After a flight from Shreveport to Atlanta on Delta, then a quick sprint to Air France and a smooth ride into Paris, we landed around 11:15 am at CDG and were met by drivers from SayShuttle, a new company we hadn't used before. They were excellent; waiting as we exited with our names on a placard, they got us into the center of the city in about 45 minutes. We were met by Roland Keninger, the manager/owner of Hotel Marignan, dropped off our bags, and headed to Le Montebello, a cafe/restaurant on the left bank right by the Seine, with a perfect view of Notre Dame. While Bruce guided everyone around Notre Dame and took them for Berthillon ice cream on the edge of Isle St. Louis. I, in the meantime, was buying Metro passes at the Cluny-Sorbonne station, and hurried back to meet everyone in front of Notre Dame by 6:00 pm. Afterwards, we walked through the Place Viviani, by the English-Language bookstore Shakespeare and Company, down through the old medieval streets of rue de la Huchette and St. Severin to Place St. Michel, whee we saw some very flexible and talented street performers break dancing. With everybody getting exhaused, we headed back to the Marignan to crash early our first day in Paris.
