Day ONE

So my flight was a bit of a disaster. It started off well because the ladies at the luggage check-in were super nice and gave my mom a day pass to get through security with me. So my mom went with me all the way to the gate which was awesome.  Once I got on the plane, there was someone in my seat which was awkward.  So I walked to the back of the plane to let the people behind me pass, then I went up to one of the flight attendants and told him.  Then there was all this confusion about who was assigned to what seat blah blah blah.  It turned out that we were both assigned to the same window seat on the plane. So I took the aisle seat in some other row that he was actually supposed to be assigned to.  Then when I got to Texas for my 58 minute lay-over, my flight was delayed for a couple of hours.  It was supposed to depart at like 3:40pm, but didn't depart until 6pm.  This meant that I wouldn't get to Paris on time and the people I was supposed to meet at the airport would be gone.  Other than that drama, the flights weren't that bad. I slept a lot; in fact, I was always conveniently asleep whenever the meal carts came by so that I never got a meal when I was supposed to.  It happened so often, that one of the flight attendants came by and asked me if I had eaten and if I was okay.  Apparently, no one had seen the burger and fries that I got from Ruby's diner at the airport and ate on the plane.

When I got to Paris, I waited forever for my bag to show up, but when I was ready to exit the airport I saw and recognized the girls that I was meeting in Paris. Shelby and Trang. They waited for me! So that was seriously cool because we all shared a taxi to our hostel instead of me having to pay 75 euros for a taxi by myself.  We totally got in a rather sketchy taxi but he got us to out hostel no problem.  We got there at noon.
We are staying at the Hotel Maubuisson in Paris (with the MIJE company... not like anyone knows what that is)

my hostel

 At this hostel, you must be out of your room between the hours of 12:00pm and 15:00pm.  Now this seems easy, but with three tired, jet lagged American girls, this was soo hard!  We left our stuff in the luggage room and explored the area.  We are like a two minute walk from the Notre Dame.  It is just across the Seine!  We walked by all the restaurants and cafes, got some ice cream, sat at the park by the Notre Dame and still managed to have way too much time left before we could go into our rooms.

We finally killed enough time and got to our rooms and showered and napped.  I, of course, forgot to repack my towel in my quest to lose pounds in my suitcase.  So I had to buy a towel before showering and napping, which in France is not cheap!  We asked the lady at the front desk who told us where to go.  The store was BNV which is like the largest department store you will ever see in your life! IT HAS EVERYTHING AND MORE!!! Towels were so hard to find because I wanted a cheap one, but in Paris, people must like designer towels that are 75 euros (like more than $100).  FOR A TOWEL!!!  I didn’t even know they made designer towels.  I finally managed to find one that was ONLY 25 euros.  Oh but you should have seen their collection of hangers, now that was impressive! Bejewled, ones with pearls, plastic, metal, wood, circular, triangular, rectangular, bendable, etc.

Then Shelby and I stopped at a boulangerie (bakery) and saw seriously the most delicious looking desserts ever.  I was broke from that darn towel so Shelby got an éclair and such desserts for herself.

With our renewed energy from napping, we went back to the area with all the restaurants and cafes to get dinner.  I had vegetable soup, spaghetti, and la tarte du jour (the tart of the day).  All very good, but the tarte was especially delicious.