Day One: Coping with the Transit Stike

One of the things we love about Paris is the Metro and Rail Systems! Whenever Brian and I go, we shun taxis and buses haughtily, jumping gingerly about on the trains, loving every minute of it. When we arrived at Charles DeGaulle Airport, we learned that our "Gate Checked" stroller and accompanying CAR SEAT were held up in London, and would be delivered to us sometime that evening. Gigi had arranged a van to take us from the airport to our rented apartment in the city, as we truly did have A LOT of luggage, and taking the train with all of it would have been impossible. But now without the car seat, we had no way to transport Sophie! Not that the driver would have minded us just holding her (bless the open-minded French!), and perhaps in the city we mght have considered, but on the highway into Paris, no way. "Pas de problem!", Brian and I exclaimed. We would take Sophie on the train and send my parents with the luggage in the van, we love the train, and we'd probably even beat them to the apartment knowing traffic! I mention here that we said "Oh, we'll take the train!" about three times to our driver...
Gigi and Grandpa Fred took off in the van, we hustled with Sophie across the airport to the trains. Only to find a very large and informative sign telling us that there is a Transit Strike Today. No Trains. For real. (Was the van driver so unawares that he didn't know about the NATION WIDE TRANSIT STRIKE that was happening, or did he just forget to mention it to us? This we will never know.) At this point we were glad to have stopped and swigged an espresso on the way to the trains, after a nine hour flight and little sleep for either of us.
We then embarked on an adventure, locating the RoissyBus which, after an hour's worth of stops around the airport, ferried us into Paris....during rush hour. On the way into Paris we realized that the strike included the Metro within Paris, not just the RER and TGV lines, and contemplating the Paris bus system which neither of us had ever used. Meanwhile, Sophie was a Champ, I mean CHAMP! She hung out in the Bjorn, hung out on the bus, nursed, napped, flirted with everyone, and was amazing the whole time. She is a born traveler!
While on the bus, we had no way of contacting my parents to let them know what was going on, as the hours ticked by. We did get a phonecall on Brian's cell phone from my brother while on the bus; my Grandmother Evelyn, whom we had just visited in Iowa passed away that morning.
We arrived at the center of Paris at the foot of the Opera, after arriving at the airport just before noon, around six in the evening. It was dark, and cold, we were all underdressed, jet lagged and exhausted, the bus schedule was cryptic, the news about my grandmother weighing on us, and we stood there and smiled. We were in Paris, and it couldn't have been more beautiful that night.
We finally made it to the apartment, warm and inviting, my parents concerned yet sure we would find our way, and our Little Trooper just happy as a clam, we could not be more amazed at Sophie's amazing patience and temperment!