Birthday in Paris

Dete and I are celebrating our 70th birthdays together this year.  I was 70 in April and she is 70 on October 28th which is today.  At this time we are still in Santiago, Spain where we have just walked 515 miles on the Camino de Santiago.  We will be flying to Paris tomorrow to continue the celebration for another week.  We both invite you to follow along and share the adventure.  We have no Idea what this week will be like, but we are looking forward to finding out.  Paris is an exciting city, with a lot of history.  Let’s share this week together.

DAY 1 Monday, October 29, 2018

Santiago de Compostela, Spain to Paris, France

Today we got up and went to breakfast in the Parador. It was a breakfast like none I have ever seen. I wish I knew how many items were on all those bars. It even had some steamed vegetables and salmon sushi. They had platters of fried eggs and too many meats to count. Of course, all the breads and pastries were there. This is, after all, bread country. And all the fresh fruits already prepared for eating was just great.  I had fried eggs, bacon, toast, muesli coffee and fruit. Yes, I am a common eater. Dete had vegetable quiche, fruit and muesli. She did have about a one inch square of Santiago Cake, because we will never see that again when we are in France. It is a staple here everywhere you go and so delicious. It is made with ground almonds. It does have a lot of sugar and our plan once we get home is to get back to eating healthier.

We went back to the room and packed up in Spain for the last time. Our packs are a little fuller and heavier because we have made some purchases. We collect cups from special places we visit, so we had our traditional coffee cups from Spain. And of course, the few clothes we have bought for special occasions. Dete was particularly happy with her 25 Euro red dress she found for her birthday celebration. Our packs will hold a lot more than we carry on a daily basis, but we do not want to carry that much weight. But we can struggle a little just getting around from place to place. It is not like walking 15 miles a day.

As we walked along the square in front of the Cathedral we had very mixed emotions. Our heart and soul has been on the Camino for so long, that we feel like we are leaving a part of us here. It is just hard to describe what we feel to someone who has not done this. I’m so glad not to have had to do it alone. I have Dete. We don’t even have to talk about it, sometimes just a look in her eyes will bring tears to both our eyes. I would say the vast majority of the people walking are single men and women. Now they pair up with people for days and maybe even weeks, but when they get home, there are no eyes to look into and remember all these special moments. Marriage and doing things together for 51 years has its benefits.

As we were leaving to square we ran into Katharina. We had not seen her since Leon and it was a happy reunion. We had walked with her for several days and spent several nights with her and her friend  Jes in the alberges. She had gotten the stomach virus a day or so before Dete did, so she had to lay up and get her strength back. At that point we parted and who knew we would see her again. But that is the life of the Camino—meet, part, and greet again.

We had so much time to kill today. We had to be out of the Parador at 12, and our plane did not leave until 7PM. So we went to a restaurant and had a cup of coffee and Dete had green tea. This killed about an hour or so as Dete caught up with all her facebook buddies. Then we went to the bus stop. The bus comes every 30 minutes to take people to the airport, which is 45 minutes away. We know the airport all too well because we walked by it on the walk into Santiago. As we were riding the bus out to the airport, we saw the path we had walked on and saw many people with backpacks. It was their last day, and we could just imagine the joy they were feeling.

We got to the airport around 3 and went to look for some lunch. They had a fantastic cafeteria and we loaded up on soup and vegetables. It was delicious and we decided we were going to fix some of these dishes when we get home. We tried to eat slow to kill time, but we didn’t do a very good job, we still had 3 hours to wait. But it was done pretty fast, because we met friends from the Camino who were also traveling to Paris for connecting flights, so the stories just began again. Even though we walked the exact same path, we have stayed in different albergues  and faced different weather, so we have very different stories to tell. The time went very fast and we are finally on the plane to Paris. It was a short two hour flight and Dete slept the whole way.

We arrived in Paris around 9 and then the journey began to find our hotel. The airport is huge. We walked outside for about 10 minutes with our packs to find the building where we were boarding a tram to get to the elevators to take us to level 5, platform 2.  Yes, it was complicated in the cold, dark night. Here we waited for the shuttle to take us to the motel that we are staying in one night before we get to our apartment.

Following Dete’s orders, she wanted an apartment where she could cook. She also said that she wanted it close enough to walk to all the attractions. She does not want to lose her leg strength and smaller body. So, I go on Air B and B and found us a tiny apartment with a tiny kitchen and a tiny bathroom for 50 Euros a night. And…. I made her happy—-we have to walk up six flights of stairs to get to the apartment. She is beyond excited.

We got into bed around 11. Tomorrow will begin the real Paris experience.

DAY 2 Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Paris, France

Today we got up in the motel around 7:30. It was going to be a busy day getting a few things out of the way. We got everything packed and went down for breakfast. It was raining so we had to make some decisions about how to get to our apartment in downtown Paris We could have ridden the shuttle back out to the airport, taken a bus part way and then taken the metro to get to the apartment. Since busses do not take you directly to an apartment we would have to figure out where to get off the bus and then walk until we got to the apartment. With it raining that just seemed too complicated, so we took a taxi. Really it was Uber—but of course by a French name that we could not understand. But anyway we arrived in about an hour.

We get into the apartment and are frankly surprised by its smallness. But location wise it is perfect. It is right downtown. There are small supermarkets, restaurants, clothing stores, perfume stores, craft stores and bakeries galore. But the one place that we were the most excited about is that there is a laundromat right across the street. That was going to be one of our jobs today, to find one to wash all of our clothes for the week. And then we will wash again in North Carolina!!

We went to a little café to find internet because we were unable to get on wifi in the apartment. We
e-mailed our host about the problem and she told us how to check out the password that was hidden in the apartment. French writing of letters and numbers is not like our writing. Once we saw the password written by a printer, we saw that she writes funny ones and the small g’s were actually nines. The password was 26 letters/numbers long. So that was the first challenge of the day. While we were having a cup of tea and coffee, we were impressed with the Nepoleonic pizza fired in a wood burning oven. The owner was so nice to answer all our questions that we decided we would be back to eat pizza and a salad for tonight’s meal.

Now it was laundry time. While the washer was going we went to the market to get a few things. Dete wants to cook a little while we are here, so we bought some vegetables to stir fry, and some eggs, ham, bread and fruit. We also needed some paper towels. We went back to dry, fold our clothes and head back up to the tiny, tiny, apartment. By this time we are settled with the idea of it’s smallness and we have adjusted our “stuff” into organized stacks. There is not a lot of space to place our stuff because it is full of Juliette’s stuff. She lives here full time, but moves in with her brother while it is rented. If it had been me, I would nave cleared some space for the guest. But no fear, Dete organized some of her things for her!! I live with a true OCD. For her to sleep well tonight, things just had to be better.

Now it was time to go get that pizza. But no luck, it was closed! I guess it is just a lunch place. There are no signs on the door about hours of operation. We were there at lunchtimes, but was just not hungry. So we will try tomorrow to eat with them. We walked down the street and found a place called Bistrot Du Coin. Dete had the soup of the day—a creamed vegetable soup that was delicious. I had curried chicken over noodles. That too was good.

After dinner we headed back to the apartment to get ready for bed. Now taking a shower is a challenge. If you are more then seventeen inches wide, you cannot fit in this shower. The shower doors on each side, open up 12 inches, but the distance across it is seventeen inches. There was no way to know this when we rented the apartment. I can just see a fat person renting it and getting here that day and realize that there would be no bathing all week. I’m sorry. That is funny to me. And once you get in, there is no room to move. I dropped my bar of soap and I had to call Dete to come pick it up for me!! She thought that was hilarious. Just wait until she gets in the shower!!! But it is things like this that make life so fun. These are memories that we will never forget.

We’ll it is getting blog time and bedtime. We will be spending some time tonight deciding where we will go tomorrow. Rain is in the forecast, but thank goodness the “chance of mixed precipitation” has changed. Yes. it is a little cold. Going down into the 30’s tonight, but in the 50”s tomorrow. Guess we will look like hikers in our hats and coats as we walk somewhere—maybe the Eiffel Tower tomorrow. We will decide.

Day 3 Wednesday, October 31, 2018

This morning we got up around 7:00. We did not set an alarm so we are really not sure. Dete cooked our breakfast this morning. We could not get our hotplate to work. It is digital and it just kept coming up error. Anyway, no problem, we have a microwave. Dete did cooking schools for microwave ovens when they first came out, so I knew she could handle scrambled eggs and ham. We also have no coffee pot, so I am drinking instant coffee and Dete is having tea. With cheese on the eggs and toast (we do have a toaster), it was a great breakfast. We liked the laid back, non-rush morning. We had a lot we wanted to do today, but had plenty of time to do it. The only thing that we had to think about was the rain that was supposed to come in at 2:00. We dressed warmly because it was 37 degrees.

We left around 8:15, and headed out to look for the Seine River. Everything we were going to see today was around the Seine. It was about 6-8 blocks from where our apartment is, so we were there in a few minutes. It was beautiful and was very busy with boats and sightseeing vessels. After walking a while we came to the Notre Dame Cathedral. It is massive and beautiful. This kind of place is just hard to describe. You will just have to look at the pictures on Dete’s facebook or google it—even better. We need to go home and watch the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Neither one of us has seen it—now it would have some meaning.

After Notre Dame, we went to get some coffee to warm up a little. You can tell we are not in Spain anymore. To my shock two cups of coffee was 10 Euros and that is with no refills. That instant coffee in the apartment is beginning to taste even better. After this we went to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. As expected, we stood in line for about 40 minutes. While there I began to get what it felt like to be a handicapped person. You know, you look, but then you look away when they think you are looking? Well this morning Dete did not want to wear her Camino hat, but she knew she should, because it was supposed to rain. So she asked me would I wear both hats and just give it to her when it started to rain. Of course I said yes—a happy wife is a good thing. So, as we were standing in line, I began to get the looks!! And when I would look back, they would turn their head, look at their friends/family and grin or say something in their language. We had fun imagining what they were saying. A) Look at that old man with two hats on B) I’ll bet he is senile and is having to be led by that woman C) Wonder why he has on two hats D) Is this his Halloween Costume E) Does his wife know he has on two hats. F) Should we tell him he has on two hats?  Life can be fun if you will let it!!

We finally got into see the Mona Lisa. We went up stairs, down halls, around corners until we finally got to it. They do not make it easy. We saw hundreds of paintings in the meantime. I just wonder how much money that one painting brings into the Louvre. Now don’t get me wrong, there are beautiful sculptures and paintings along the way. But let’s face it, they and we, were there to see the Mona Lisa. It was so crowded around this painting that you had to push through the people to get a glimpse of it. And forget standing in front of it. It was possible but it would have been a while, much longer than we wanted to take. Besides we had shopping to do at Pandora that was located in the Louvre. Dete wanted her an Eiffel Tower to go on her bracelet.

After this we stopped for lunch. Dete had vegetable soup of the day and I had a chicken/vegetable pizza. It was very good. Dete has stated making pizza at home with cauliflower crust and we examined all the ingredients so she can make one like this when we get home. Can you tell she is ready to cook?

Now it was time to head to the Eiffel Tower. It was not our day to go up into the tower, just a day to get information. We wanted the particulars about eating lunch on the first floor. We had checked on eating on the second floor before we left home and found out it was closed until spring of 2019 for renovations. Can’t say I minded when I saw what it costs to eat there!!  I’ll just say it was going to be a NICE birthday present!! So we made reservations for Friday for lunch.

After this we headed back to the apartment. On the way back we did a little shopping. Dete needed a bag to carry some of the souvenirs she has bought. We always have to have coffee cups from special places. She also got some items to give her the Paris look in some of her pictures. Brad sent her some pictures of how Paris women dress, so she is having fun getting a few of these items. When we got back to the apartment, I went for Chinese take-out so we would not have to leave again. We were tired but not exhausted. The Camino had gotten us ready for the 12 miles walk today. On the way back we timed our return walk so we would know what time to leave to get to the Eiffel Tower for lunch on Friday.  Tomorrow we will head out again to sights unknown.

Day 4 Thursday, November 1, 2018

This morning we got up around the same as yesterday, 7:00 AM.  We checked the weather to see if we were going to be cold and wet, and the answer was yes.  We dressed warm and as dry as possible.  It was not raining, but it had been.  The streets were wet as we walked to breakfast.  We stopped at a restaurant not too far from our apartment.  We both ate bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee.  The bacon was smoked and was delicious and the eggs were scrambled.  The entire experience was good.

Our goal today was two fold, first we wanted to look for the restaurant where we are going to meet Doug and Rhonda for dinner Saturday night, and secondly we wanted to walk the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triumph.  The Champs-Elysees is probably the most famous street in Paris, known for the shopping.

Our journey took us into some out of the way neighborhoods where we enjoy exploring.  We found the restaurant, and near to it we stopped in for a crepe and coffee.  Oh my, it was good.  We had chocolate Nutella, banana, strawberry, and whipped cream.  We didn’t know how to order from the menu so we showed the chef a picture on the wall.  It didn’t look very big, but it was very filling.  One would have been enough, but of course we had one each.  The sights that most people visit are enjoyable, but we enjoy most of all the little narrow neighborhood streets.  This is where we soak in the Paris atmosphere.  I guess that is something that we picked up along the Camino walk in Spain.  We learned to enjoy the presence of where we are.

We continued our day by crossing the Seine and heading to the Champs-Elysees.  There was no doubt when we got there.  It reminds you of being in Time Square in New York City.  It was very wide and people were everywhere.  So much for the quiet little neighborhood streets.  We are in the big city now.  We did enjoy our walk and time shopping in the many stores.  We got some pictures of the Arc de Triumph and other sights of interest.  One store that got our attention was Abercrombie and Fitch.  We were not going in it but the entrance was very special.  There was a fine gravel path flanked by tall hedges on either side.  It lead us to the back of the store which was a monster entrance.  There were pictures that looked like paintings all over the store walls.  It was truly an experience just going into the store.  Of course, the marketing paid off, and we did buy a few items. Dete also went into the Louis Vuitton store. She thought she might get her a little something, a small purse maybe. She came out pretty fast. She said the purse she looked at cost about as much as our plane tickets. Then she looked at a key chain and it was 130 Euros. Unbelievable!

We were walking our way back toward our apartment when the rain began.  It was not heavy, but was just hard enough to get you wet.  We crossed the Seine and went to a restaurant.  We got a small table on the sidewalk under an awning.  It had heaters above us and it was very pleasant sitting in the warm dry area watching others go by in the cold rain.  We ordered an appetizer and a cup of green tea.  When we got the appetizer, it was a bowl of French fries.  That was ok.  They were good, and they were hot.  They really went well with the hot tea.

We could not stall long enough for the rain to stop, so we finally paid the bill and left.  We walked through an area that we will go back to on Saturday.  It was near Notre Dame Cathedral.  The streets were very narrow and people were walking everywhere.  This was our kind of place—small shops and outside cafes.

We finally reached the hotel where Doug and Rhonda will be staying when they get here.  It is a very nice and interesting place, but that is for them to tell.  It was not far from our apartment.  It may have been a mile or a little less.  The rain stopped shortly after we left the café.  So, we didn’t mind the walk.  In fact, we probably walked between 10 and 15 miles today.  We really enjoy walking after our Camino walk.  We try to get a good estimate on the mileage of our walking here using GPS.  I would say that it was closer to 15 miles today.  We probably walked close to 12 miles yesterday.  We are loving it.

When we arrived back at our apartment I got some shrimp and rice from the Japanese restaurant around the corner and Dete cooked some carrots, peppers, onions and zucchini.  We had a first class meal.  She has been wanting to cook for at least a month.  I couldn’t hold her off any longer.  For desert we had a hot banana sandwich.  Bananas help us to fight off leg cramps from all the walking that we do.

Tomorrow we will go back to the Eiffel Tower.  There we have a reservation to eat lunch on the second level.  The top level is closed for renovation.  I am sure that we will get some good pictures.  It is not supposed to rain any more while we are here.  I don’t know what else we are going to do, but we will find some adventure in Paris.

Day 5 Friday, November 2, 2018

Today we got up around seven. That seems to be our mental wake-up time with no alarm. This will have to be adjusted once we get home. We just need our day to start earlier than that. We started he morning off by Dete cooking breakfast again. I must say, there are few restaurants that can top what we are having. We need a good meal this morning as always because we have to get to the Eiffel Tower for our lunch reservations at 1:30, and we want to do a little shopping along the way.

After we left the shopping district we hit it pretty hard to the Eiffel Tower. We walked along many of the same streets so there was not a lot of picture taking along the way. We stopped at a McDonalds and got a cup of coffee. At home we would have paid about $1.40 for two senior cups of coffee. Here we paid 5 Euros for two cups, but that was a lot better than the 10 Euros we paid at a restaurant.

We arrived at the Eiffel Tower for lunch, but we got there an hour early. Our lunch was on the second floor and we had reservations for that, but we also needed tickets to ride the elevator all the way to the top, so we got in line for those tickets. Then we realized that was futile because there were four lines with about 500 plus people in each line. There was no way we would have time to get tickets before we ate, and we really did not want to stand in line after we ate, because it was about five miles to walk back to the apartment and we did not want to walk back after dark. The Eiffel Tower actually stays open until  11:45, but who wants to do that? Although I am sure it is beautiful at night. So we started making other plans. We asked the authorities there what time the park opened in the morning. The gates open at 9:00 and you can start going up at 9:30. So we will be there at 8:30 in the morning to beat the crowds. They said it was extremely busy the first weekend of the month because all the museums and some of the attractions are free on the first Sunday of the month, so that is when everyone comes. That is why we could not get on-line reservations.

We got to the line to go into the restaurant about 1:00. The elevator will only hold so many, so it takes a while to get up. The restaurant holds 250 for lunch and for dinner. When we signed up on line it said we would get a picnic style lunch which consisted of basket of chicken and fries, with a drink. That is exactly what we expected. Boy were we surprised. First of all they led us to a window seat. We could not believe that!!  There were many seated at tables that were not window seats, so we thought that is where we would sit. But no! What a treat! We also had a three course meal!! We started out with either soup or salad. I go the soup which was cream of mushroom. It was like no soup I ever tasted. It was more than delicious. Dete got the salad which was also great. It was lettuce, apples, walnuts and blue cheese with some kind of dressing. It too was great. We swapped bites. Then we both had shredded roast beef over mashed potatoes.  Dete had chocolate mousse for dessert and I had baba—that’s what they called it, but it was a rum cake with nuts, raisins, and whipped cream on top—-delicious!!  Then they brought us after dinner coffee. We had a photographer come to our table and make pictures and of course you could have them for a price. They were really good pictures but we chose to have her send us the information to our e-mail address and we can decide when we get home if we want to purchase them.  Our server took pictures of us. The lighting was not too good, but we will evaluate what we and he took before we buy the others. Our waiter was funny.  After he took our pictures, he took a selfie of himself and gave it to us. He said, “Selfie– compliments of the waiter’!!  What a great experience!!!

It was then time to get back. We knew it would be at least a two hour walk and that with no stopping. Of course, we always have to do a little window shopping and maybe some buying!!  Anyway we got back around 5:30.  I again went around the corner and got Chinese take out. It is just so convenient and we really do not want to end the night with a big meal.  So Dete made us some hot tea and I brought in a very small portion of shrimp, noodles, cabbage, and egg rolls which we shared. Dete cut my hair and it is time to get to bed.  We will be rising early in the morning.  It is at least a two hour walk and we want to be there at 8:30, an hour  before the gate opens at 9:30. We need to beat the crowds so we can be back at the apartment to dress for dinner to meet Doug and Rhonda. We are so excited about this!!  How great is that to have dinner in Paris with your son and daughter-in-law.  The only way it could be better is if we had all nine of us here.  But we will take what we can get!!!

Day 6 Saturday, November 3, 2018

Today was a very early day. The alarm was set for 5:00, but we were actually awake at 4:30. In order for us to beat the lines to the top floor of the Eiffel Tower, we had to get an early start. This is our third walk here and we just did not want to spend the whole day here. It opened at 9:30, so we were there by 8:30. We actually got close by 7:30. It is amazing how fast you can walk when you are not dodging people, bicycles, scooters and traffic in general. We were walking before daylight, but the streets w”ere well lighted and we got to see Paris in the dark. It was beautiful. So to kill a little time we sat down for a cup of coffee and split a croissant.  When it came time to pay, the waiter asked me if I wanted to leave him a tip.  I said, “No that I had been told not to tip in Spain or France”.  He replied that I could.  He then asked, “Don’t you want to leave me something.”  I answered, “No” once again.  I had been told that the price of the food includes a good salary for the employees and that a tip is not expected.  Believe me the price of that croissant and two cups of coffee should have covered his tip.

When we actually got to the tower, there were about ten people in line. Security opened at 9:00 and we could start buying tickets at 9:30. For the next line, there were probably 50 people waiting for the elevator. This is when the slow down starts, because the elevators only hold so many. Then once you get to the top you can literally stay there all day. This is why the lines were so congested the other day when we were here. They will only let so many people up there, and if not many are coming down, they limit the number that goes up. That was the whole purpose of coming early. So by 10:30 we were ready to go down and get on with the day. The view of Paris was phenomenal. There is no way to describe how big this city is. We could see all the special sights that we had been to the days before.

After the Eiffel Tower we headed back to some little shops that we had visited earlier. Dete had picked out a little jacket she and wanted to go back to see it. While crossing a bridge we ran into a little excitement. We noticed some police boats hurrying down the Seine. We looked up and saw why. There was a man sitting on the edge of the bridge ready to jump. He was screaming something—in French of course– that we could not understand. Police were gathering everywhere. They had police boats with divers ready to go in after him if he jumped. But they were not necessary. The police came up behind him on the bridge and yanked him off from behind. This made him very mad and he continued to scream. We figure he was protesting something. Boy! What you see from just walking. I researched later and found out that the police who work the Seine have to begin every morning by swimming 3 kilometers or 1.8 miles before they go to work.

We continued our walk, but we did not take the same streets as on precious days, because we wanted to see different things. That is the great part about walking everywhere we go, we can choose our routes and see things that most people miss. As we were walking down one street, we saw an armed guard.  I walked over to the guard and asked him what he was guarding. He said that he was guarding the US Embassy. I smiled and told him thank you for guarding MY building. He smiled and Dete asked him if she could take a picture of him. He said that he could not for security reasons. She walked away and took a picture anyway and he did not stop her. We walked around the building and saw more armed guards and they came toward us and asked us not to take pictures. We thanked them once again and Dete said—but this is our building. He just smiled and we took a few shots of our flag and walked on. We love finding the unknown.

It was then time for lunch we so looked for a place to get some hot soup. During these last two months we have become soup lovers. Spain and France has the best soup in the world. It is like none we have ever tasted and the same name soup never taste the same at the different restaurants. Vegetable soup to some mean just a delicious puree. To others it is big chunks in a cream sauce. To others it is a clear broth. But no matter, it is delicious every time.

We got back to our apartment around 2:00 and took a little nap before it was time to get dressed and meet Doug and Rhonda for dinner. I probably told this in a previous blog post, but Doug had to go to Berlin, Germany for a training for his company, so he and Rhonda made a little vacation out of it by coming to Paris first and to London after. What a thrill it was to see them both. We could not have planned this any better.

After our nap, we dressed and walked to the place Doug and Rhonda are staying. It was about a mile away or about a 15 minute walk. They are staying on a floating barge on the Seine. It is a very unique hotel with a beautiful view of the water. Doug had made reservations for us at a restaurant that served all very French food. We had escargot for an appetizer, and a roast beef dish that had the tenderest beef we have ever tasted, with potatoes and carrots. We had an apple tart with heavy cream for dessert. We then took a cab back to our apartment. Doug and Rhonda walked up the six flights of stairs to see when we had been living all week. I think their reaction to our apartment was probably the same reaction we had when we saw the smallness of it all. I can’t tell you what they were really thinking. I guess you will have to ask them. Then they left and walked back to their hotel on the Seine. The name of their hotel is OFF.

We got into bed about 11:30. Tomorrow is our last day in the apartment.

Day 7 Sunday, November 4, 2018

Today we slept late. We did not get into bed last night until around 12:00. That is late for us, so we did not get up until around 9:00. For the first time we were not on a schedule and were not trying to get to anything. All we had to do was get to a motel close to the airport so we would not have to get up so early tomorrow morning and go to the airport. It takes about an hour to get there and then with all you have to do, you need to be there two to three hours before. So, I decided it would be better to be at a motel nearby and ride the shuttle to the airport. Plus, we have found a nice little Comfort Inn for 49 Euros a night. This is the third time we have stayed here. Once when we landed to start our journey on the Camino, once when we got to Paris, and now back to leave for home. It is very small, but some of the most comfortable beds we have ever slept on.

We got up this morning and went to breakfast. We had to walk a ways to find a restaurant. They are not all open on Sunday. It was a delicious breakfast with a ham and cheese omelet, toast and a croissant, with coffee and juice. Then it was time to go pack up. That meant bringing out the backpacks again. I didn’t know if we were going to get everything in, since we have been doing some shopping. Our four large mugs—2 from Santiago and 2 from Paris was a load, not counting the other things we bought. But we are always surprised at how much these packs cam hold. They were not nearly full when we carried them on the trail. We were more concerned about weight than anything. So, the more empty they were the better. Dete had bought a little bag/satchel while we were here to use for shopping, so some of the things went in that. We will let the backpacks go in with luggage and the other will be carry on.

After we packed everything up, we decided to get one more bowl of the French vegetable soup that we had eaten the first day we arrived. We went back to the same restaurant and ordered the soup only to find out that they did not serve soup on Sunday. So we ordered some type of open faced roast beef sandwich and split it. We were not really hungry, that is why we wanted to split the bowl of soup. But the sandwich was also delicious. Then we went around the corner and visited the bakery. Dete got a cookie and I got some kind of light pastry that was filled with a French cream/pudding. We figure this is our last dessert for a long time. We are going back home to healthy eating because we will not be walking 15 miles a day to burn off all the calories.

After lunch we went back to make sure we had not left anything and to leave Julianne a note about how we enjoyed her apartment. I am so glad we rented her flat. It was tiny but oh so adequate for what we needed. Once we got over the shock of the smallness and having her “stuff” around, we settled in and had a great time. It truly was like living in Paris. If we ever come back, we will do the same thing.

It was now time to go find the metro subway. It was not too difficult to find, but going through all the hoops to get where you need to be, is never fun.  The first leg of the metro ride was fine.  When we reached the station that ended the first leg, we were supposed to change to a train that went to the airport.  As you know Dete and I took French in high school but we never used it so it was basically time wasted. The first indication that there was a problem was when all the trains listed on the arrival board were the wrong train.  I also kept seeing a message scroll across an electronic sign, I knew it was something about the trains not operating. We had been told not to get on a train unless it said Charles de Gaul, and  if we did, t would take us to another area of town, even though the train was the same number. When we saw people boarding with suitcases on the train that did not say Charles de Gaul, we began to ask questions. That is when we realized that there was really something wrong. We found a man who looked like he worked for the trains and he explained to us that the train was not working so we would have to get  on a train to the next station and then get on a bus to take us to the airport. When we got off at the next station we were herded out to a group of busses where we were to board one to the airport.  We have learned that when there is a disruption in plans not to fret because it may be God putting you on a different path for a reason. Sure enough, while waiting in the line for the bus, we met a couple from Australia heading to Nepal. We got to share about our great niece who was adopted from Nepal by my nephew Darryl and his wife Marilyn Breland. There is a great story there about how their daughter, Aapana, was able to return to Nepal and help her family rebuild a home that was destroyed in an earthquake. The story is too complicated to tell here, but during this conversation about this and our trip on the Camino, we were able to share Christ and also to share our blog address for them to read.

We finally reached the bus station and found our way to the platform to be picked up by our shuttle. We got settled in our room and headed out to the nearest restaurant. It happened to be a Japanese restaurant. So that is where we ate. It was good, but at this point we are just wanting to get back to the room, write the blog and go to bed. One more day on the blog and we will be home sweet home.

Day 8 Monday, November 5, 2018

It was an early morning this morning. We got up at 5:00 to get dressed, get breakfast and wait for the shuttle that took us to the airport. We had a short wait before we were allowed to check our luggage and then board the plane from Paris to Manchester, England. So we can now add another country to our list of countries visited. This was supposed to be a short flight, but we had about a 30 minute delay, waiting for some paperwork to arrive. We were hoping this would not affect our future flights.

After the flight to Manchester and the 30 minute delay, we ran as hard as we could to get to our next flight to New York. But after all that running, we had about a two hour delay.  It was a maintenance issue this time. This flight was seven hours long, so we had time to watch a couple of movies. We were a little concerned that the wait was going to make us late for our next flight. We would have an hour in between flights even with the delay. This seemed very doable, until we arrived and saw what all we had to go through—picking up our baggage, going through security and then having our bags checked AGAIN, even though we had never left the secure area all day. But no, it was not enough time!!  We got to the plane 15 minutes before it was time to leave, they had already closed the door and would not open it for us. They did, however, keep our luggage!!

So, we had to go back to the airline that scheduled our flights to get the next flight out. As it turned out, another flight was not going out until tomorrow, so we are spending another birthday week night in New York City, courtesy of Thomas Cook Airlines!! It could be another exciting night except for the fact that we are exhausted and we have to leave for the airport at 5:00 in the morning. With the time change we have been up for 21 hours.

So, we will be home one day late. But we will be home in time to vote and go see our grandchildren.

Day 9 Tuesday, November 6, 2018

This morning we woke up in the Radisson Hotel. It was the hotel provided by Thomas Cook Airlines. The alarm was set for 5:00, but because our bodies are set on European time, so we actually woke up at 2:00. We talked and few minutes and tried to go back so sleep and with a little coaxing we napped until 3:00. We thought the day before, being up for 21 hours would jump start us into normal sleeping. But it still takes a while to get adjusted. So we just got up and got dressed and was ready to leave for the airport at 5:00.

When we arrived at the airport we went to the Jet Blue check in desk.  There we had an issue.  When she looked for us on the flight, we were not found.  She first said that we would have to contact Thomas Cook and work it out with them, because they had not made the ticket change.  Then she did something that is missing a lot today.  She went above the necessary and beyond what is expected.  She said, “Wait a minute and let me check on something”.  Now that was music to my ears.  She picked up the phone and called someone.  In a few minutes, she told us that they had worked it out with Thomas Cook, and that we were good to go.  Wow, I love it when someone takes the initiative to work out a problem instead of just sending you to someone else just to get rid of you.  We then had time for breakfast, because our plane did not leave until 7:30. To say we were anxious is an understatement. We had been so disappointed to miss our flight yesterday. Dete actually cried a little. November 5^th was supposed to be our arrival date and her heart was set on that day. We had it all planned. Mike and Tonia from our motorcycle small group at church was supposed to pick us up and we were looking forward to that reunion. We have become very close to our group and they are like family. Now we would not get to see Tonia because she has to work and we have to disturb Mike. It was just not a good time for her. Dete, like all women I guess, associates emotions to dates and this one had her a little upset. But we both talked about this at breakfast and because of our philosophy that God uses interruptions to benefit our lives, we asked ourselves—-what good could come from a two hour flight to Charlotte??

We boarded the plane on time, but discovered that mine and Dete’s seats were not together. We had decided that once we got on, we would try to swap with other passengers so we could be together. Once everyone got settled in, we realized that the plane may not be full, so I asked the stewardess if we could change seats. I said it this way, “Ma’am, could I sit by my wife? We have been married for 51 years and I would hate to have to get a divorce over a plane seat.” She smiled and said, “Well, I don’t want to be responsible for a divorce, so tell her to come on back”.  Of course this brought up many questions about 51 years of marriage, children, jobs, where we had been, where were we going, etc,etc,etc. So we shared about the Camino de Santiago, Paris, etc. Then she asked how we were so healthy at this age to be able to walk 500 miles and Dete got to share her health passion. She said that her boyfriend was a health nut too and began to explain what he ate. Dete said, “Well he will be looking for a new girlfriend someday because he was going to outlive you”. When Dete made that remark she laughed and said, “I’m going to have to write that in my book”. We did not think anything of the statement. We went on to laugh with other passengers about football. This came about when we told her we graduated from Auburn and she stated she was an Alabama Fan, and then someone else said they were a Georgia fan and another said he was an Alabama fan and his brother was a Clemson fan and all the fun they had around their house at times. It was just a great gathering and exciting. We’ve never had this type of interaction on an airplane before.

After we had been flying for a while, the stewardess began to bring around snacks—chips, soft drinks, and other snacks that Larry and I refused. She would just roll her eyes at how we could pass these up. On the final round, she came by and asked our name. She looked on the her ipad and found our name, and said, “I’ll be back to talk to your in a little while”. We had no idea what this meant.

After a while she came back and said, “I am writing a book and the title will be Plane People. It will be stories about people I have run into over the years on the plane—-just “plain” people. So I would like to come to your house and interview you for the book. So, she took all of our information that she did not already have in her computer, and said she would contact us. We gave her our blog website so she could get to know us a little better. Who knows if any of this will ever take place, but we think we have an answer to the question, “Why was our flight delayed yesterday”?

So we arrived in Charlotte around 10:00. Mike was there to pick us up and we went to his house to pick up our truck. It was to be a busy day. First we headed to the grocery store. We had nothing in our refrigerator and I had to buy my Cecil some special food to celebrate our homecoming. I have missed that dog. Every time I saw a dog on our trip, I thought of him. Of course, then we had to go vote, and then home. It was so nice to get home. Mike had cut our grass for us the whole time we were gone, so we drove up to a nice, manicured lawn—friends are the best. And then the real excitement started.

We showered after wearing the same clothes for three days, got dressed and headed to King to see our grandchildren.  Oh were those hugs special. This is the longest we have ever been away from them and it was a joyous reunion. We met at a Mexican restaurant (we hadn’t had Mexican food in at least two months, and we love it). Then we went to their house and loved on them some more.

We got home around 10:00 and slept in OUR bed for the first time in a long time.  We talked about how nice it would be to resume our routine in the morning. We would get up and have a MUG of coffee (not a teacup of coffee), with refills as we sit on the back porch and watch the deer go across our backyard and head to the island for the day.

Life is good. Thanks to all who took the journey with us. It was the trip of a lifetime. Now we will start to plan our next adventure. We have a couple of ideas, but it will require a lot of research and getting back to the simple, simple, life and save some more money!!!!!