Next luggage, customs, baggage hold, metro tickets and a plan. Enough said, we found all that we needed and headed on our way into Paris for a few hours. Despite exhaustion and the kids not wanting to go, we ventured into the unknown, only following a guide that a friend had sent while in flight on what to do. Mazie became our ticket holder due to her ability to go through customs on her own and having a zipper pocket! The metro was typical except Paris was in a heat wave and must not believe in AIR CONDITIONING, 40 minutes we rode to the St Michel/Notre Dame Stop. Remember the paper fans you made in kindergarten, well we made and used them.  I was thankful for my limited metro experiences in DC to help navigate the metro lines. Due to playing SCOTLAND YARD the kids understood reading a metro map as were engaged in the trip. 

Leaving the metro station in PARIS the first thing on our minds was lunch! What to our wondering eyes should appear but a BIG brown sign and 8 letters in white, CHIPOTLE. Some premises behind fast food are reliability, expectations, familiarity, and taste. Parisian CHIPOTLE and 2 red cans of COKE did NOT disappoint!! The server suggested eating near Le Seine River, so off we went. Just what we needed.

We found shade, ate, watched tour boats and buses, saw a police boat and a caravan of 8 police transit vans with lights zooming through the city.

Lovely, right? Well, let me also paint the picture of pigeons around us because one boy (in our family) decided it would be fun to feed them as he initially sat down..aargh accompanied with trash floating along the river canal walls.

We decided we were too hot and tired to do much else and headed back to the CDG airport/train station for our last leg of travel. The paper fans resurfaced on the metro and we almost were lulled to sleep by the heat and rocking motion of the train.

Back at the station, we reclaimed our luggage and were revived with Starbucks smoothies, computer time and a trip to the restroom. A trip to the restroom doesn’t seem like a big deal, however, we had to find a bank at the station to change my $5 bill for 3.5 EUROS (bad rate I know). It was enough, though, to get us each into the restrooms one time. “WHAT, YOU HAVE TO PAY to use the bathroom?” the exact words that came out of my kid’s mouth. When both kids exited the restrooms they both agreed the bathrooms were so nice that they were worth the cost!!! Lesson learned again for sure. 

Our 2nd to last leg of Trains, Planes, and Automobiles came in the form of the TGV, a super fast train making a 6.5 hour car ride only a 4 hour train ride with stops. While we were making our way south, Randy was enjoying bike riding through vineyards and the countryside with new friends.

We arrived in Montpellier with our 10 pieces of luggage at 10 pm and were greeted by Amy Labadie…just kidding (for those of you who know Amy). Jill, her identical twin sister, was right at the train door so happy to see us, weary travelers. The final leg was a car ride to our new house in Saint Drezery, France, taking “a little less than half an hour.” We were greeted by Randy (DADDY) and Cody along with Jill’s family.

Our travel break-down for inquiring minds: 

6 hours: Car Mechanicsville – DC, driving, seeing my sister briefly, and airport pre-flight 

7.5 hours: AIR FRANCE  DC-Paris, 

8 hours: Paris airport, metro, sightseeing, recovering and surviving

4 hours: TGV train Paris-Montpellier,

0.5 hours: Car Montpellier-Saint Drézéry