Au Revoir to a Wonderful Trip!

Hard to believe we are at the end if the trip...but this chapter will be for our last two days. So sad to be done!

This morning we woke to beautiful soft sounding waves and I headed down to do yoga on the beach with Amy, a cycle colleague (who is always way out front) and a yoga/pilates instructor from Austin. Steve, Amy’s husband, Paige, Sharon and I all spread our towels on the sand and followed Amy’s lead for an hour of pilates and yoga. Ken joined for the last half hour, which was a huge accomplishment as he was feeling quite cruddy. We all felt stretched and a bit more

ready for the travel day ahead.

We all went in for our last of the fancy hotel breakfasts, where Justin and Donna had both advised that the chocolate croissants were worth the calories. Sitting in the beautiful dining room, overlooking the Atlantic ocean and having wonderful cappuccino’s and croissants is not a terrible thing.

Then it was time to pack up and get ready for the shuttle to the Biarritz Airport where Ken, Donna and I would head back to Paris for the night. We said our goodbyes to our Austin foursome of Paige, Amy, Justin and Steve who were so much fun to cycle with and even more to hang with, Santa Fe’s Sharon and Rob who were inspirational in all of their endeavors, Tampa’s Tim and Jill who were excellent table mates and provided great guidance on wine and Indianapolis’s Mark and Jen who inspired us with their athleticism

(hiking up Kilimanjaro!). Lastly, we hated saying good-bye to our tour leaders Christian (who had left us yesterday to prepare for another trip), Tim who was so engaging, full of info and just plain fun, and Max our fellow Seattlite who we so enjoyed getting to know. We hope they all come out to bike with us on Bainbridge!

We made our EasyJet plane to Paris, snagged a taxi and had no problem finding our AirBnB in the 7th arradossiment where Rue Cler and the Eiffel Tower are within a few blocks. It is my favorite part of town and I know the streets and shops well, so a good way to end the trip. When I picked the BnB, I failed to realize they had no lift and it was on the 5th floor up some very steep stairs. With our massively heavy suitcases, this was not fun. Ken, still feeling under the weather, was the pack horse and got everything up but it was not easy even without bags.

Laurence our hostess was there to greet us and showed us around the apartment which had 1 bedroom and a day bed in the living room. Unfortunately, there was no AC and it was right on Boulevard La Tour Mauberg, which is quite busy…so road noise or hot? While deciding that, we decided it was time for a snack, so walked the few blocks to Rue Cler and went to my favorite crepe place.

Unfortunately, it was not the right time of the day (too early for dinner or too late for lunch) and there was only on elderly woman manning the crepe maker. She was not hospitable and we quickly left for another little bistro a few doors down that was not only welcoming, but had great food choices that were extremely tasty. Donna and I

split the Croque Monsier, which is a totally unhealthy sandwich with ham, crème sauce and cheese toasted on the outside. Paired with French fries and a salad, it was perfect to split, but could feel our arteries hardening as we ate! Ken had some fresh juice and a salad before he went back to the apartment for some sleep.

Donna and I hit the Metro, which is the best way to get around Paris and after a transfer arrived at the Abysses stop, which is one of the iconic pictures in Paris. We walked a few blocks to the stairs leading up to Sacre Couer, my favorite church in Paris. The dramatic white domed basilica high on a hill overlooking the City is always a great vision. This was the most crowded I have ever seen it in the 15+ times I have been there. But, we got a few pics, muscled our way into the church, did a wander around (how many times can I utter the words “the Catholic’s know how to build a church”) before walked

around the corner to the Artists Enclave for a glass of wine and to see the art. The little square is totally touristy, but still fun to watch the people and see the artists. We found the artist that Ken bought a painting from a few years ago, so we said hi and got a pic with him as a thank-you!

After walking down the long flights of stairs back to the Metro, we headed back to the apartment for a bit of a rest and to check on sickie Ken. He was still asleep on the couch, so we hung for an hour, got cooled down (it was really warm and muggy) before walking towards the few blocks to the Eiffel Tower just in time for the sparkling at 9pm. It sparkles every 30 mins, so perfect timing.

We were lucky enough to get a table at Christian Constant’s bistro, sitting outside at a tiny table and people watching with a nice bottle of red wine from Chinon (where Ken and I spent the night on the farm),

a wonderful French onion soup (when in France….), a country style pate, some very tender veal with Basque white beans and finally a crème caramel. We split it all, and thankfully the portions were not the American size, so it was a perfect amount.

It was now almost midnight and Ken had wanted a pizza, but they were now all closed, but I did find a little Asian take-out. I picked him up some vegis and noodles, and we headed back to the room where he woke up long enough to eat the noodles (left the vegis) and crawl back in bed.

Sunday morning came much to quick and Donna was up, packed and ready to head to her 10am flight. Ours wasn’t until 2p, so we had some time to enjoy our last Petit Dejeuner (little breakfast) in Paris. I will reduce the crazy next few hours of Icelandair delays to this…with a 2 hour delay in Paris, we made it to Reykjavik, ran to our gate

where they had held the last of two planes to Seattle. So we made it home without having a force layover in Reykjavik, which maybe would have been kind of fun!

Au Revoir until the next trip!