Day 01 August 16, 2008
I'm here. I'm actually here in Paris. It took a while to realize it because of an ordeal of getting both me and my bag across the ocean.
My trip started with a re-route to a direct flight leaving ATL, but my bag really wanted to go to my original backwards connection through Houston. Then it took a frustrating day and a half for the baggage delivery service to get it to me. We spent a lot of time looking out the window or watching the Olympics on tv in different languages (except English). This is the same bag, incidentally, that took off for Clermont-Ferrand instead of Nice last year. We're thinking it's never going to vacation in Europe again. At least, not with us.
But this vacation; this vacation that I'd seen only through maps and photos and websites is now real. It overwhelmed me as I sat on a bench along the Seine River a few hours after I arrived. I looked to my right and there was the Eiffel Tower. I looked to my left and there was the tip of Notre Dame. Behind me was the massive museum of the Louvre. Paris is finally all around me. I just have to step out my front door.
So, here I go.