Monday, October 1st, 2012
Day Trip #19

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Up at 4:00 am. for Meds to help get back on a USA schedule. Then officially up at 7:15. Showered & pack. Out at 8:30 w/ Don & Deb for le petit dejeuner. Went to Café Le Buci again. Same waiter & same breakfast except instead of an omelette, we do two fried eggs with paper thin slices of ham on top.

            Another clear day in Paris. Chilly again this am though.

            We go back to the hotel & finish packing. Then off for one last walk in Paris – just Tim & I. Don & Deb off on their own, and the funny thing is, we actually all end up going to the same place – Luxembourg Gardens. Beautiful flower beds, lovely pebbled paths & the castle / chateau of Maria de Medici.

            Back to the hotel to get our luggage & meet our shuttle van to the airport. It’s 36€ per couple. He picks us up at our hotel at 11:15 am for a 3:20 flight. It’s about an hour or 45 minute drive to Charles de Gaulle Aeroport. Before we leave St.Germain de Pres, we stop at another hotel just off Rue de Buci, where we pick up four more passengers. They’re 4 American women from South Carolina, GA, TN & AL. They’ve been in St. Tropez & Paris & are on their way back to Atlanta. They’ve traveled a lot throughout the world & are obviously wealthy. We have fun talking to them on the way to the Airport. 3 sisters & 1 niece.

------------------------------------a smattering of photos 

sailing the Seine

park avenue

cafe front

OK, Judy, what is this?

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Luxembourg Garden

faithful companions, Deb & Don Teator

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            We are let off at Terminal 1, find the Aer Lingus counter & have to wait 15 minutes for the check-in counter to open. We talk to a nice young woman behind us in line. She is Irish, returning home to Dublin. She had been an au Pair in France, and had a bad experience.

            Off to passport control, security and our gate 27, which is in a small section of the airport, not what we’re used to at Charles de Gaulle. One small counter for sandwiches drinks & muffins & another small magazine stand w/ snacks. We’re used to shopping, duty free & a sit down restaurant. Oh, well…

            We board & leave Paris on time & arrive in Dublin 1½  hrs after take off. We can see the hills & green fields & coastline as we land & later when we take off. It is raining as we land.

            Dublin is a much nicer airport, and is much more modern than the section we were in in Charles DeGaulle in Paris. Don, Deb & I buy food & we go to the gate to board. We board on time but are delayed once we’re in the plane bec. of “damage” to the long / regular runway. Since we will be using the shorter runway, they have to spend about 45 minutes taking out some cargo to  lighten our weight load. Finally the doors are shut & we taxi away from the gate. Then we wait another 45 minutes / hour & don’t take off. We don’t know why, but find out later it is because of heavy winds which prevent us from taking off on the shorter runway. We take off 2 hours late. A half hour is made up in the air so we arrive in NY 1½ hrs later than originally scheduled – 9:00 pm. instead of 7:30. Of course 9:00 is 3 am. Paris time! We get picked up by the Parking Spot bus, pick up our car & get home safely (good job driving, Tim) & are in bed 1 am (7 am. in France.)

A wonderful trip.

I found the following quote on a Viking calendar & think it’s appropriate--- “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” –Pat Conroy

We will have many shared photos w/ Don & Deb – and many years of happy memories.