Bonjour! Greeting from Paris, France

So getting here was no easy task... after a dramatic departure from Denver (Shefali!) and arriving to the gate in the knick of time... and taking off 2hours later (Damn Ohare!) we arrived at ORD- Chicago 5 hours ahead of our Paris flight. Boarding the flight, here was the list of things to worry about upon arrival to Paris:
1)Passing 8 hours on a flight that had Fantastic Mr. Fox for its main entertainment.
2) Immigration - Shefali and her Visas
3) Finding Danielle in the hustle and bustle of the Paris airport.
4) Contacting Julie- this is a more dramatic story for later.
5) Getting to Julie (after a 50 Euro taxi drive)
Here is an unexpected one :
6) Hauling 10 pieces of luggage up 6 - that's right SIX! flights of stairs.

How did we overcome all these obstacles? Let me start from the beginning.
1) Sam and I spent 8 hours on the flight braiding my hair, learning/ teaching sign language, practicing sign language by signing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (This one goes out to Lexi!) and sleeping.
2) Well immigration was no problem at all... as I played it cool as a cucumber. Said my "Bounjours and Mercies" perfectly and strutted out to "no return zone" forgetting to claim my bags! Typical.

(Shefali went to shower in Julie's very strange, very interesting shower so this is Sam taking over! Hello!)

3) After forgetting our bags, we went back to retrieve them.. as we passed the security guards with their AK-47s (haha), one called us what we can only assume was the word "idiot" in French.. a language barrier that has already proven difficult for us! Even with our French and Italian phrase books!
4) Next we hopped into a taxi with a man that barely speaks English.. (he also had his English phrase book).. Shefali attempted to speak French and succeeded!
5) So after the very expensive taxi ride, we arrived at Julie's with no phone to contact her. As I watched the plethura of baggage, Danielle and Shef ran to a pay phone.. with no luck.. then the Orange store to get a sim card.. with no luck.. finally they came back to me much later and went with a calling card.. finally we got ahold of her!
6) So we're at Julie's while we all shower.. in a shower with a handheld spout, one shower door (so her bathroom may be soaked now :)

Anyway, we're off to Pere Lachiase (the cemetery with Jim Morrison's and Oscar Wilde's graves), then the metrorail to Notre Dame and the Louvre and a boat tour!

We will catch ya'll on the flip side!!