oui ou oui?: my first day in paris

so! i am here in paris!!! it's kinda crazy really... what was i thinking coming here all by myself??? it's pretty awesome still, but i would like it even better if i had a friend or family here to enjoy it with me. so i'll post some pix and tell you all how it's been so far...

so i flew aer lingus. not too shabby. the first flight was ok cuz we each had our own tvs with movies, tv shows, music, etc. which was pretty nice. i watched "charlie bartlett" and "mad money" (cuz i figured i'd never actually pay money to see that movie!). i couldn't sleep very well even though i had two seats, but yeah. then i had a layover in dublin which lasted FOREVER. and dublin is NOT a cute airport either... i was sooooooooo tired too!!! and then our plane was late bc of technical difficulties, so they had to have a test flight before we could leave for paris. lucky for me, i met this nice french lady who gave me advice and also helped me find my way once i arrived at the paris airport.

cool moving walkway tunnels at charles de gaulle airport. oh yeah, i forgot to mention that they had claire's accessories stores in both dublin and paris airports!!! claire's??? so random.

so then i took the RER (train) to gare du nord in paris. now, mind you, i did not pack light... i don't know how apparently, bc in my mind i barely brought anything!!! yet i had 3 suitcases, a carry-on bag and a lil mini-bag. yep. that was me packing light... so i was carrying all my luggage and was trying to get out to the taxis, yet every sign i followed led me somewhere else!!! i was dying at this point bc i was sooooo tired!!! finally i made my way outside and found a taxi (godsend!). i collapsed in the back seat and made it to my apartment safe and sound. another lucky-for-me was the apt caretaker helped me up the stairs with my ridiculously heavy bags. we are on the 2nd floor french-style, which is really the third. and our stairs are SLANTED. it's tough to navigate with no luggage, but with? i thought i was going to fall and the apt man was going to collapse and have a heart attack!

so i settled in a bit and then went out in search of food. probably shouldn't have left the house without a map though, cuz i got a bit lost. luckily i asked a lady who spoke very good english how to get back to my street and i got back safe and sound. i stopped at a little middle-eastern place for some meat and cheese pies and some hummus. then i went to a little mini-mart for some basics. the little man was nice and he even gave me an apricot free as a present, he said.