Bonjour de Paris!

We got up at 5am to get to the train station on time to catch our train through the chunnel to Paris. Lindsay looked at the tickets and said: Mom why do these say March? OMG, OMG, OMG!!!! They were for March 19 non refundable. What a disaster. I was so scared we weren't going to get to go! A very nice lady at the ticket counter got us new tickets, (which cost MORE) she used those for the payment towards the new tickets. 100 dollars more, Oh gee, the same price as tea at Kennsington Palace. God is so funny sometimes.So we got on the train 3 hours later. I wanted to give her something to thank her and all I had was my Woman's day magazine, so I gave it to her to read at her lunch break! The trip took 2 1/2 hours and I couldn't even tell we were 2000 leagues under the sea! We had a terrible time finding the right tube to get to our motel. Kat saved the day and got us on then transferred us to the right place. It is nice having a big city girl on the trip! Then my suitcase got stuck in the gate in the tube! It wouldn't go forward or back, it was really stuck! Ran finally pried it out. So I am on one side of the gate and my suitcase is on the other! There is a help button on the wall to open the gate for suitcases. So Lindsay pushes it and the french lady says "Allo, allo! Lindsay just remembers she doesn't speak french, and just stands there, while the french lady is still saying "allooooo". I am on the other side of the gate yelling to Lindsay "baggaaage, say bagaaage". The lady in the box hears me and opens the gate! This was after Kat took a header off of the stairs in the metro and slid head first down the with all of her luggage following her. In a skirt. I'm not sure Paris is ready for the Swick family vacation! We were the only people dragging giant suitcases down the streets of Paris. We finally found our hotel, which is wonderful (I was scared I found it on the internet, and after the train thing...) We dumped our stuff and walked to the Arc de Triumphe, and down the Champs d'Elysee for dinner at a great little restaurant where you got a sandwich, drink and a PATISSERIE for one price (€9, the exchange rate is 1.45 for the dollar) food is so expensive here. The bread and patisserie are cheap, so that is all Lindsay and I are eating! I should roll home. We met Marine at the Disney store on the Champs d'Elysee and went to Mcdonald's for a 5 dollar diet coke, each. she was our exchange student in McCall from France, she now lives in Paris. It was so good to see her. We went back to the hotel and fell into bed!