leaving Paris... the long way

We are leaving Paris today. 

Our last morning at the Baume hotel...

Breakfast, with a big stretch...

A croissant, a coffee for me...

An hour or two of free time before it's time to leave for the airport. Snowdrop and I walk to Maison Mulot -- a nearby bakery that I really like. I think she needs more food in her belly. I tell her to pick a pastry. (Like her mom, she goes for the eclair.)

Sunday mornings are quiet times in the city. The day is gray, a little cool. The square we pass so often, Carr de l'Odeon, is absolutely still...

The hotel is there, welcoming us for a few more minutes...

And still we walk. To the Luxembourg Gardens...

... where even in the early hours, boats are set loose in the waters before the Palace....

One more Parisian photo...

And now it's time to leave... Good bye flowers, good bye sweet room at the Baume....

We arrive at the airport in good time. Indeed, we have just about three hours before departure.

Or so we think.

We do our wait, we understand there is a delay, we wait some more. On board now, more delays. Something with the mechanics. Then something with the door. Then with air traffic controllers. It's getting nearly impossible to imagine we will make it to Madison tonight.

(She finishes her second full movie and still we haven't left the gate....)

On the upside, we do eventually take off, and we do eventually land in Detroit. Many hours behind schedule. 

Snowdrop, who hasn't complained about anything during the trip, had her heart set on home tonight. She is disappointed, and I am too. 

But, I did manage to book an airport hotel at Detroit in anticipation of this (Delta will pay for it), so now it's only a question of claiming bags and collapsing in our hotel room. For six, maybe seven hours of sleep.

Could have been worse: I was just waiting for them to announce that our flight would not leave Paris at all and that we would have to stand in long lines and get a room in one of the really crappy hotels to which you have to take a tedious stop-and-go bus within the airport area. I've had to do that before. There's nothing fun about it. 

So, hey, we are safely in Detroit and tomorrow we will be in Madison. One can hope!

With love....