Home (or somewhere) again

Chris, Teresa, Judy and I were picked up in front of our Pigalle apartment at 5:00AM (actually 4:55AM, but who's counting?).  We got to the airport more than 3 hours before our flight and fought mightily to stay awake until we boarded.  We had a short, uneventful flight to to Dusseldorf, where we again fought mightily to stay awake for 5 hours before our next flight to Newark.  We were flying Lufthansa back, so the food and service were excellent.  We got to Newark, breezed through customs, picked up the car, drove to the Hampton Inn Newark Airport, ate, and crashed.  The drive back to Williamsburg the next day was largely uneventful.  We were home by late afternoon.

Adam's journey was - once again - a bit more challenging.  He and Monica also got to the airport hours before their departure.  The trip to Bogota was OK, but his flight back to the U.S. was delayed.  Bogota Airport shut down it's one runway that is long enough for big, heavily loaded planes.  The only way that Adam's Delta flight was leaving was if they could lighten the load enough to take off on a shorter runway.  It turns out that they accomplished this by leaving all of the luggage behind.  In retrospect, that turned out to be a blessing: had Adam needed to pick up his luggage, he never would have made his New York connection.  As it was, TSA Pre and his Global Entry pass got him thru quick enough to race to the gate.  Our friend Janine picked him up in Richmond, and he was home before us - in time to watch the Redskins crush the Cowboys.

Sorry, Teresa.

And his luggage arrived at our front door first thing this morning.

Dan and Leah got the best deal (at least, in the short term).  They had most of another day in Paris before hopping a flight to Dublin, where Dan will be working for the next couple of months.  By the time we landed in Newark, he'd already posted this on WhatsApp:

"My first Guinness in Ireland"

In any case, we all made it back safely, and that's the important thing.  

Me... I think I'll see if I can locate a Guinness.  Cheers!

Last day in Paris

Today was very laid-back.  Most of us didn’t get out of bed until almost noon.  Judy, Chris and Teresa went out while we were still in bed, made friends with a local purveyor of souveniers, and bought berets (4 for 10 euro) for all the women.  The whole gang didn’t actually get out of the apartment until around 2:00PM.  Leah had read that there was a parade down the Champs-Elysees so we headed that way… not overly optimistic, because we were leaving so late.  But in fact, the party was on and the parade continued.  It included 2 high school bands from the U.S.: one from Riverside CA and the other from somewhere in Ohio.  We had Vin Chaud (hot mulled wine) and various foods at stalls set up along the street.  I got another crepe, but this time it must’ve been buckwheat flour:  I had a reaction to that back when I was a kid in Colorado, and had another one this time.  Scratchy throat with a little swelling, but Leah (who travels with Benadryl and epi pens due to nut allergies) gave me some benedryl and I was good to go in a little while. 

Tiny Pony:  "get this giant off of me!"

Riverside H.S. (CA) band marching down the Champs-Elysees

New Year's Day parade, Champs-Elysees
Are these Budweiser Clydesdales?

Indians playing American songs on bagpipes:
it's a small world after all!

From there, we went back to Notre Dame:  they have stalls along the Seine selling art work.  Unfortunately, they were closing up by the time we got there.  We returned to Pigalle, had some dinner courtesy of Jon (thanks, bro!), did a little more souvenir shopping, and came back to our apartment.

Versailles, Paris by River, and Happy New Year!

Today, we headed for Versailles.  Our plan was to get out by about 9:00 and arrive by the time the palace opened.  In reality, we lit out for the subway station more like 10:20, just missed the RER train (meaning waiting another 20 minutes), and had to disembark from our train a few miles from our destination due to an accident on the track… then wait another half hour for the next train.  By the time we got to the palace, it was nearly noon.  The lines snaked around the large courtyard, and it was another half hour or more before we got in.  It’s a little like an assembly line: there is one entrance and everyone funnels through, pushing and jostling for pictures while staff try to keep you moving (particularly through the king’s and queen’s private chambers).  You work your way through a bunch of opulent rooms, through the hall of mirrors, then through the private chambers, and then you’re out in the courtyard again. 

All that said, it was a beautiful, sunny day – a little blustery, but unseasonably warm for New Year’s Eve.  Versailles is a testimony to the opulent extravagance of the French monarchy during the times of Louis XIV, XV and XVI.  When you see what they built and think about how the peasantry lived, it’s not hard to figure out why the proletariat wanted their heads.

Teresa, Chris, Monica & Adam queued up to get into Versailles

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

Versailles chapel

Ho hum... just another room in Versailles

Even in winter, the gardens of Versailles are quite spectacular, and they go on forever:  no sense of crowding here!  We had planned to regroup to leave at 3:00, but decided to stick around for another hour.

Versailles gardens

"let them eat cake" - Marie Antoinette

We headed back to a jam-packed train station around 4:00.  There, we learned that our City Pass tickets would not cover the return journey (they were good for zones 1-3 only, and Versailles is in zone 4).  We queued up in huge lines for the ticket machines, and those lines weren’t moving.  I saw another line for what looked like either a help desk or face-to-face ticket sales booth.  It was 4:50 by the time I got to the front of the line and learned that we didn’t need tickets at all after 5:00 because the entire public transport system was free from 5:00 – 1:00 on New Year’s Eve.  So we queued up with the masses, listened as the crowd counted down to 5:00, then rushed the gates with everyone else.  We got on the first train at 5:20 and were even all able to get seats together in one of the first cars.

We got off again at the Eiffel tower: our City Passes were good for a river tour down the Seine on Bateaux Parisiens.  We arrived less than ½ hour before departure time and had no trouble getting on.  After a long day of walking and lines, a leisurely hour-long cruise was a great way to unwind. Paris by river gives you a very different view, and by night, it’s spectacular.  Our cruise took us from the Eiffel tower past the Place de Concorde, L’Assembles Nationale, Le Musee D’Orsay, around Ile de la Cite (city island, home of Notre Dame) and Ile St. Louis), then back up the river to our starting point.  The mood on the boat was particularly festive, perhaps because it was New Years Eve, or perhaps simply because ti was loaded with happy tourists and a beautiful Parisian night. 

Notre Dame from the Seine

Fresh off the batteau

Afterwards, we crammed onto a subway (remember, they were free) and headed back to the apartment to regroup for dinner.  We’d decided to stay in the neighborhood for a very late dinner to see in the new year, and went to a local Brasserie around the corner.  I swear, this was the best meal that any of us have had in France.  Adam got onion soup and we both got escargot as starters, while most of the others had fresh salad with a creamy Dijon dressing.  Chris and I had incredibly tender and perfectly cooked saumon (salmon) with a very subtle Bearnaise sauce.  Leah, Monica and Adam had canard confit (duck leg cooked in its own fat) that melted in your mouth (I took a taste).  Judy had scallops prepared in provencal style: I don’t know what the sauce was, but it was really good too.  Teresa had spaghetti carbonara with a raw egg yolk on top that she said was fantastic.  We shared some crème brulee and crème caramel around the table along with some carafes of wine.  We returned to the apartment for a champagne toast to bring in the new year, then stayed up while Dan and Leah serenaded us.  What a great way to ring in the new year!

New Year's Dinner (one block from our apartment)

Happy New Year! (L to R):
Teresa, Leah, Judy, Jim, Adam, Monica, Dan, Chris