Armor Hotel Compiègne

Well - would you believe the excess baggage fee cost the same amount as my ticket? I knew I would (actually work would) be hit with the charge, but the equivalent cost of another ticket? I guess it was still cheaper than having someone fly from the US by having me divert on my way back from vacation.

After leaving late from Heathrow, we got another delay in Paris. Get this, the power to all the jet ways was lost. So another 20-30 minutes of sitting on a plane. So by the time I got off the plane, got my bags, and headed for the train - I knew I was going ...

... I feel très chic (if chic can really be used to describe activities like sightseeing and walking around all day), but this thing is a miracle. Maybe not the coolest first purchase I could’ve made in France, but definitely the most practical…and it is pretty sweet looking. Anyway, after falling sleep on the bus (I’m becoming a pro at sleeping anywhere), and surviving our bored friends taking pictures of ...

... all of which must fit in a one quart bag, pull out the laptop and camera equipment, remove shoes etc.) I had 90 minutes to do all this, but by the time I jumped through all the hoops, the Air France flight was boarding.

The 747 was and not too full, I was pleased to have two empty seats beside me, which is getting to be very rare experience flying these days. The pilot welcomed us over the intercom and among other things informed us that we would likely encounter ...

Have arrived in Arras. Don't know if its' my imagination or not, but there is a different feel here in Flanders vs Normandy. Will be visiting the Vimy memorial and the pipers' memorial to-morrow. Stopped in Dieppe to-day and dippeed my Essex Scottish cap badge in the ...

OK - made it to Paris, but we left 15 minutes late, so I wasn't sure I would make my connection. But this was a first. I was sitting in the 2nd to last row. But during our long taxi, the main flight attendant comes back to me and tells me to grab my stuff and to move up to first class. They will hold the plane for me, but they didn't want to wait the 10 minutes for me to get off from the ...

After arriving at Charles De Gaulle Airport Terminal 2A on a direct flight from Dallas, I sped through the terminal to the rail station to catch the TGV to Brussels.  When we left Dallas, the pilot told us we would probably arrive 20 minutes early.  That would be great since I only had a 20 minute window to catch the train to Brussels or wait another hour and a half.  Well, we arrived only 5 minutes early but I still made the train with 5 minutes to spare.   I tend to get one word ...

Amiens, where we ate at noon was not our main goal fior the trip that day. It was Gerberoy. A beauty but a little dissappointing. Dissappointing because there was an art fair and we were not able to enjoy its quiteness that normally exists. Our daughter had a lesson in school about the crême de Chantilly. In Gerberoy we decided to visit Chantilly.

We arrived in Paris, after an uneventful flight on Air Canada -- in which we got bulkhead exit row seats -- hooray! Went to claim our luggage. Mine showed up, but Dejo's is MIA. We filed a claim with the group that AC outsources their luggage issues to, and while they were friendly enough, we left with justa 4-digit phone number ...

... the royal family in the past. After making some photos, we went to the movies and spent two hours watching "Hors de prix" - some comedy with Audrey Tautou. Although I really liked her in "Amélie", this film was horrible - or at least not a bity funny. But at least I got to eat a lot of popcorn. This day wasn't that bad actually, when I think about it. But after a bliss of yesterday, after Paris, everything seemed to be pretty flat and boring.