WOODFORD’S IN PARIS…Week One!

Bonjour! We are finally here in Paris, France!

DREAMS DO COME TRUE! NOT BECAUSE WE SAID SO; BECAUSE WE LIVE SO! RIGHT NOW!

Portugal was good to us, and we look forward to returning in January. Oh Baby, but now the one love ambassadors have landed in the city of LOVE! I was so excited that I couldn’t even sleep my last night in Lisbon, plus the flight was at 0530 and we had to be at the airport at 0330. Shout out to Ana for setting up taxi service to the airport. Our driver was a woman, and she was delightful for the 15min ride, she kept calling me Lady, it was hilarious. When we arrived at the airport in Lisbon she was like “okay Lady enjoy Paris, but not too much you gotta come back to Portugal. Yep, that was after a generous tip!

The just over 2-hour flight from Lisbon to Paris was a blur for me. I was out like a light right after take-off. No snacks just “zzzzz” but Charles had my back. As we were landing, I woke up and Charles handed me a cookie. I was over the moon excited and grateful upon landing. We were the last two passengers of the plane; I had to fully soak it in. “Your girl was finally here, in Paris, getting ready to walk into Charles de Gaulle Airport.

THIS WAS HAPPENING FOR REAL!

Getting through customs was a breeze, however getting from the arriving terminal to the main terminal was another story. The journey seemed unending, thankfully the signage was in the universal language of pictures, making it easy to follow. Heads-up, Charles de Gaulle Airport is GINORMOUS, and the technology is lite years ahead of airports in the United States.

There is a border crossing check which was a little too sophisticated; you scan your passport which opens a space for a facial scan and then a Plexi glass door opens for you to go. Did I mention that when you enter the space the Plexi glass door closes. So, imagine being sandwiched between two Plexi glass doors about a 4x4 space, being claustrophobic, I was not feeling that tight space at all.

Guess what? My passport scan did not register; therefore, I was stuck in this space for like 3-5 minute which felt more like 3-5 hours. I was seconds away from screaming when the Plexi door behind me opened and I jumped out lightning fast.

The agent working the area walked up and jokingly said “what you have a fake passport?” I didn’t have to answer him because once he looked at my face he quickly said, “Oh I was just kidding”

Dude, this is not the time is what my face read, which by his response came across very clear. Charles and I went to a window and presented our passports to a live person and went through without any issues. CHEERS to Human Agents on Site!

Since I couldn’t sleep before our flight, I watched multiple YouTubes on navigating Charles de Gaulle and purchasing passes for the Metro Trains/Buess. Charles and I decided that we were train/bus savvy enough to get to our apartment without a Taxi. We purchased our Metro passes without any issues. HIGH FIVES! We boarded our first train feeling confident and ready for the adventure.

So, off we go and go and go and GOOOOOO! Alright, so our transfer didn’t go so smooth, and we got on the wrong train and then the right bus in the wrong direction. Hey, maybe getting turned around was a part of the journey. Bottom line we made it to our apartment where we’ll stay for a month. UNLESS something more wonderful calls us! WAIT?WHAT! Did I just say for a month? I sure did!

I entered the apartment, giddy, excited, grateful and EXHAUSTED…. There is an hour difference between Paris and Lisbon plus, I hadn’t really slept in over 24 hours! I was too excited. First item on the agenda was to get some sleep which we did.

Day one we hit the ground running; we were off to explore Paris. Our plans for week one was to take some of the FREE tours. You read that right; there are lots of FREE tours offered here in Paris, which plan to take full advantage of. Also, several of the museums are FREE on the first Sunday of the month. (Bonus)

Our first day here was spent getting familiar with the Metro system and strolling through the heart of Paris. We made Shakespeare and Company Bookstore our first stop and enjoyed soooo many amazing sites on the way to include Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris and the Seine. I seriously had to pinch myself to make sure I was not in a dream but instead living a dream. “Dreams Really Do Come True!”

Okay so here’s a good point to interject the frequency here in Paris is 10x the frequency of Lisbon. I mean considering is Paris is a much larger city with endless things to do, of course the frequency is higher. Now just to be clear I am not comparing places just vibes in order to make the point that we would have to pace ourselves or we’d run out of gas in the first week.

Initially we had three tours scheduled for week one. Well, we took the first tour together which was a great experience, we toured Montmartre area of Paris. The second tour was Emily in Paris, I offered Charles an out and he took it, so I went solo! The third was a tour of Paris which we postponed. Did I mention these tours were scheduled three days back-to-back? What in the world was I thinking???? I am going to blame it on EXCITEMENT!!!! How-be-ever it was a great early reminder to pace ourselves which is exactly what we are doing NOW!

I am literally in LOVE with Paris! We have some very exciting things on the drawing board although we are not attached to any of it. Charles and I believe if we allow the ease and flow of LOVE to lead us, we will experience EXACTLY what we are meant too!

Our Bonjour’s and Merci’s with a smile has led us to the most incredible, helpful, and kind people in this city of Love. I mean after all we are One Love Ambassador so of course we are bringing love to every space and attracting love back!