So…we are HERE!! Paris! Yes, it’s freezing (literally – never getting much above 25 F!) but I’d rather be cold in Paris than…you can fill it in! It’s sunny and gorgeous, at least today, so a beautiful introduction to this lovely city.

We had a pretty good flight – well, except that I was almost apprehended by the TSA because of a verbal altercation…not really my style, but she was just plain rude, and wasn’t doing her job to boot! When she told me to stand perfectly still in the body scanner, and then never told me that I could move on, and then told me that she’d been waving me on (which I couldn’t see, since I was obediently not moving and staring straight ahead “in position”), I pointed that out to her. I suggested that she might have given a verbal cue (of course, that would have necessitated interrupting the banter she was having with a colleague). She opined that surely I could count to three (the instructions said to maintain position for three seconds), with which I responded without thinking that no, I couldn’t, since I am incapable of doing two things at once, and I was working on standing still. Then I got out of there!

Having gotten through security without getting arrested, the rest was pretty smooth sailing. Well, except for the faulty speaker over our heads on the plane that emitted ear-splitting static and feedback whenever there was any use of the loudspeaker. Nothing a couple of hands over the ears couldn’t handle!

BUT, since actually being in France we’ve easily navigated the RER and metro to our apartment, eaten a fabulous lunch in our neighborhood, met and fallen in love with our landlady, done some grocery shopping at the store right next door, and had a delicious dinner of roasted chicken, baguette, and cheese. And wine. And pastries. And wine. Which I am sampling as I type. Delicious. Ahhh….Paris!! C’est bon!