Strike day travel...part deux (two)

Paris! Paris! Ok, let me back up a bit. When we heard about the strike, I first got really nervous. Then I prayed. Then I kind of relaxed, cause I felt confident that the good Lord had a plan for our day today, and I just needed to sit back and let it unfold. If we got trains, great. If we ended up sticking our thumbs out on the autoroute, fine. Well...not only did we get to Paris by 11:30 am, we got to spend the day there before heading out to our airport hotel! I feel very blessed!

Ok. Here goes our wild day in Paris.

Get in 11:30. Stow luggage and get ourselves to a great bistro for some very yummy salmon quiche

By 12:30 we had bought our metro tickets and were out the door. We got on an Batobus,

Which takes us down the Seine to all the major sites. Since we've been here before, it was really fun to get around! We went to, but not in, the Louvre

We went to the Eiffel tower
And we went to the Notre Dame!


This is probably the single most complex, beautiful building I've ever seen! Pictures simply cannot do it justice. Not even remotely.

Scrat made a friend there!

This dog was VERY intent on doing the doggie sniff...

Then gave Scrat a kiss.

We sat next to the Notre Dame for a glass of wine with a meat/cheese plate. Ahh, Paris.

Eventually, we ripped ourselves away from our whirlwind tour, got our luggage, and headed towards the airport. This is where we met our guardian angel. We expected that the ticket we bought was a metro line...instead, it was one of the regional trains that is subject to the strike!! As we arrived at the Gard du Nord stop where we were to catch our train, a woman overheard our confusion and offered to escourt us to our platform! She said she used to work there and knew right where to go. Sure enough, she found it for us...and we left 5 minutes later! Wow, it really was like being carried on the wings of an angel!  Then, a few stops down the line, the conductor announced the train was not going the entire route, we'd have to get off and wait for another one. Darn...not out of the woods yet. Scrat did, however, make another friend...
He's sure a magnet! Anyway, after changing trains, and a 20 minute delay on the new train, it was about 9:00 by the time we reached the airport, and about 9:30 by the time we shuttled to our hotel! Time to tuck in so we can shuttle back to the airport in the morning! 

Phew. What a day. What a trip!