#33 Paris

We arrived at Paris Lyon and took a short taxi ride to our boutique hotel just a block from Rue Cler, a street lined with shops run by people who have found their niche. What we like to remember: an open air ride down the Seine River at night (beautiful), a walk to the Eiffel (stunning view of the City of Light), a double-decker bus tour (hassle-free), and late dinners at sidewalk cafes. For two splendid days we did the usual things of interest, with only one disappointment--the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. Our lack of planning was by design, however.

The day we arrived we heard the good news that a strike of city workers had been averted, but upon our leaving, a Paris downpour almost accomplished the same chaos. On the morning we were to catch the Eurostar to London, and with plenty of advance notice from us, the hotel desk began calling for our taxi. After an hour  or more had passed we began to get nervous (as did the hotel manager) and then we learned there was a massive traffic jam and taxis could not get through. To our surprise, the manager offered to take us himself but just as he was bringing his car around, the taxi arrived. That was fortuituous because the experienced taxi driver gave us the ride of our lives. Contrary to all one can hear about their rudeness, he was most helpful and graciously took up our cause of catching the train. Once he maneuvered around 4 lanes of traffic (on the right) to make a left turn, and finding one street blocked, he seamlessly veered onto another one. When our wonderful driver got close to Gare du Nord, he decided that there was no time to pull through, so he let us out across the street to make our way on foot. We thanked him, hurriedly paid him, dashed through traffic, found the ticket machine, grabbed our reserved tickets, aced customs, ran down the platform, entered our car, and plopped into our seats.   Don checked the time and announced that we had 7 minutes to spare. And that's the last time we saw Paris!