Reims - Version 2

There has been a snafu with the Hotel reservations in Paris, yes the one in a couple of days from now - they canceled our reservation! They say that the will work with the hotel to see about resolving it and contact me again later in the day (this is how my early morning day started)... It is a later start out from Vernon to Reims today so some sleep in. Different groups doing different meals - breakfast, brunch, lunch, etc. Ivan and Diana grab a bite across from the train station (also where we got the bikes). They have great coffee and one of their best meals in France so far - no joke - according to them (which really means, the closest to Puerto Rican food

We have to change trains in Paris but have a long time to do it. There's the normal up/down stairs for the metro, but we caught the metro right on time. Unfortunately, it is our first experience with crime... I group of kids pushed on right after us and one of them tries to get into Diana's fanny pack - but if you know Diana - you know that doesn't happen. We were separated into 2 groups and while none of us got hit. A man by the other group lost all of the money out of his wallet (they took all the cash and threw his wallet back at him as they jumped off the metro at the last second). Not a nice introduction to Paris for the newbies (even if we were just passing through)... Most grab some food or drinks at the train station as we have about an hour layover.

First class trains (reserved seats) for the second leg of the trip to Reims and finally Ivan is satisfied with the trains Since we have been to Reims before, we know to take Taxis to the hotel (and where the Taxi stand is).

As previously mentioned, the group is on different eating schedules, so we do a lot of casual wandering and stopping for food/drinks this day. We don't really get much farther than the main square. We settle on a nice place outside that has the France/Brazil game on. Having not heard from them about the Paris reservation I called the booking agent in the early evening and spent about 30 minutes on the phone with them - in the end they canceled our reservation, the hotel and the booking agent would do nothing to help us out. We are out of luck (trying to keep the blog family friendly)... As you might imagine, finding a reasonably priced hotel in Paris the last minute for 4 rooms is not easy (I had booked out at the Airport as a backup, but it is a 45 minute ride in to do anything)... We were all looking, but it was hard to book on our phones and pick anything good - we thought of separating, etc - but room availability also disappeared as we looked.

My cell service is bad, so I decide to just enjoy the game and suffer with the remote airport hotel. While at the bar, we spotted the handicapped lady that Kate had befriended in Le Havre. Even though she is in a wheelchair she sports a very laissez faire attitude - but to a fault. Her free spirit led her to watch the USWNT games, but without any planning she was at the hotel we were at in Le Havre (which was fully booked). She was going to just sleep outside of the hotel as she couldn't find any room - the hotel took her in and found a space for her... Then she said the USWNT was fun so she starting looking for a room in Reims, which is here where we saw her again. She didn't have a ticket to the game either - but Kate would hook her up with one of ours the next day.