Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (I can't believe we made it)

We left right from out internships. I took the bus to the tram, and then the tram to the train station. Esther and I took the train from Le Mans to Paris - Montparnesse where we were told we could catch a shuttle to the Beauvais Aiport by taking the metro. So we took the metro to this shuttle stop, got on a charter bus that drove us for two hours to the airport north of Paris. We got to the airport only 50 minutes before our flight left which ended up being just enough time, and then we flew to Milan. We then took a cab from the airport to the hotel. That's 7 different means of transportation (if I counted correctly). The only major transportation we missed were boat, horse and buggy, and bike. 

The timing for it all worked out absolutely perfectly though. We literally got off one thing and straight onto the other - it was impeccable. The only downside is that it was so well timed that there wasn't any opportunity to get food. So after checking into the hotel at 11:45 pm, we threw our stuff down and walked down the street to find a bar or some place that would be open. Fortunately we found a restaurant with a man behind the counter who didn't speak English or French, only Italian, but was very friendly and cooked us risotto at 12:30 pm while Stevie Wonder sang to us in the background. We didn't tip him because we weren't sure if we we're supposed to - does anyone know if we should've??? In France you don't tip, but also in France that restaurant would've been closed because it's late at night and inconvenient for the workers. 

The hotel were staying in is absolutely gorgeous! Our room is ginormous and the bathroom here is about the size of our dorm rooms in Le Mans - we don't know what to do with all this space. We have our own little terrace that overlooks the street and there are a couple folding chairs in the closet that we can set up outside! I feel so incompetent not being able to say colors or even count to 10 in Italian, but this weekend is an adventure! So far, the three Italian people we've encountered have been very friendly and helpful, but we were also paying them (cab, hotel, food...) so who knows. Tomorrow is the worlds fair!!! So we're eating breakfast in the free-wifi-having hotel and then figuring out how to get to the expo from there! I cannot wait to go!!