Adventure in Orly

Un hôtel excentrique
Returning home from France, our plan was to fly to Orly Airport from Nice, stay overnight in a nearby hotel, and fly out of Orly the next morning. I found a hotel online called Hotel Air Plus which appeared to be near the airport. And the hotel had a free shuttle service.

 A plethora of poisson at Nice Airport.

It was all I could do to resist this Hermès hat at the duty-free shop.

Euros were burning a hole in my poche.

On arrival at Orly Airport, we found the shuttle (navette). Malheureusement, it was 3 p.m. and the next shuttle pick up would be at 5. To the taxi stand. When we got in the taxi and told the driver that we were going to the village of Orly -- mon dieu! The driver was not happy. "I waited for 2 hours for a fare, and you are only going 2 miles," he uttered ever so charmingly in French. But gallantly, he drove us, me wondering just what I was getting us in to. All I could think of was that we were out in the strange exurbs of Paris and our taxi driver didn't like us. So I said, " Je suis desolée." (I am sorry.) He said, "Je vous en prie." (Basically, it's OK.)

We arrive at Hotel Air Plus. 

 "Art" installation.

It's actually quite charming in an ivy-covered sort of way.

Check in.

The walls are covered with airplane-related pictures and memorabilia.

The owner of the hotel must be a pilot.

Orly is 7.9 miles from the center of Paris and 
about 20 minutes by train. 

This hotel is a good, money-saving option for travelers on a budget.
Our room was 110 euros.

Almost looks like an early Miro.

We missed la navette and ran afoul of a taxi driver.

These are the houses near the hotel.

Orly turned out to be a charming place.

We were quite hungry, but the hotel restaurant was not open. We were told there were restaurants in town, so we set off to discover Orly, on foot, of course. We found a bar, Le Narval.

 We went in for a glass of wine. They were out of sandwiches.

We began to explore the town. What we quickly realized, though, was that we were in the old, original part of Orly. There was another, modern part, not far away, with pizza parlors. And the old part of town was being gentrified. It seems we had discovered a gem. The name Orly derives from Latin Aureliacum, "The villa of Aurelius." The population of Orly is 21,691.

 Cute, little houses, and alley-like streets in Orly.

 A fixed-up building.

Perhaps the type of person who might settle in

 Greenpoint, Brooklyn if they

were American appreciates the charm of old Orly.

This épicerie just popped open like a mushroom about 4 p.m.

 Ripe for renovation. The old stone houses of Orly.

Dinner at the famed L'envol restaurant in the Hotel Air Plus.

The next morning we were on our way home on Open Skies Airline, 

business class, bien sûr.

 Sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella for an appetizer.

 Le dîner.

Dessert and coffee.

Movies. I watched "2 days in New York." It was good.

 I drew on a magazine page.

À Bientôt!