The First Two Days

Okay, I'm finally here. It was an all day trip getting from Gainesville to Paris, but after many hours of traveling I arrived safe and sound. The trip went smoothly; I slept for probably about three hours on the flight, which wasn't much but that's okay.

Some highlights of the trip: directly after landing, while we're taxing in to the gate the first song that they put on to welcome us to Paris was "Spanish Lullaby" by Glora Estefan (I think...it sounded like her). Nice.

Highlight #2: also related to a song. On the way from the airport to my apartment (in the shuttle), the driver turned on the radio. The song that came on: "It's just...(ahh)...a little crush...(crush)...that gets on me everytime we touch!" Yet another good welcome-song. Oh, and Shakira is in Spanish in France. Just thought I'd let you know.

Also, apparently my computer knows I'm in France. The entire blogger.com site is in French. I didn't do that. Blogger did that. He's sees you when you're sleeping; he knows when you're awake...

In other news, I spent the first day and a half really just wandering around Paris. My apartment is great; perfect for what I'm doing and where I am. It's literally a two minute walk from the Bastille, which means it's a great location. I would post a picture, but OF COURSE I forgot my camera in Meghan's car. So, pictures might not show up for another two weeks (unless I can find some sort of temporary camera). Oh, and I went by Notre-Dame, and it's magnificent. So is the outside of the Louvre (haven't gone in yet).

Okay, I have to put out some flames with the Alliance Francaise (they think I'm only here for four weeks, but I'm actually here for six weeks). Thus, I need to go. Leave me cool comments; oh and congratulations to Grandma and Grandpa Lundborg and Leah Mader for being the first people to comment on the blog. Also, congrats to Kate Lundborg for being the only person to leave me a "Kato" in my money clip. I almost gave it to a waitress at a cafe.

Oh, and final highlight: while I was waiting for the airport shuttle a lady came up to me and said something in French. I looked at her and said, "Pardon?" and she went, "Oh sorry, I thought you were French." Well, at least I have the look down.

And we're (actually, he's) off!

Dan just left for the airport a few hours ago (about 10:30 am), so he's probably waiting in line to check in as I type this post! We were lucky to have Dan's parents visiting for Memorial Day weekend. On their way back to Vero, they dropped Dan off at the Orlando airport. He'll be flying from Orlando to Newark, and then Newark to Paris. He should arrive in Paris at about 10:00 am Paris time on Tuesday, May 29 (that's 4:00 am Florida time). I included some links for you to check on his potential progress, just in case any of you are as obsessed with it as me!

Tells you Paris and Florida time (you can adjust for your own time zone)
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/personal.html

Check his flight status with Continental (flight #36 to Newark/flight #138 to Paris)
http://www.continental.com/

Less Than a Week!

Okay, so a bit of a change of plans. Remembering that my lovely wife will in fact be in Paris with me for much of the trip, we thought that maybe the best call would be to do a blog together (thus posts from both of us describing our time in Paris). I would've added Meghan to the blog that already existed, but the last blog was entitled, "The Parisian Adventures of Dan." Sorry for being selfish.

Anyways, now that the new blog has been created, I figured it would be good to give the update on where we are now. I'm leaving on Monday (Memorial Day), which means that I have less than a week left in the States. Meghan will join me in Europe June 12th. So, I have two weeks or so to kill by myself; any suggestions on stuff to do would definitely be appreciated.

Meanwhile, I'm starting to get the packing list together (with the help of Kate who's visiting until Saturday). I'm also trying to bone up on my French, especially some of the useful phrases (travel stuff, ordering things at restaurants, etc.). There's also a paper that needs tending to before I leave (cross our fingers on that one). Lots to do and just a little time to get it done.

Check out the links to the left. Matt Lundborg is also traveling through Europe, and he has a blog that we're including a link to. He's in Spain; we're in France -- all sorts of good times this summer. Leave comments (by clicking on the "comments" below)!