Au Revoir, Europe!

Way too hot last night (still 75 degrees at 1am) and I slept poorly. Up by 7am, I quietly packed and organized stuff until the others were up around 8:45am. Relatively easy getting everything tidied and out by 10am. Hunted down an oil painting R and I had seen on the street that Tom was interested in. Already topping 80 degrees at 11am on its way toward another 90-degree day.

Smooth jaunt to Charles de Gaulle, then we hit the most epic passport control line. Probably 90 minutes of weaving back and forth. Then, security. We are finally off in a Westjet 787 - best flight I've taken in a long time. Slept for several hours, which helped. Flight crew was delightful (didn't expect to feel surprised by unaccented English), meals were actually tasty, and excellent in-flight entertainment.

Only issue was hitting significant turbulence right after beverage service and I end up with an entire cup of red wine in my lap. Fortunately, I have a pair of pants I had planned to change into at the airport, so I didn't have to sit in it the whole time.

Three hour layover in Calgary turns into four due to ground halt for lightning. At this point, it feels like 2am and we are all ready to be asleep...Read more