leaving France

It will be a long trip and it may or may not result in a return home. And this post probably wont solve that puzzle for you. Here's why: 

I set the alarm for 7, so as usual, I wake up five minutes before that. Why do I even bother with the alarm? Because the day I do not set it is the day I wont wake up. That's how it works, isn't it...

It's dark still. Or, that predawn gray. (Sunrise here today is at 8:15, a whole hour later than in Madison.) My bags were already packed in Paris, with just a few things needed for my two days in the Loire Valley. I have a relaxed hour -- breakfast here starts at 8. It gives me a chance to throw a glance outside. 

The longer I stay (granted, only 2 days), the more I like this landscape. There is a lesson here, no? Stay put, learn to love all that grows close to you.

There aren't many at the restaurant. And it's cold in the room! Is that intentional? So that you do not linger over your second cup of coffee? There is nothing unusual or especially grand about the morning meal here. I'll say this much -- the croissants are very excellent. That counts for something. My last croissant this year. I've stopped eating them in Madison. That and wine-- indulgences during travel, ignored back home. (Does that mean I opt for dull drudgery when not on vacation? Not really. I dont miss either at home. There, it's all about Millie and roses and the grandkids. And Ed.)

(more light after breakfast: the petanque sand strip)

 

 

After breakfast, the golf cart comes for my suitcases. I opt for walking to the main house.

(the little bridge is covered entirely by a climbing rose on one side and a wisteria on the other)

(one final one: maybe a "Francis Meilland?")

And then at 9, I take the cab to the Paris airport. Normally this would be prohibitively expensive (it's an 85 minute trip), but they have a special price for hotel guests so I budgeted the transfer into the whole package of staying at the Domaine.

Will I ever return? Dont ask me impossible questions. There used to be a time in my travels where I was hell bent on finding a place to return to. Again and again. Sorede comes to mind (years: 2010 - 2013). But when Ed dropped out of the picture, announcing right after that last Sorede trip that he was done with travel, my attempts at returns became half hearted. Chamonix a few of times. Brittany of course, though never to the same place. Only le Baume. Le Baume is all mine. People can come and go there with me, but it is mine. Solo trips to Paris can only be grand if I am there. Without it, I am but a lost soul drowning in the melancholy that can be very much a part of a stay in that city.

Truthfully, I probably wont return. I liked the Domaine quite a bit, but I am getting up there in years and there are other ways of linking Paris with the countryside that I have yet to try. (You'll understand come January!)

We arrive at the airport in an okay time frame. The warning here is that if you travel by cab, the entrance to the unloading for transatlantic flights these days always takes forever. I was lucky - only 15 minutes of stop and go (mostly stop) for the last 300 meters of travel to terminal 2E. 

Long lines at check in, even longer at passport control and then a quick sail through at security. Boom! Sixty minutes from stepping into the airport to stepping  before the gate, but really, full credit for that speed goes to my participation in the Air France loyalty program. The privilege of the frequent flyer in Paris is that you stand in shorter lines. Not much, but at insane airports with long lines, I am grateful.

Final foods on French soil: figs, a prune clafoutis (a fall standard here), and a partridge in a pear tree.

Eight and a half hours later I am in Chicago.

The plan had been to spend the afternoon/evening with my daughter's family, then to overnight at my usual hotel, and to return in a leisurely fashion tomorrow, by the usual bus. However, I changed my mind and everything aligned itself to put in place a new plan. Why spend money on a hotel and sit in rush hour traffic tomorrow, when I can take a night bus home? True, I will be on a European clock so in fact, I will have missed a whole night of sleep. But I save quiet a bit. And I gain some time at Steffi's House -- time that I need badly. Millie's guardian (and BFF!) is taking her to visit her mom, so the house will actually be empty tonight (I hadn't wanted to arrive in the middle of the night if they are both there). If I pick up Millie at daycare tomorrow (as planned), and if I am home in the morning, I will be able to water the garden thoroughly. It needs it. There was only one rainfall in my absence and that is pushing it for my newly planted flowers. I do not want to lose them or weaken them for the winter! Too, I have a zillion auto pay emails, telling me my card is being denied, as it well should be since I cancelled it,  I need to authorize my new card and start paying or else, for example, Millie loses her health insurance. God forbid!

The upshot? I plan on time with the grand girls, and when they go to bed, I will return to the airport and catch the night bus home. Ed will be at the bus stop if I call him loudly enough to wake him.

I'll post now, and update tomorrow on how it all worked out. The one thing that I do know is that there will not be time for me to write again until I am home, at Steffi's House.

See you then and from there!

with so much love...