Things That Mel Does Not Know

We just wanted to give you a quick update as to what our first week will look like - from boring flight details to Paris plans.

On Monday, 9 June - at 8:40, fly to Denver - 10:55, fly to Montreal - 7:55 p.m, fly to Paris. We should arrive in Paris on Tuesday at 8:35 a.m. where we will hit the town.

On Tuesday, we plan on taking a walk around the historic part of Paris (Notre Dame, the Seine, etc.), climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and finish the evening with a boat ride along the Seine River. That should be enough for one day, don't you think?

On Wednesday, we will start at the Arc de Triomphe, walk down the Champs Elysée, see the Mona Lisa (among other works of art) at the Louvre, head to the Musée D'Orsay, followed by The Thinker at Rodin's Garden. We will finish off the evening at Montmartre (where the Moulin Rouge is located). The key word for Paris is "walking" (much like the rest of our trip).

On Thursday, we will have a very early start on rue Cler (rue = street), where you can find markets selling anything from fresh fruit, cheese, meats, breads...well, just about anything. The plan is to make a picnic lunch to take to Versailles (the chateau of Louis XIV) and Chartres (the location of a very famous cathedral often visited by pilgrims.

On Friday, we will take a train to St. Jean Pied de Port, a city that sits just north of the Spanish border. This will be our first night in a refugio (pilgrims' hostel). We plan on starting our walk on Saturday morning...bright and early.

I am aware that this is very brief and perhaps a bit dry, but I am sure that as we live it, the updates will become much more interesting. We just wanted to give those of you who are going to follow us along the way an idea of what the heck we are doing.

More to come...