Day 5 – Paris Adventure

Today was exactly what the title states—an “adventure”. It started with our train (the Chunnel being 90 minutes late in taking off from the train station due to technical difficulties. We were very excited to tour Paris, so it did not dampen our spirits! Finally, we are on our way, and the train ride was very pleasant—south of London, under the English Channel, then through Belgium and onto Paris. We go under the English Channel at the shortest distance, which is why the journey through Belgium. Taking the train like this is very similar to going to the airport—complete with passport and security checks.
When we arrived in Paris, we took a taxi directly to the Eiffel Tower—all of us went to the Summit! We had purchased the tickets before we left the States, and had an assigned time—even though we were late, the security manager honored our tickets due to the train being late.

After the Eiffel Tower, we found a French Café (by this time is was 3:00 p.m.!), and enjoyed burgers, Onion Soup, a chicken risotto dish, and French Crepes for dessert! After our very late lunch, we headed onto the Cathedral de Notre Dame.

Last time Lynn was in Paris, she lit a candle for her sister, Laura, and she did so again. Also wrote a prayer on stationery provided that goes into a “prayer well”. There was a service in progress, all in French, of course! Tourists quietly observed along the sides and walked through the side corridors of the Cathedral while taking in the stained glass windows and art sculptures depicting Jesus’ life.

We had grand plans to get to the Arc de Triomphe, but after sitting in a taxi cab for 40 minutes, we had to head back to the Train Station instead. There was a huge Christmas Market, Program and Festival on the Champs-Élysées (on the way to the Arc). This is where the real adventure began. Let’s just say that I will let mom fill in the details, but in our rush to get out of the taxi, Bob forgot his wallet on the seat, and both him and dad tried to chase it down with no luck. In the process, Dad “disappeared” for an hour, and we were all frantic. He cannot speak French, throngs of people were everywhere (I compared it to Mardi Gras), and he had no working cell phone internationally. Like I said, let mom fill in the details, but to sum it up, we were about to head to the police to help Dad, when Lynn spotted him. About the wallet—as we waited for our train back to London, Bob and I just cancelled the 3 credit cards contained within—luckily it was only 3. Also was about 150£, 50 Euros, and no dollars—Bob removed the American cash earlier, and it was in my wallet instead.

Anyway—we are back in London, ready for bed. We left the hotel at 7:30 a.m. and it is now midnight. Exhausted.

Tomorrow is our last day with our Thames Cruise and the British Museum. I think that by the end of the day tomorrow, we will be ready to go back to the States to celebrate our Family Christmas!