Hot times in Paris

July 2, 2018 -- Heat in Paris is dry and dusty.  Heat in Southwest Florida is like warm, thick soup.  Heat in Paris can bring on air pollution.  With the heat in Southwest Florida, the air stays relatively clean. 

We stepped out of the airport to walk toward the taxi queue and the heat hit us like a duststorm.  There was no queue at the queue.  We were immediately directed to the cab that was first in line.  Everyone else must be taking Uber or Lyft these days. 

We spoke to our driver in French, but I had a feeling that he probably spoke English.  He seemed to have that slight apprehensiveness that many recent immigrants have.   Lord knows, I'd be apprehensive if I were an immigrant these days.

Walking through the Champ de Mars

As we rode toward the city, I turned on my phone.  T-mobile, as expected, almost immediately recognized that I'd jumped continents.  T-mobile welcomed me to France, and assured me that I'd have unlimited data, unlimited texting, and no roaming charges.  Calls, however, are going to cost me 20 cents a minute, whether they are local or international.  Data speeds are slower than in the U.S.  Okay, that's not bad.  No more switching sim cards and learning new phone numbers.

Our driver didn't speak much, but he was pleasant and he certainly understood us.  We always make sure that taxi drivers know our address is near the Place de la Cambronne.  That just about always assures that they take the route we love -- exiting the beltway at the Place Dauphine, driving downhill through the 16th arrondissement, around the roundabout of all roundabouts at the Arc de Triomphe, and into that part of the 7th and 15th arrondissements that is our home away from home.  Riding along this route I get the same feeling I do when I drive toward the island on the Sanibel causeway -- coming home.

Along the way, we noticed that people on the streets of Paris were moving uncharacteristically slowly.  They were hot.  Our taxi driver, unlike most French taxi drivers, had the air conditioning going full blast.  We thanked him for it; after all, it had been almost 17 hours of travel and we were tired and ready to be pampered.

By the way, a couple years ago the City of Paris simplified and structured the taxi fare system.  We always pay 55 euros now to go by taxi from the airport to the city.  The simple rate rule means that drivers are no longer tempted to take circuitous routes to up the fare.  Figuring the exchange rate, this taxi fare from the airport to the city is the same as what we paid for the taxi ride from the far west end of Sanibel to the Regional Southwest Florida airport.  Both rides also took about the same amount of time.

As we approached our neighborhood, we saw that the rue de la Croix Nivert was blocked for construction, so our driver expertly diverted to cute little old rue du Commerce and dropped us off at the corner near our building. 

We briefly gazed at the building from the street, because when we left it last year, it was about to go through a mandatory cleaning, repairing, and tuck-pointing of its facade.  The facade had been covered with scaffolding at the time of our 2017 departure, and now the scaffolding was gone.  Instead, we were looking at a sparkling clean, classic Haussmannian-style Parisian apartment building.  Nice!

Roses in the Champ de Mars

We'd been briefed about new security changes in the building, including the addition of a second, interior security door with a high-tech electronic system for entry.  With the proper code, key, and device, we easily gained access to the apartment where we've been summering since 1998.

People are taking security seriously in our building, as do we.  The changes are good.

After a brief nap, I set to work repairing the internet access in the apartment.  After what the owner (our friend Roy) told us, I didn't think it would be possible for me to do this.  And no matter -- he scheduled a cable company technician to repair it tomorrow.

But I couldn't let it go.  I studied the problem and eventually figured out what to do.

Walking across the Champ de Mars in the early morn.

When Tom was done napping, it was evening and the temperatures were just starting to dip from sweltering to darned hot.  We didn't want to be trapped in a restaurant on an uncomfortably hot evening, so after a short walk, we stepped into one of our neighborhood Chinese/Korean takeouts and bought dinner.

At home, we opened up the apartment so that the cool night air -- which was on its way -- could sweep through to replace the stale, hot dusty air inside.

This morning, the weather in Paris is lovely.  It sure helps when the night temperatures dip down to the upper 60s instead of just the upper 70s. 

So I had a lovely early morning walk up to the Champ de Mars to be sure the Eiffel Tower was still there.  It is.  And then I walked Parisian avenues to come back home to our rue du Commerce neighborhood.

Now the adventures will begin.