The overnight flight from Reykjavik to Paris 
was the single shortest overnight flight I’ve had in my entire life.
Nevertheless, we arrived in Paris bright and early on Monday, June 14th and breakfasted at a lovely little spot called Capucines on Des Capucines Blvd in Paris. We didn’t have a hotel for that night, so Philipp made a quick reservation at Hôtel de la Vallée in the 2nd arrondissement; an unknown 1 ½ star joint that had an available room.
The hotel wasn’t pretty, but it was clean and had a bed. The climb up the stairs with luggage was brutal for Philipp, but fairly tolerable for me. (Here’s where you can figure out who lugged 75 pounds of bags up three flights of narrow stairs). After we unloaded our things in the room we did a little exploring and found a nice little place to have dinner. It was when we came back to the hotel that we figured out why there was an available room! This neighborhood was a working class community by day and a “working girl” district by night. That was the only night we spent there.
The next day we had plans to meet my friend GG for dinner. I first met GG at Harvard where she was one of my teaching assistants for three history classes I took. She knows Paris very well and I think she’s been spending her summers in Paris ever since Taft left office. She rents her apartment from friends of hers, Jennifer and Philippe, who happen to own an adorable little hotel, Résidence les Gobelins, in the 13th arrondissement (on the south side of Paris). GG lined us up and Jennifer took wonderful care of us.
Since GG is a regular in the neighborhood, we met her for dinner at La Manufacture, one of her local haunts. It was really great to see her again and we had a really good time. Did I mention the wine was really good? Oh, yeah : )
The next two days were spent wandering around Paris, ignoring the ½ mile long line to get into Notre Dame, and shopping at both of the La Fayette Galleries.
I wanted to get a sense of what Paris was all about and I wouldn’t experience that if I spent my time in museums surrounded by tourists from 200 different nations. So we walked five miles one day, and seven the next. 
Along the way we popped into shops and cafes, and I came to the conclusion that Paris is my new love.
In order to foster our blossoming relationship, I should spend more time with Paris.
Perhaps future plans will take care of that.
Walking the streets of Paris is an absolutely amazing experience. The different neighborhoods offer such diverse culture.