Up and ready, Cat and I had breakfast in the Kildare’s pub. Surprisingly, we slept fine – the “#1 Rated Dance Pub” didn’t keep us up. Not bad for a Saturday night, thankfully. We met the pre-arranged taxi at the curb at 11 AM to drive us to the airport. Our Air France flight would leave for Paris at 2:15 PM.
The taxi drivers in Ireland treated us well and we enjoyed conversations along our route. During this ride, Cat realized she had not handed off the room key to the desk, but our driver said he would gladly return it for us. Phew, the luck of the Irish was with us!
With time to spare, we made it through the Dublin Airport to security and found the gate. But then, the plane came in an hour late. Oo, la, la, our Airbnb host awaited our arrival in Paris to give us the apartment key. I prayed we wouldn’t have any other delays. We boarded at 3:30 for the nearly two-hour flight and we made it á Paris on time from thereon.
Wrestling with cases, finding the RER rail station, purchasing tickets, trudging on, the day ticked off before we knew it. And it didn’t help that we were running on empty, hence our prickliness, but we literally kept rolling. Popping out of the Cluny-Sorbonne Metro and rolling 3 blocks down and 3 more over past the Sorbonne in the heart of the Latin Quartier, Maxime dashed from a sidewalk bistro table across from the building to help us get situated.
Once up in our 6th floor nest via an elevator just slightly larger than a service lift (we had to go up separately with our 1 bag each, our 20-something host charged up the stairs), we caught our breath. Two tall windows open to a view of the Pantheon dome. Step out on the railed decks, below us, the Rue des Ecoles, sidewalk bistro humming, no tourists, no traffic, the Paris sky above. Magique!
We have a two room studio with kitchenette, shower the size of a phone booth, washer/dryer, what more could we need? Cat and I headed down the street to Pizza Roma to share a Margarita pizza and pesto pasta, and glasses of rose for our dinner. Honestly, it was a delicious pizza. Finishing at 9:45, we still had enough daylight (and enough energy) to stroll to Notre Dame over the Seine. The day’s heat still lingering, we reached the plaza where people walked about enjoying the evening. And, quelle surpris, rats scurrying along the landscaped edges searching for goodies around the litter cans! I felt like I was in a scene from Ratatouille.
That was all we could fit, after the flight delay. I hoped to get Cat to see the Eiffel Tower but it wasn’t meant to be. We walked back to the 5eme arrondisement ready to collapse into sleep.
Tomorrow, Cat has to return home…
A small plane for a short trip. I almost expect to see propellers…
The Sorbonne is just past the park.
View out the window, the Pantheon and French flag.
To the left, lights of neighboring hotels. The red awning is our pizza restaurant. Paris on this side of the Seine is, oh, so walkable.
