New York - Paris - Avignon

I arrived in Avignon without a hitch. My American Airlines experience was good, service lovely--but the food was disappointing. You see, normally, I fly Air France--one can begin a cultural experience from the moment one gets on a national airline--the bread keeps flowing, the cheese is lovely and the wine is...how shall I say it--FREE! Of course, I did not pay the $5 for the wine on AA.

Yesterday, June 30th was fascinating for me. Travelling independently is always a treat because I don't have to wait for anyone or confer with anyone about what I'm doing--sorry Pat and Thomas...you're great to travel with, but this is a feature that I do enjoy about this trip. I arrived at CDG airport and took my time, effortlessly gliding through customs despite the Grateful Dead icons that Pat sewed onto the backpack years ago. If any of my students are reading this, I broke my own rule--My bags weighed a ton. I wanted to cry, but felt at one with Caitlin...ah the memories...anyway, I didnt' have to pay extra to fly them over, but it felt like I did. And yes, I need everything I have with me!

Now, I grabbed a cart and meandered through the airport to catch the train (the RER B) to Paris. At Chatelet/Les Halles, I crossed the platform to take the RER A to the Gare de Lyon where I would be taking the TGV (the high speed train) to Avignon.

Can you tell I'm writing this for future travelers? Okay, so I had good karma. That part was easy. At the Gare (national and international train station), I payed money to have my world stuffed into a locker so that I could walk freely around Paris. My train was leaving at 2:20pm. It was 10am, and I headed out to find a French phone. What an adventure it was. I've lived in Paris for two years, I've visited often. The Seine was my guide, and crossing it at the Pont d'Austerlitz, I meandered through the Jardin des Plantes (The Plant Garden) where I saw a bizarre looking sculpture of a dragon. Loved it! I walked past the Natural History Museum and smiled. I didn't know this part of Paris very well, but it was so familiar. I walked about 30 mintues, getting lost, finding my way, wondering if I'd ever find a cell phone store. At each corner, I sniffed out (yup, I sniffed) the direction I would take.

By 10:30, I thought, maybe today is not the day for the phone. It was suggested by several people that I buy a French cell phone. In the past, I've used my own phone, but that got expensive. I'm one to try new things, so I went for the French phone. I loved the thought of having my own French phone number--you know going native... "I have faith. I will find a phone store, but it doesn't have to be today." I took one more turn onto Av des Gobelins and there before my eyes was, yes, you guessed it maybe, a store called The Phone House. The gentleman who helped me out was great. After listening to my bumbling specification, he reiterated to me exactly what I needed (which was exactly what I wanted). He set the phone up for me, even checked to make sure the number worked. I brought a 39 euro Nokia phone which included 5 euros of minutes, and then I added 20 euros for 47 minutes of calls from Virgin. I later discovered after reading the brochure (who reads the brochure) that just by signing up for a free program "XtraJ", I could get up to 75 minutes for the next 30 days for the money I've already paid...really!--okay, I'll update you at the end of the month on that one.

My first call was to Idriss, my friend who lives in Paris. I had lunch with him, and his friend, Denis. Whenever we hang out, Idriss makes me feel that we've seen each other just last week instead of a year ago. I hope to catch up with both of them on my return through Paris at the end of the month. They were kind enough to help me with my bags after lunch and got me set up on the train. At 2:20pm I was off to Avignon.
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