What a birthday present!

We have arrived!!  Landed at CDG about 8AM Paris time (2AM EDT!) and then spent THREE HOURS in line with hundreds of other foreign nationals visiting Paris....all this just to show our passports and get them stamped!  THEN we went to baggage claim where we quickly found our checked baggage!  There was "beaucoup" grumbling and some who insisted this was "normale!" Or is it the upcoming election!

We found our Direct bus easily by 11:30 and arrived in downtown Paris at the "Place Trocadero" by 1 PM Paris time. Although we had eaten an okay dinner and a less than okay breakfast (at 1:30 AM!),

by this time Peter was famished!  So we stopped at a cafe on the Place, sat in the sun, watched some tres chic French women and the Eiffel Tower across the river and had a Croque Monsieur, a Croque Madame and a cafe creme before walking to our rental. And here we sit at 3:30 PM Paris time (9:30 AM EDT) in our apartment waiting to meet our landlady and "get moving!"  More later!