Au Revoir and Bon Voyage

 AU REVOIR AND BON VOYAGE

May 8 


Well, maybe a little less fanfare than "Lucky Lindy" enjoyed

Today there was nothing left on our itinerary to see and do except take the car to the airport and fly back home. We enjoyed one of the staples of our trip, which we had begun to take for granted, the complimentary hotel breakfast, which we found universally good -- in some hotels excellent -- and darn convenient. (Those coffee machines that disperse enough varieties of fancy coffee to make a Starbucks barista green with envy helped fortify us for a hard day of sightseeing daily.) These days the airlines and other travel industry professionals encourage arriving at airports 3 hours before international flights (and on our trip over we found out why!), and we took that advice. We were ready to get home, see our wives, and have no place we had -- or even wanted -- to go. 

Our driver taking us to ginormous CDG was on time and accommodating ... Jerry was flying a different airline and was leaving a little earlier, so he had to be dropped at a different terminal. No worries. Once inside Frog and I looked pitiful enough in our futility while trying to check in and print our baggage tags on the darn Delta machines (I've had slot machines that were more generous), other empathetic passengers or airline staff helped us. 

Then we had a reminder that being septuagenarians who looked tired and bewildered carries at least one advantage, as a kindly Delta agent came and got us out of line, took us to a shorter line, and zipped us right through check in. Gray power!! Once admitted we had about 2 hours to kill, so plenty of time for lunch and to hit the duty free store to try to spend all of our remaining Euros. So chocolate for my bride, macaroons for grandchildren, and wine for me. Au revoir, Euros!

Our flight back across The Pond was as punctual as the flight over had been tardy, and we found our Delta Comfort seats ... well ... comfortable enough. We took off around 3:00 PM, so my body clock wasn't set on "collapse and sleep."  I read a little, watched a little TV and part of a movie, and dozed occasionally. The airline food was ... well ... airline food, i.e., edible but not 5 star. Having to pick up our bags upon arrival and go through Customs in Atlanta took some time, but was really not that bad. We had built in about 3 hrs. for a layover until our flight to Birmingham, so we had plenty of time to find our gate and eat a sandwich. It was approaching midnight when we arrived at BHM, and Delta had a going away present for us. Since we had checked in so early and had such a long layover, they had sent our bags on to BHM on an earlier flight (why not us too?!?). They had arrived, been picked up, and safely stored inside the office of a baggage officer in the bowels of the BHM airport. The office lights were off, the door locked, and through the window in the door we could see our forlorn bags patiently waiting in plain sight. 😒Fortunately we found a young airport officer who called someone, and eventually the night manager showed up and gave us our bags. (He had the temerity to ask us where we'd been.😡🙊) What are a few extra minutes just after midnight when you've only been traveling for over 12 hours?!?

In the then mostly deserted airport we eventually found the pickup spot for the shuttle to our parking lot, got in our car, and Frog somehow stayed awake long enough to drive the hour to his house. In the wise words of Dorothy, "There's no place like home" ... even if it's your friend's home. We crashed, although to my amazement my body didn't require any more than the normal amount of sleep I usually get. After another nice breakfast his wife had cooked the next morning (but without the fancy coffee machine) I hopped in my car and headed home. No Uber; fortunately I remembered how to transport myself.

My feelings as I reflected on the trip while driving the 90 minutes back home? As Jerry, Frog, and I had said several times on the trip about various places we had visited, "I had high expectations, and they were exceeded."

I'll add a prologue with general and specific thoughts on the trip after a couple of days to reflect and organize my thoughts and photos. Meanwhile, I'll reward your patience with a few celebrated images of Paris:

Eiffel Tower



Joan of Arc

Tuileries
 
Tuileries Gardens





























Luxor Obelisk in Place de la Concorde





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