Au Revoir

We are home, safe and sound. I'm almost done unpacking and editing photos (we took over 1500, and are printing about 2/3 of those) and tying up a few loose ends from our trip.

Lessons learned for future trips:

1. Honda Odysseys should be started and driven more often than every three weeks. It's a good thing we were picked up at the airport, rather than parking our car in long-term parking, as we had to call AAA for a jump start. Our Saturn, on the other hand, started up with no problems this morning, despite having been parked for probably four to five weeks.

2. Bank of America is very fussy about travel. Apparently contacting them directly through their secure e-mail system is not enough to prevent them from cutting off access to your debit card while traveling overseas--you have to call a special phone number (NOT the one listed on the back of the card) to make this happen. It would have been nice if they had mentioned this when I sent them the initial e-mail, rather than suddenly blocking my card halfway through our trip. And it would also have been even nicer if their phone system hadn't hung up on me the first two times I tried to call today.

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This will be the last post for a couple of years, until the next time we travel overseas. Our kids have been bitten by the travel bug, so there are many options for the next trip. China, Germany, and Greece are some of the countries being discussed, plus we all loved Venice and Paris and would like to return sometime. Au revoir!

A 27-Hour Day

John got up early this morning and headed out to CDG, to catch his 11:20 flight home. Naturally, it ended up being delayed until 1:45.

The rest of us enjoyed our last Parisian breakfast at Carol's before getting on the Metro and RER.






I had checked in online last night, but Lufthansa wouldn't let me create boarding passes for Beth, so we tried the check-in kiosk as instructed. Even with the help of a Lufthansa employee, we couldn't get hers to print, so he sent us to the check in desk. Since we didn't have any luggage to check, he very kindly slipped us past the long line to a shorter one so the agent could print our passes.

At security, they were very thorough. Beth and I both set off the detectors (no idea why--I wasn't wearing either a belt or a hairclip), so we both got patted down. Matt and Beth both had their packs inspected by hand. Matt had forgotten the liter bottle of water in his pack (he had wondered why his bag was so heavy!), and we never did figure out what they saw in Beth's.

Our first flight was a short hop to Munich, and they fed us a half sandwich for a snack (tough ham/bacon, pickles, and tons of mayo on dark bread). We didn't have much time in Munich--by the time we got through passport control, our flight to Chicago was already boarding.

The Chicago flight was long. Beth watched FIVE movies on the video screen. For dinner, they were out of chicken by the time they got to our row, so we all had pasta with cream sauce and a dab each of pesto and red sauce, a roll, Camembert, butter, a wilted salad, and a tasty dessert (cake with a key-lime pie topping). This was followed a few hours later by a turkey calzone snack.

I took a few catnaps during this leg, but was mostly awake, catching up on my reading (GoodReader and Kindle for iPhone).

We walked a long way in Chicago. And waited in several long lines. First was immigration--the line didn't move at all for a long time, then finally started snaking along. No baggage to pick up or recheck, and the customs line was short.

We took the train to Terminal 1, and wound our way through security (no special treatment this time), then headed to our gate, which was very conveniently located across from McDonalds. We had Big Macs (Matt and me), McNuggets (Beth), fries, sodas (Beth and me), and a Starbucks frappacino (Matt).

Our flight left an hour and twenty minutes late, and was packed, with dozens of people on the standby list. We mostly slept on the last leg of the flight. Beth and I tried to lean against each other, and Matt somehow folded himself into his seat:

He was rather hard to wake up when we landed, but I finally got him upright with both his carryon and his tote bag, and walked him off the plane.

We are now in the car on the way to John's parents' house. Thank you Pete and Nikki for picking us up in the middle of the night!

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Sent from my iPhone

Paris, Day 7

We finally managed to drag Matt out of bed around 9:30 today, and had our usual delicious breakfast. Today, we didn't have anything really exciting scheduled. I had tentatively put Chartres on the itinerary, but once we worked out how much it would cost us to get there and back, that plus the fact that much of the cathedral is covered by scaffolding convinced us to save Chartres for our next trip to Paris.

Instead, we went shopping. We took the Metro to Opera Garnier, where we admired the building from the outside:



We then strolled over to Galeries Lafayette to do some shopping. We parked Matt in a cafe on the sixth floor, and made the rounds of the main building. It was a combo of a department store and a mall. It looked like a department store on the inside, but there were sections devoted to particular stores (like the Baby Gap corner). Beth got some socks, and I got a scarf, while Matt picked up a small Eiffel Tower model.




For lunch, we went up the street to Rue Jaubert, where John's iPhone indicated there were two creperies. The first one we stopped in was full, so we went to the second one, Crêpes City, which was also full, but had a table opening up soon. It was packed with workers on their lunch break. John had the "La Rustique" salad: mixed salad, bacon, potatoes, ham, and a fried egg on top:



Matt and Beth had the galette de sarrasin "L'Obelix" (Emmental, onions, potatoes, creme fraiche, and an egg on top), and I had the galette de sarrasin "La Quimper" (mushrooms, Emmental, épaule [shoulder?], and an egg on top):



On the way back to the B&B, we went to the Apple Store, strolled through the gardens of the Palais Royal,



saw a most interesting window display of rats in traps (I think it was an exterminator):



and passed by the Tour Saint-Jacques and the Hotel de Ville:



For our final dose of Berthillon ice cream, I had apricot, Matt had pineapple and grapefruit, Beth had mango and grapefruit, and John had chocolate.

We went back to Auberge de la Reine Blanche for dinner, since we liked it so much the first time. Most of the surrounding tables were again occupied by Americans. The waitress said they get a lot of Americans, but also Italians and Brazilians, and some French. We started with some escargots de Bourgogne, with parsley butter:



I insisted that everyone had to order something different than they did the first time. I had duck breast in honey sauce with mashed potatoes:



Matt had the fish of the day, with rice and a tasty sauce:



John had salmon with pesto and rice:



and Beth had penne with Roquefort sauce:



For dessert, the guys had the molten chocolate cake with creme anglaise and caramel, I had the apple tart with vanilla ice cream, and Beth had a scoop of chocolate ice cream:





All day today, Matt has been commenting on how quickly the Paris part of the vacation has gone by, and we all agree with him. It's been a great trip, and we're already discussing where our next big trip should be in a few years.

Paris, Day 6

Today at breakfast we met the new couple in the other bedroom, Tim and Susan from New Zealand (currently working in Abu Dhabi). The pastries came from the other boulangerie on the island this morning, as the usual one is closed, and the almond croissants weren't as good. Heavier is how I would describe them. Beth said the the chocolate ones were better, so we're giving it mixed reviews. No chouquettes, though.

We had a late breakfast, and weren't really hungry at lunchtime, but we went ahead and took the Metro to Rue Cler, where we picked up lunch at the same place as last time (Jeusselin). John and Matt had rolled sandwiches, with ham, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and probably some other stuff. I had a quiche Lorraine, and Beth had the feuilletine. At the produce market across the street, we bought more currants, and a peach for me (since I don't like currants). Our sodas came from a Carrefour supermarket around the corner as we walked to the Champs de Mars for a picnic.





Our Eiffel Tower appointment was at 1:30, so we had a leisurely lunch in the park, then used the restrooms at the base before getting into the line "avec reservations." MUCH shorter than the line of people without reservations. I was able to make the reservations online a few days ago, and show them the PDF on my iPhone, since I don't have a printer with me. They had a special scanner to read the barcode on the iPhone screen



The first elevator, from the ground to the second level, was a two-story elevator. On the side is a statue of an elevator operator:



Once we got to the second level, John and Matt tried to talk us out of getting in line for the ride to the summit, since it was rather cold and windy. (And they don't like heights, especially Matt.) Beth and I both insisted we needed to go to the top--we both wanted to see the view, and I had already paid to ride to the summit, and didn't want to waste the money. So we got in line. It kind of reminded me of the lines at Disneyland. First, the lines wind around the edge of the platform. Once they start to curve into the center, you think you're getting closer, then you realize that the line snakes back and forth multiple times. Once you finally get through that line and past the ticket taker, you have to wait in a short line to get on one of the four elevators.

The view from the top was great! Definitely worth waiting in a couple of lines.



After we descended, we crossed the Seine on the Pont d'Iena. The paths and bridges around the Eiffel Tower are thronged with guys selling cheap souvenirs. Each of them has a little square piece of cloth with dozens of tower models neatly arranged. We found out today why they use these little square cloths. Some kid was running up the bridge passing the word that the police were coming, and every single one of the peddlers immedately grabbed the strings on the four corners, making the cloth into a bag, and sprinted down the bridge away from whoever was coming.

We rested for a moment in the Trocadero Gardens before heading out to our next stop:



The Arc du Triomphe:



The Arc was bigger than we had imagined. We've all seen pictures of it, but it just looks bigger in real life. We were also very impressed with the driving around the Arc. It's at the center of a large roundabout, but cars were exiting at all sorts of angles, simply cutting off the other cars in the way!

We strolled up the Champs-Elysées for a while, stopping for ice cream at Haagen Dazs. I had vanilla caramel brownie, Beth had mango, John had chocolate something (surprise, surprise), and I can't remember what Matt had.

After we returned to the B&B, we played a couple of hands of hearts. We didn't keep score this time, but we're pretty sure Matt lost, as he ended up with the Queen of Spades several hands in a row.

For dinner, we walked to Au Bistrot de la Place, another Rick Steves recommendation. (John has been teasing me for my reliance on "Ricky," but he's also admitted that we haven't ever had a bad meal when going by the guidebook.)

We began with an appetizer of squid sauteed with thyme, served with a green salad with vinagrette, and Beth had a fresh vegetable soup with garlic bread:




For dinner, John and Beth had grilled entrecote with fries and salad:



Matt had grilled salmon with mixed vegetables:



and I had duck parmentier with a green salad:



For dessert, Beth had chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream:



Matt and I had crepes with sugar:



and John had creme brulee:



Another delicious dinner, followed by showers, our daily laundry (hopefully the last), and now bedtime.

Paris, Day 5: Catacombs, Cathedrals, Cluny, and An Unexpected Encounter

Both almond crossants AND the apple pastry at breakfast--I had half of each, along with the usual delicious fruit and baguette with butter.

Here are Beth and Matt waiting for the Metro:

We arrived at the Catacombs just after they opened at 10:00 am, and there was already a line of people waiting to get in. We waited for about 45 minutes:

Hoping that none of us turned out to have a "nervous disposition":

After exiting the Catacombs, we hopped back on the Metro to Église Saint-Sulpice, where we were lucky enough to hear and see the organist at work:

Saint-Sulpice was also the site of my unexpected encounter for the day. After we looked around the church, I was trying to decide if I should get in the line to go up to the organ loft, since Matt isn't a big fan of either churches or classical music. John encouraged me to join the queue, so I did. I took my place in line, and was trying to read the sign on the door, when I heard "Edna?" from my left. It was Debbie, who sits next to me in S&P! She and her family are on a 5.5 week trip to Italy and France, and are staying near Notre Dame!

Our next stop was lunch. For everyone who's been enjoying my food photos, you'll be happy to hear that there are TWO sets today. First, lunch. We stopped at L'Ecritoire brasserie in front of the Sorbonne. John had duck confit with sauteed potatoes and garlic:

Matt had entrecote with bearnaise sauce and fries:

Beth had "farmer chicken" with fries:

and I had the Périgourdine salad, with lettuce, tomato, green beans, slices of smoked duck breast, foie gras, and croutons:

For dessert, we had tarte aux pommes chaudes (Beth):

Chocolate mousse (John and Matt):

and tarte tatin (me):

Here's the front of the Sorbonne, where we ate:

Next stop of the day was the Cluny Museum (officially the National Museum of the Middle Ages):

On the way home, we stopped in at Sainte Chapelle, since we somehow missed the upstairs last time we were there:

Here's a lamp post Beth photographed

On the way home, we heard organ music coming out of Notre Dame, so I stopped by to listen to the recital while the rest of the family headed back.

This is the street that our B&B is on (our door is just to the right of the first building on the left side). Notice the three different lines for ice cream:

Here is the original Berthillon store, which is closed until September:

For dinner, we went to Le Brasserie de l'Isle Saint Louis. I had the choucroute garnie (sauerkraut with bacon, ham, five different sausages, and boiled potatoes):

John had steak with a pepper sauce and fries:

Beth had a mixed omelette with fries:

and Matt had rayfish (?) with a butter sauce:

For dessert, we had ice cream again. I tried nougat honey, Beth had mandarin and pink grapefruit, Matt had chocolate and caramel, and John had dark chocolate.

Here's the accordian player who always seems to be on the bridge: