Year 3 Day 337- “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 4/03/2024. Day 2 of 28-day European Vacation – After our layover in Philadelphia, PA and some Chickie Pete’s for dinner.
We boarded another plane for a long night of travel.
We left Philadelphia a little after 9pm and arrived in Paris at 10 am Paris time. Paris time is 6 hours ahead of Kentucky, USA time. The flight was 7 1/2 hours. We basically had no sleep last night and I am walking around with old bagging black eyes today. We walked off the plane at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport down three flights of stairs onto a shuttle bus that took us to the terminal. Here you went through customs. It was all automated, very quick and easy. We picked up our luggage not too far away and went to the taxi area. The taxis were right there. No one spoke English though. We headed to The Gare Saint-Lazare train station. First impression of Paris is that it is a large city with lots and lots of traffic. The buildings have really nice Parisian balconies though and it is very romantic looking. I can imagine having my morning coffee or afternoon glass of wine on one of those balconies in the middle of the city. I would be out of this crazy traffic then.
Along with the traffic there are many people on bikes, mopeds, and skateboards weaving through the traffic. They are definitely traveling faster than we are by car. A taxi ride from the airport to the train station cost 56 Euros. The train station is huge with paid toilets and the only bottled water to be found is mineral water.
Our train left at 1:40pm for Normandy. We are staying tonight at the Hilton Garden Inn in Le Havre, France. It is a two-hour train ride to Le Havre. We bought the tickets in advance online. The cost was $65.86 USD for two first class tickets. The train left exactly at 1:40pm.
Within ten minutes we are out of the city and surrounded by small scraggly trees. Our seats are in the upper level of the train. It is a quiet train ride with wonderful views. Although, we keep falling asleep and missing the countryside. This area of France is so much nicer than Paris. The train passes through small towns and housing developments with the most charming stucco cape cod style homes. The farmland is gorgeous. There are fields of tall yellow flowering plants blowing in the breeze. This I like and I have no desire to go back to Paris. I am hoping after sleeping this jet lag off, I will like Paris better.
In the United States, the cost of living, including rent, is 29% higher than in France. American rents exceed those by 98%. When we reached Le Havre, we used the Uber app to get to the Hilton Garden Inn and then we crashed!! Le Havre seems so nice. We were told by two French people today that French people don’t like Paris.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Kraft Macaroni and Cheese –Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: https://amzn.to/3UxSLkn Not the healthiest but is easy to prepare and yummy with a good healthy salad and or a vegetable. Works wells in our new world where we will be cooking mostly on the barbecue at a construction site. A good one pot filling pasta.
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To view the complete daily diary, click here – This starts at Year 1 Day 1: Living the Dream – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count