Icelandic airport

We’ve successfully made it to France, courtesy of WOW Airlines.  I think they got their name from what people say when they find out how much it costs to bring a bag.  Consequently, we are traveling pretty light.  With careful measuring we determined that the girls’ school backpacks, if not overstuffed, could qualify as a “personal item,” so that’s their luggage.  Bob and I shared one suitcase to check ($80 each way) and we managed to avoid the carry-on category entirely ($60 each way).

WOW Airlines entails a stopover in Iceland.  Leaving Boston at 7pm and flying to Iceland, there was barely a night, with the pink light of the sunset almost immediately followed by the orange glow of sunrise.  The Iceland airport was pretty cool, although our enthusiasm dimmed once we’d spent $20 on two smoothies.  We had to go outside to get on our plane to France, and it was COLD.  (Now we are in France, and it it HOT.)

The scene at a nearby cafe

Anyway, WOW Airlines delivered us uneventfully to Paris, where we eventually managed to locate the train and find our way to the apartment we rented on airbnb.  I should mention here that it was now about 2pm on Sunday — three hours before the start of the World Cup championship, with France playing Croatia.  The street where we were staying was lined with bars and cafes and was closed off to traffic.  The mood was already quite…celebratory.

Climbing wall along the Seine

Everyone was exhausted from a night on the plane with little sleep, but our usual strategy for beating jet lag is to force ourselves to stay up until at least 7 or 8pm.  So once we’d gotten settled on our lovely apartment, we marshalled the troops and set off on foot.  (As I write this, it is noon on Monday and everyone but me is still asleep, so I think the plan failed.)

Paris Plages

We had read that the city was erecting a huge screen at the Eiffel Tower to show the game.  We figured we’d walk in that direction (3 miles according to the map) and check out the scene for a while, doing a little exploring on the way.  We headed for the Seine and enjoyed the beautiful architecture, “Paris Plages” setup (a faux beachfront set up along the river), and various huge street parties getting ready for the game.

Well, I guess we took a circuitious route or misread the map, because it was quite a long walk.  By the time we

reached the area around the tower, there were huge streams of people moving away from it.  Eventually, after wandering around that area for a while, we discovered the police had barricaded it off and we were stuck on the wrong side.

The energy in the city was amazing though.  Periodically we’d hear a roar

Some much-needed cooling mist

go up all around us as we walked along, and we’d know that France had scored.  French flags and people painted red, white, and blue were everywhere.  (Bob found a little flag on the ground so we were able to wave it around and join the party.)  Near the Eiffel tower someone who lived on the ground floor had opened their window near the TV set, and a throng of fans was gathered in the street outside, peering through the window to watch.

Here’s where we’d made a major miscalculation.  We’d said all along that we’d take the metro back home.  But when we finally made it to the nearest

Uselessly consulting our map again

station, the area was behind the police blockade.  The next nearest station was closed for construction, along with a couple beyond that on the same line.  (Luckily we found a sign on the ground indicating this.)  Eventually we discovered that the entire metro seemed to have been shut down.  So that long, long walk in the hot sun had to be repeated.  No one was very happy about this.  Eventually the game ended and the streets were full of celebration, which at least added some festivity to our death march.

Back home we had to fight our way through crowds of revelers to reach the door of our apartment, but thankfully the soundproofing is excellent.  I’m not sure if anyone is going to be willing to walk anywhere tomorrow, though.

Ice cream bribe to keep walking