A Free Man (and Woman) in Paris, Unfettered and Alive . . .

Sunday, November 26, 2006

I woke up feeling very sad because it was our last morning. We were to be picked up by Bee Shuttle at 9 am. We finished packing and went down to wait. And of course the day we were leaving was the only sunny and blue sky day. Before going, however, we took some last pictures outside our wonderful window that I did not want to leave.

And guess what? Bee Shuttle never showed up. After waiting 45 minutes, we had to get a taxi which cost 60 E and we got to the airport. And CDG was a mad house. We were told to go to one terminal. Then we found out they changed terminals so we had to walk with all of our stuff for what seemed like miles. Then we got through that, unfortunately no changes in our seats for the better. Then we had to ride a bus for what seemed a million miles until we got to the area where our plane was to be. We got to the airport at 10 a.m. and finally to our gate at noon. I wanted to do some shopping but we had no time.

But then we got on the plane and sat there for an hour so we could have done some shopping – I cannot even begin to tell you how bitterly disappointed I was in that.

Then our seatmate brought her dog. He was cute as a button but I felt so bad for him because he was stuck in a small carrier for seven hours under the seat. I was hot in my seat; so I can’t even begin to tell you how hot he must have been. And she fed him valium to keep him quiet – poor thing!

The service on the flight back was better – we could get more liquid to drink. The food was once again good. I had more trouble sleeping this time; but that was because it was a daytime flight, leaving at 1:15 p.m.

We got back to JFK on time (3:15 p.m.), easily got to our car, paid $90 for parking for six days, and had a really easy drive home in 2 and a ½ hours from JFK to Albany, NY, which I thought was great, especially for the Sunday night after Thanksgiving – we were home by 8 p.m.

Conclusion

We had a great time. There were other things I wish we had done: (1) river cruise; (2) eat at the other restaurants I had reservations for; (3) more shopping – I didn’t buy enough; (4) walked Ile de St. Louis; and (5) L’Orangerie, etc. But you know what? One more reason to go back. Not that we would really need an excuse, that’s for sure.

And can you guess which picture we used on our Christmas card ? I'll post the results in a copy of days.