Wednesday, May 29th
Next morning, we checked out of the Michelangelo and took a taxi to Milan's Linate Airport. Our Air France flight took us to Charles De Gaulle Airport outside Paris, France (woohoo!). A taxi took us to the Hotel Saint Honore, near the Louvre. This hotel was more like our first Rome hotel, The Serena. We felt like Cinderella waking up after the ball when we remembered Genoa and Milan. The room was hard to get in and out of. It was small and hot and noisy, a grim welcome to the "City of Light". Eiffel Tower - We took a taxi to the History Group office to join a group for the tower tour. We were early, so we went for late lunch at a cafe nearby. At the appointed time, we walked with our guide over to the Eiffel Tower and presented our skip-the-line passes. This experience wiped all negative feelings I may have had for Paris so far. I had seen this tower all my life and was blown away to see it in real life. It wasn't just the size and mechanisms or the history it had but the location and ability to see everything Paris is famous for. I was an instant fan boy. I don't know what happened to our guide. He was trying to tell us something the whole time but nobody was listening. The tower demanded, and deserved, all our attention.
Joe
