ode to Paris, Prince and my Mom....

We only spend the first night at Hotel Brettonerie as we are going North to Arras (Prince!) on Friday around noon. It's tempting to even push on to Brussels after Arras because everything feels so close together - just another couple hours on a train and you're in yet another country!  I love it!  So different from the U.S.  and we do love a road trip, but it may just come down to dollars and cents and hanging in Paris. 

At any rate, we have to get some food and get checked out Friday morning. We eat some eggs at a cafe, and some OJ mixed with sparkling water (very mimosa-esque without the alcohol) and enjoy our next dose of fabulous cafe cremes. We go rushing down Rue de Rivoli to find the Metro station that will take us to Gare du Nord for our train to Arras. We have traveled light but are still handling one piece of luggage each and a shoulder bag. We get a good workout dragging the bags up and down the stairs to and from the Metro and it's a bit challenging riding the train with the luggage. It's crowded, hot and humid and it's all business as you try to drag your little rolling bag into the subway car while trying not to clip anyone in the shins (including yourself) and secure a place to hold on during the starts and stops. Nobody helps you, nor does anyone give you a bad look for crowding them.  The "it's crowded and we leave each other alone" law is in full force.  I think maybe one sort of young guy half-smiles at me...and I he.  As a I balance myself (standing room only), it's actually a rather familiar feeling - - it reminds me of being with my grandmother as a child and riding the bus all over Hollywood and downtown (she never drove).  It is very very hot and not the least bit glamourous but I can honestly say I so enjoy rubbing shoulders with the human race (as I so rarely do in Los Angeles) that even as I wrestle with my bag and feel a bead of sweat roll down my back under my tank top - I am completely loving it.

After a 15 minute ride we get to Gare du Nord (one of the main train stations) and I feel like a geek saying it....but it's all very Murder on the Orient Express as we board our air conditioned #9 train to Arras!