Day 1 in Paris. Flew in overnight/this morning on an Air India 747, the Greyhound Bus of airlines.

Though the company is paying for me to be in France to cover photo festival, the first part of this trip is on the cheap, since it’s personal time. I’m staying in a zero-frills hotel… on the 5th floor of a walk-up building (which by U.S. measurements is the 6th floor). It’s a basic, functional room, but missing things you’d normally expect, like power outlets. (There is one, for the TV, the remote to which is inert, as someone has stolen the batteries.) The place is called the Luna Park Hotel, and I selected it for three reasons. First price, second it’s a name that’s easy for me to remember, and third it’s in a great location in the midst of things near Plaza Republique. I’ve been riding around all afternoon on the Velib bikes, which you can rent for EUR1 from automated stations around the city. I’ll have a future post with more thoughts on this program, which I loved when it was new last year but which has lost some of its lustre.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) off to Caen, for a Normandy D-Day history tour.

It’s funny that a Parisian hotel is named after a bygone Coney Island amusement park.

I thought you had to have one of those special credit cards with the chip in it to use the bike-rental machines. Or maybe that’s just what Kip thought and he never actually tried to use one without it.

Jess, I had to try all my credit cards before I found one that worked with the Velib rental kiosk: My American Express card. Which is odd, since most places in France where you try to use an American Express card, they look at you like you’re a crazy person.

None of my credit cards work in the SNCF train ticket kiosks… You definitely need the European chip for that.