Hotel Sophie Germain, Paris: 48°49’51.5″N 2°19’50.4″E

Home Sweet Home: 42°56’59.5″N 81°14’55.4″W

We were underway early this morning to catch the RER train from a stop near our hotel that would take us all the way to Charles De Gaulle airport, a trip of about 50 minutes.

We thought we had things figured out until the tickets we bought the day before did not work or open the gates at the train/subway entrance. Panic stations in the station! Fortunately, a young man took pity on us and after trying the tickets for us determined that since Cath had stored the tickets in her phone wallet, their magnetic strips no longer worked. He pointed her to the information desk where a kind man gave us new tickets that opened the turnstile at the train entrance. Whew.

It was a long ride on the train through some of Paris’ gritty outlying suburbs. While on holiday, we tend to forget that the rest of the world is going about it’s daily business of taking the train to work and seeing kids on their way to school.

It took about as long to find the gate at the airport as it did to take the train there, but once we were checked in everything was well organized and we were through security quickly. It was strange to hear so much English being spoken again in the waiting area for the Toronto plane.

The trip home was uneventful, thankfully no delays and our luggage made it to London with us. A quick Uber trip and we were home again. Back to reality, piles of laundry, getting groceries and dealing with jet lag but looking back it was all worth it. We had a wonderful adventure with Bruce and Barb, and on our own, and with Emily.

Between September 4th and 28th, we covered a lot of territory, crossed many eras from Roman ruins to medieval castles, to WWII and modern day France while drinking a bit of wine and eating a lot of cheese. Oh, and the coffee! Glad to be home to reconnect with family and friends here.

Time to start saving up for the next adventure!