Paris 2011

We were up early at 6:30 am. We had a quick breakfast and then cleaned out the fridge. We took the garbage to the street. It was cool and drizzling. We went to the Hotel D'Abbaye next door for our final coffee. There were so gracious, and served our coffees on a silver tray.

Mme dos Santos, the caretaker for the building, did a quick walkthrough and returned our damage deposit. A cab came at 9:30 a.m., just as Mme dos Santos had arranged.

The cab already had 16 Euros on the meter. In Paris, the costs start when the cab driver drives to pick you up. Our driver was good but fast. We got in line at the airport around 10:10. Although the Air Canada attendants were at the gate, they did not even look at us until 3 hours before the flight. The people in line got very impatient.

After about 8 people were checked in, the luggage conveyor stopped and everything ground to a half for another 20 minutes.Finally we got checked in. We were very glad we had come to the airport early.

Security was another frustrating line. Cranky, we searched for coffee afterwards with no luck. We went to a cafeteria and each had a sandwich before boarding.

Again, there were long lines to board buses which took us to our plane. We finally got on board. The flight took 7 hours, 40 min. - perhaps because of winds.

We went through customs in Montreal and then transferred our luggage. We felt pretty good, in part because of the No Jet Lag pills we had taken. We found a Starbucks and all was well.

We arrived in Calgary and both husbands were there to greet us. A great, great trip.Read more