We arrived in the Percy Train Station around 8:30 am and debated whether or not to take a taxi to our hotel – THE GIRLS all wanted to take the Taxi – yet the “old man” wanted to take the Metro – we followed. Down MANY steps and around the corner – found the entrance to the Metro – pulled our bags along the side and let Clark try to figure out (in the long line) how to get our tickets. He arrived to the box – to purchase tickets – and some how jammed the ticket booth – hmmmmm – someone who spoke broken English sent him up and around the corner (100 meters) to the main box office to get the tickets. We stayed down guarding our luggage – was just too tired to move! 15 minutes later Clark was back with specific instructions on how to get to our hotel…we get on the subway (ugh nasty and crowded) and look up to see that our stop (according to Clark) is the VERY LAST stop! We get off after about 18 stops and realize that we are NOT in PARIS anymore but in some far out funky modern city – the outskirts of Paris or the business section! We came up for air – out of the station – look around like “where the heck are we???” Ask a few people who spoke NO ENGLISH and finally realize we got off at the WRONG stop! Some nice man who spoke a little English told us we should have gotten off several stops back – that made me feel better. I was shooting darts at Clark (again) that we had “Pricelined” our way out of Paris!!
We get back on the Metro – and got off right in front of our hotel – a VERY LARGE TALL hotel that one could not miss! We check in about 11 am and I am standing there listening to two people complain about the hotel – one lady was complaining about how she had lost (I thought I heard her say $4000 dollars or something to that effect) and the hotel people were just saying ‘sorry’!! Another man was saying that this was a 4 star hotel with a 2 star service – we were in for a treat!! We were checking in and the man directly said to us – ‘Do not touch ANYTHING from the mini bar unless you want to buy!” Apparently it is electronic and if you touch it – you are charged for it – Now for the past several weeks, Clark has been giving the kids Cokes and water from the mini bar and has replaced them with cokes and waters that he has bought for about 3-5 Euros cheaper….but this man said YOU touch YOU PAY! No replacing – YOU have to understand that the entire hotel looked as if it was run by the Mafia – NO LIE! We could not get out of there fast enough!!! We rinsed off and were out exploring on the streets of Paris hoping that our luggage was safe.
We arrived over near the Louvre and found some quaint hotels and we all agreed that we will move the next day. We walked along the streets of Paris – had a great lunch of Steak and Frites (cannot remember the name of the restaurant) toured the Eifel Tower – walked along the streets of Saint Germaine – ducked into some cute shops saw the Musee De Armies where we promised Ford we would be back first thing the next day (it was 5:30 pm and they were closing)…it was a great day! We ended up eating at a little restaurant across from the Louvre and headed back home for a hopeful good nights sleep! We had a GREAT day! A few bumps along the way – but all and all a GREAT day! It is so much fun just being with my family!
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