Lovely Paris!

Today was the day to get rid of the car and take the train to Paris.  But first, we had one more Beautiful Village of France to go to: Les Baux-de-Provence.  We arrived early and had the place mostly to ourselves, except for employees of the various shops, etc.   

When a half dozen tour buses showed up, we took that as a sign that it was time to leave.  We set the GPS for the Avignon TGV station.  I think it took us on the narrowest, twistiest (is that a word?) roads in the area.  It just seems that there should have been a more direct way to go.  We eventually got to Avignon and found the station.  Then we had to find the rental car location.  Then we had to explain about the tire, having to replace it, and so on.  When I mentioned that I had attempted to call and just got a recording, then hung up on, the employee mentioned that he has heard that from a lot of people.  Anyway, they got a new tire for their car, so all is well.

The train ride was uneventful, and we easily found our apartment.  The owner, Joël, was there waiting for us.  He took us up the the 2nd floor (3rd floor U.S.) apartment.  We couldn't be happier.  After the place we've stayed in the last 3 nights, this is heaven.  It's small, but has everything we need.  Joël even had fresh flowers, bread, milk, orange juice and other things for us.  I think we are going to like it here just fine.  I love this street too.  It's a pedestrian street and it's very picturesque.  It has been used many times in film, and I even saw a music video set in Paris for Pharell's song "Happy" that used the street.  I think there are "Happy" videos for many cities.

We started some laundry and then went to the grocery store for some food.  After putting things away we headed out to buy some metro tickets.  We decided that for our first night in Paris, we should go to the Eiffel Tower.  We got there when it was still daylight, but we wanted to see the light show. We went to the Trocadero and had dinner.  We finished up just in time for the 9:00 sparkles.

Although this is my 4th time to Paris, and Jim's 3rd, it's the first time we've been here alone.  It's going to be a great time.