From Italy to France

Our  plan this morning went off surprisingly well, thank goodness. After breakfast in the hotel we were off to Livorno to drop of our rental "hunk of junk" . We left at 9:20 am and arrived, thanks to GPS a few minutes before 10. Livorno is close to Tirrenia, like Richmond is to Vancouver. Jeff was going to tell the guys at the rental shop (politely, of course) what he/we thought of the car but he didn't say anything in the end, because the fellows were so nice he didn't want to spoil their day.  They called us a taxi to take us back to Terrenia. An 8 passenger Mercedes Benz arrived! The drive back was interesting until we got stopped for a bridge to raise, meter running the whole time. Ahh the joys!
Back at our lovely Hotel Bristol we checked out at 11am and had to wait until 2pm for our next taxi to take us to the Pisa airport. We planned to spend the time laying around at the pool but then Enrico ((hotel owner) asked if we would like to use the bicycles to tour around. Yes! And we were off! The Hotel is not far from the beach and we rode along the bike path for about 6 km, sat for awhile and watched some surfers in the waves, and ended up at a cafe for pizza and salad.  When we got back with the bikes, Enrico and Jeff were talking tennis as Enrico had offered to put on the big tv in the bar for us. Enrico told us that Milos Ranoic had stayed at his hotel for a week and he had a photo with him........soon Jeff was pulling up his photo of him and Federer......boys!  It seems there is a tennis facility near by that the professionals use occasionally.
Our taxi arrived to take us to the Pisa airport, which is about 12 km away. On the drive we were passing  km's of serious barbed wire fencing....razor wire on top. I asked the driver  if it was a prison....no, it is a USA military base which was built during World War Two.  He said it was 6km in length and though not many Americans were there now it employs many Italians. (Not sure doing what)
Pisa airport is quite small and our flight was delayed.
We finally arrived in Paris to rain and cold, and hailed a taxi for our trip into the Marais district. We
had landed at Orly airport, flat rate to Paris is $35, (CDG Flat rate is $55) we were in rush hour traffic
so it took a long time to reach our hotel Turenne Le Marais. The hotel for two nights was quite expensive so we were anticipating a lovely room. Not! It is one of the smallest rooms we have ever seen and truth be told it is a bit shabby! I know it's Paris....but really!
We did ask if there were any bigger rooms and were told there were not.
Tomorrow is strike day for the transportation systems in Paris.
We asked at the desk for some dinner suggestions and thankfully there were lots of choices in the square half a block away.  Smoking in Paris is not allowed indoors so most people sit outside in plastic style tents. We are quite astounded at the number of smokers all over Europe, it was the same in Spain and Italy.  Soup of the day was creme lentil, piping hot and very tasty.
We purchased some water at a little corner store and decamped to our teeny room.
What will we do in Paris tomorrow ? I have always wanted to visit Auvers sur Oise which is 41 minutes by train from Paris. It is where Van Gogh spent his last days, also Corot, Pissarro, so much art history in an old French village....but the trains are on strike.


Just may have to shop instead😀😀☔️.
I still love Paris, wet, expensive, rude at times, but full of history, art, architecture, and style!