Days 23 and 24 - Paris to . . . Boston??? to ... Conowingo

Ok, so we get up and get ready to go meet the gang for breakfast. I take a few minutes to check our flight again online and once again, it says “delayed.” I tried to find out what was up online and couldn’t find out anything. The Charles de Gaulle airport site said that the flight was on time, so I was holding on to hope that maybe the American site was incorrect. Went ahead to breakfast and said our goodbyes to everyone, finished packing up and checked out of the hotel. Stayed in the lobby checking online again and now found an email had just been sent to me saying our flight was now cancelled! To make a long story a tad shorter, the front desk lady at the hotel helped us get a call into American Airlines and after being on hold for over half an hour (Gary on phone, me searching flights online for possibilities), we got ourselves on a flight to Boston, arriving at 3:35 PM, staying overnight, and then flying into Reagan Monday. We figured if we had to stay overnight somewhere, better to spend the night at Kim’s than in an airport somewhere or another night in Paris, still having to get ourselves out of France the next day. I had sent an email when the flight got cancelled to three people, hoping that at least one would call dad and tell him to not go pick us up and to await further instructions. We had to then cancel our shuttle, grab a cab immediately because it was already two hours before the flight left and we were somewhere between a half hour and an hour from the airport! No time to email anyone about the new plan! The cab driver got us there pretty quick (spoke NO English), but dropped us off about as far from American Airlines as he could have. Nice! We RAN through Charles de Gaulle airport, and got through security and to the gate right at the last minute! I managed to work up a nice sweat running through the airport. No time to figure out how to get online or search out a phone card to call anyone. I think that Gary and I could do the Amazing Race show now. I felt like I was on the show when we were in that cab trying to talk to that driver, who didn’t understand us, nor we him, and then having him drop us off about 20 miles from the American terminal! Ugh!

Managed to make it onto the plane and headed to Boston. Called Kim from the plane as soon as we landed to inform her that it was her lucky day! She was on her way to Target, so she picked us up at the airport while she was out. We had a nice impromptu visit with the Huang family and had some food from California Pizza Kitchen. Gary, Brady and Dillon played ball outside while Kim and I went for the food. Harry was basking in the glory of the Ravens defeat by the Patriots. Finally hit the sack at about 9:30 (which felt to us like 3:30 AM since we were still on Paris time), but then we were awake at 3 AM! Managed to fall back asleep though and had pancakes in the morning with Kim and the boys before heading off to the airport for our flight to DC. No delays with this flight, so smooth sailing as we make our way back to Conowingo.
 
Made it to DC about 11:45 and Dad was there waiting to pick us up.  Stopped by the post office and got a stack of mail about 2 feet high and then went to Sue's for a late lunch and my first iced tea in almost a month.  Paula met us there and we had a nice lunch.  Then, stopped by Benjamins' Store for some milk and bread and to chit chat with Dot and Debbie and then finally home at last.
 
It was a wonderful trip and I think the same group should start working on another tour for next summer or fall, possibly throughout the states this time, with maybe a brief foray into Canada!

Day 21 - Beaune to Paris

Had a breakfast of croissant and tea in the hotel and then hit the road for Paris at 8:00. This was our last day on the bus.

Made it to Paris by lunchtime and checked in to the Duquesne Eiffel Hotel. It is a really nice hotel and if you look out our window, we have a great view of the Eiffel Tower. This may be our best hotel yet and I’m pretty sure it’s the most expensive. A good one to end the trip on, if the trip has to end!

Gary and I and some of the ladies ate crepes for lunch. Gary had the ham, egg, and cheese and I had the dark chocolate and banana. Yes, dark chocolate and banana!

Shakespeare and Co. is a bookstore that people like Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and others used to hang out in.  This is not the original, but a replica, I guess.  I haven't looked into this very much, but our guide was telling us some about it.  It seems to be a popular hangout with book loving people.

We met up with the whole group at 3:00 and rode the metro and walked through the city, taking in St. Chappell (famous for stained glass windows, shown at left) and Notre Dame Cathedral. At Notre Dame, we happened in just as mass was starting, so we sat in on that for a while. It was really neat to be there when they were actually having mass. I didn’t understand it, but the singing was really beautiful.

Outside Notre Dame was a guy playing guitar and singing Country Roads!  That's twice we've heard that - once at Octoberfest and once outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris!

After we toured Notre Dame, we were finished for the day with the official Rick Steves stuff , so most of us grabbed a quick bite in the Latin Quarter (Gary and I got sandwiches) and then we took the metro to where you can catch a boat to take a night-time cruise on the Seine. Of the fourteen people left on the tour, eleven of us went, so it was a pretty good turnout. It was so beautiful cruising up and down the Seine. The Eiffel Tower was lit up and I didn’t realize it, but every hour on the hour it sparkles. 

There were young folks all along the Seine having parties and they all waved and yelled as we went by (pictured at left).

Got back to the hotel a little before 11:00 and went down to the lobby to blog and check email. Will soon go to bed to get up for the last day of the tour tomorrow in Paris. We have a tour of the Louvre tomorrow morning and then we’re free all afternoon until the last dinner together tomorrow night.

Day 20 - Switzerland to Beaune, France

Breakfast in the hotel, as always, and then at 8:15, off to Burgundy area of France, a very pretty drive. Had lunch at a mall (we had pizza again, even though I said we wouldn’t eat pizza again after Italy), but only had one hour total, so no time for shopping. L

Driving through the countryside, we saw that there are lots of cows in this region, mostly Charolais.

Arrived at Beaune about 2:30 and checked into the Ramparts Hotel. Beaune is a medieval town that is really pretty and it‘s all about wine-making. There are vineyards all around. Yet another town that looks like a movie set. The Chevrolet family is from Beaune, as are Victor Hugo and Louis Pasteur. Walked around town and noticed that the shops were really expensive. The clearance rack at a shoe store had all shoes 79 euros, which is about $120. We did buy a few pastries to hold us over til dinner.

We toured an old hospital that was founded in 1443, to take care of the poor. It was used as a hospice in the days of the black plague.

After touring the hospice, some of us took the little tourist train that drives you all through the town and out into the vineyards. Then, we toured a wine-making place, went down into the cellar and most of the people did wine-tasting.

Had dinner that night all together - we started off the meal with escargot! Gary and I actually ate them! They tasted fine, but just knowing that we were eating snails was kind of weird! They were cooked in kind of a garlicky-buttery sauce, like scampi, so we used that to dip our bread in and that was the best part of that whole escargot experience. Then we had a first course of ham (they call it jambon) with some type of gelatin. I ate a little bit of the ham. Then, we had boeuf burgenon (I know that is not spelled properly, but you know what I’m talking about) and noodles. That was tasty. Then, they brought out three kinds of cheese, which I wasn’t interested in and for dessert, some type of pears marinated in something wine-related and some sorbet. I ate the sorbet, but didn’t really care for the pears.

This picture to the left is Gary eating a snail.



Headed back to the hotel and turned in for the night, leaving for Paris in the morning.