Back in a little foreign town

Trip Start Jun 02, 2009

Trip End Jun 17, 2009

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Flag of French Polynesia Papeete, Society Islands, French Polynesia
Tuesday, June 2, 2009

(S) We landed around 7 pm. It was pitch dark. What is going on? Oh ya, we are on the other side of the earth and they are in the middle of winter, so the days are short and it gets dark at 5:30 pm. Duh. We had zero trouble picking up our rental car and headed out into the darkness to find our hotel on the other side of downtown Papeete.

The foreignness of the whole thing hit us as soon as we left the parking lot and saw the "Toutes Directions" sign. It was just so….French, yet tropical. Driving into town reminded us both of driving along the Riviera, like between our apartment in Cap d'Ail and Nice. And yes, I did agree to go on my honeymoon to a French speaking chain of islands. I don’t know what I was thinking. At least there are limited French people here, right? Right?!

Our transition hotel, the Radisson, was very nice, complete with a 12 person bathtub on the patio

Papeete

. We were both exhausted and didn’t even raid the mini-bar.

Our honeymoon has begun!

(C) I am so happy to have finally landed I don't even care where we are. I was happy the rental car people were where they should be and that everything seems so foreign yet so normal. What are these Polynesian francs? Why are the coins so big?
This hotel is a long ways from the airport, but it is a fantastic place to get over the 8 hour flight. Tomorrow we go to Bora Bora - which thousands of honeymooners go to, but we haven't been there. Even a traveler gets to spend a couple nights in an overwater bungalow.

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