choose 1, 3, or 5) to all municipal transportation in Paris. Because we need a trip from the Airport, and a trip to Disneyland Paris, we picked Zone 1-5. Both of those locations are in Zone 5, but everything else we visited I think was in Zone 1. I didn’t do the follow up math, but quickly in my head this seemed the best deal for us. Other passes are available on your phone, but the Visite pass had to be purchased in the airport. After getting off the plane, we headed to the train, right before getting on the train, we found a self-service station to purchase these tickets. Since I knew what we were getting, it was fairly easy. If you are using a physical ticket, keep it handy, you need to go through turnstiles when you get off the train at your destination as well.

After checking into our hotel, we decided to take off walking. We first went to a small creperie for a snack. Then we decided to walk to Notre Dame. Notre Dame is still closed from the fire so we could walk around the outside, but not a lot else to do there. From there, we found the river and ended up in the gardens in front of the Louvre, The Tuileries Garden. There were several cafes within the gardens, so we stopped at one for a late lunch. The gardens led us to the Place de la Concorde and the Luxor Obelisk. The Luxor Obelisk is orginially from the Temple of Amun in Egypt. It was erected in 1836 in Paris, but is considered the oldest monument in Paris, taking into account the year it was built in Egupt.

It was still too early to go back to the hotel, so we decided to go to an Illusion Museum that Kate saw on the map. It was definitely overpriced, but provided some entertainment while we adjusted to the time zone.

After the Illusion Museum, we ate dinner. We ate outside the restauarant, as is common in Europe, and there was some commotion with a guy that was intoxicated and probably had other issues as well. Dan and I were shocked by everyones willingness to help him get care, not fight with him or leave him be. Many people tried to assist and finally the police/medics were called in. The guy eventually left in an EMT vehicle. This guy had caused damaged to himself, lashed out to others, and was causing a scene, yet when he was taken it was to get care, not sit in a police station. We found this situation remarkable in how differently it would be treated in the United States.

After dinner, we decided we had been out late enough and went back to the hotel.

End of Day 1 in Paris.