going home

In travel, you triple check everything. Really. Save yourself anxious moments. If you booked a ride to the airport for the young family, ask about confirming it every chance you get, because you dont want to get grumpy when you're told on the departure morning "no, we don't have a request for a baby seat." This is where you take out your computer and show them the email and they turn all apologetic and assure you that you're right and they're wrong and they'll straighten it out. And then ask again if they did straighten it out.

This all seems so darn trivial, but travel becomes cumbersome when small things unravel. So keep checking and double checking -- is my opinion.

I had gone to sleep very late (Ocean takes time) and I needed to get up very early. The young family has a flight in the afternoon, but mine is in the morning and so I'm up with the sun and down at the desk taking care of checkout details even before they serve breakfast.

Finding myself with  a few minutes time before I can fill up with lots of coffee, I go for a walk. To the river first.

It's just after 6:30 a.m. and Paris is not an early wakeup city, so the streets are still on the empty side. Many Parisians have trickled out for their summer escape and tourists always take forever to get going. It's a good time to be out and about.

And I consider walking to the park, but I don't want to rush there and back, so I pause at the little Carr de l'Odeon and think about locations in Paris before returning to my own hotel (which is closer to the river). 

In big cities, a hotel's location really gives you a point of reference. Get it wrong, and suddenly your love for the city falters. You spend a lot of time traveling outside your set of blocks. Get it right and you can pretend for a few days that you are a local. My usual hotel (Baume) is close to the Luxembourg Gardens. I spend a rather large amount of time there when I stay at the Baume. This time, the D'Aubusson is close to the river. That puts it also closer to the Tuileries. It was lovely sitting there in cafes and at picnic tables and watching the world go by in the dappled shade of young and old trees. 

Yes, location matters.

These were my morning walk thoughts.

By 7 the breakfast room opens and I have exactly 12 minutes to eat something. One more bite of croissant, one more swipe at the French yogurt. 

And I offer you some more thoughts -- ones that were with me for the meal and, too, for the entire transport to the airport.

It was all about daughters and how much I adore spending time with them in their adult lives and with their families. Such intense love I have for them all! (Oh, yes, Ed too, but you already know that.) These last days with my younger girl and her brood were exquisite in all ways, and as I've said before, one delicious frosting to the already wonderful cake was being with my daughter while she was on vacation. Not preoccupied as we all are back home, but focused on... Copenhagen and Paris! I thought in embarking on this adventure that it would be all about helping create memories for the young family, but I see that it was also about creating memories for me. Beautiful ones. I alternate between a smile and happy tears.

I take a cab to the airport. It's the last time I'm indulging myself. A post-covid habit.  I'll go back to trains and public transportation going forward, but right now, I have to be mindful of the knee and the suitcase. So I cab it and as usual, I hate the cab ride because it's got an unhappy driver who shares his issues with me on his five children and his frustrations with the traffic situation and he has a break/accelerate method of driving which I know would make anyone sick. Back to hot and crowded trains next time!

At the airport we have an (almost) on time departure. I wish I could trade with my daughter and give them MY  departure. (Their flight is mega delayed. Ten hours and counting! With little kids at a busy airport. Update: and then it's cancelled. Nothing like first spending twelve hours with little ones at the airport and then learning that you're not going home.)

And before you know it (well, like eight plus hours later) I am in Detroit.

And after a four hour hang in Detroit (delays!), I am finally in Madison.

And I drive to the farmette. I'll end with a quiz for you! Ed is biking this evening so I enter a quiet farmhouse. Which of the following do I do? 1. Snip day lilies 2. wash refrigerator 3. go to bed because I am so darn tired!

(Correct answer: 1 and 2, and eventually -- 3.)

Wishing the young family a safe ending to their Paris adventure. They never made it out tonight.. On the upside, there were storms throughout the Midwest. Perhaps they would have had a tough time getting to Chicago tonight anyway. Travel is like that. And still, we pack our bags and go. 

with so much love,...