Welcome to Paris

This morning marked the end of our time in Italy. We enjoyed our last half a day in Venice before heading off for another whirlwind of travel to Paris, France.

This morning we really wanted to take a gondola ride. We woke up nice and early because we thought a sunrise cruise would be a good idea. The weather was a bit chilly but clear, but there were no gondoliers around. We checked several gondola stations, but there was no one to be found.

We found a small café and had some coffee and a pastry and then returned to the hotel. Our concierge said that the gondola rides do not start until 9 a.m. so we decided to wait until then. We walked around some more of backstreet Venice.

Around 8 a.m. it started raining. We continued walked around, and saw that a lot of the gondoliers were working on their boats, tying and untying them to each other, fixing the tarp coverings and bailing out water that had collected overnight.

It kept raining, so we decided that we would walk a little more. We saw some shops near the Rialto Bridge before we came back to the hotel. Our hotel has a little terrace off the main lobby that is situated right beside the gondolier station. There is enough room for two people on the terrace, so Jessica and I sat there and watched the gondoliers at work.

We decided not to go on a rainy cruise, but there were some people who were still doing it. The gondoliers were still pretty busy. We sat there and watched them for about an hour. We were starting to get hungry, and we wanted to get a quick lunch before we left for the train station. We found a little cafeteria and got some soup and pasta.

We said our farewells to Venice and boarded the No. 1 vaporetto back to the train station.

We rode a train from Venice to Milan, then took a chartered bus from the Milan train station to the Milan airport. Then we flew from Milan to Paris. We got to Paris and rode the train into the city from the airport, and then walked to our hotel.

It was indeed a whirlwind, but we are here in Paris. Our hotel room is a lot smaller than the ones that we have had previously on this trip, and we are in a double bed instead of a queen like our other stops. But we have an unbelievable view of the Eiffel Tower out our fourth-floor window, so that more than makes up for it.

One main difference is that today we are not only in a new city; we have done that change before. But this time we are in a new country with a new language. Right when I was getting used to using a tiny bit of Italian in conversation, now I have to totally switch my thinking to French. Luckily I took two years of French in high school so I have the most basic of ideas about the language, but it is tough switching from Italian to French in a matter of a couple hours.

Tomorrow we are having a fun play day and spending the day at Disneyland Paris. The tickets were my anniversary present to Jessica, and she is really excited about going. We are already planning to get up early to make sure we are at the park when it opens. Au revoir!