Day 10, Back to Paris

The last full day of our vacation. We left the hotel at about 9:00 and got to Paris at about 3:30. We had a 1-hour pit stop in Belgium. Our hotel is near the Charles de Gaile Airport. About an hour after checking in and getting settled a bit, we made our way by train to the city, stopping at Notre Dame, The Louve, the Arc de Triumph, and the Eiffel Tower. We ate at a McDonald’s near the Arc, great French food!!!!!! We treated ourselves to a crepe near the Eiffel Tower and then made our way through the subway system back to the airport where we caught a shuttle back to the hotel, arriving at nearly 11:30 completely exhausted.

Here is an observation made by Carolyn. We had breakfast in Holland, lunch in Belgium, and dinner in France. How’s that for a day. Not too many people can say they’ve had their 3 meals in 1 day in 3 different countries and, might I add, not many would want to.

Some things I have enjoyed here:

Beautiful countryside with its scattered villages.

The autobahn, where the left lane is actually kept clear for people to pass in.

Castles, we sure don’t have them in the U.S.

No traffic lights. I have kind of gotten used to the roundabouts.

Some things I won’t miss:

Having to pay to go to the bathroom.

Having to pay for water in the restaurants.

Everything costing so much and having to make sure we had some Euro with us at all times.

Pigeons.

Skinny, winding streets.

Having to use a GPS wherever you go.

Graffiti.

People smoking everywhere.

Some things I’m very thankful for:

My kids and that I still miss them when I’m away.

Straight and wide streets.

Free public bathrooms.

Spending all this wonderful time with Jim, Carolyn, Robert, Melanie, Natalie, Nicole, Eric, James, and little Steven (I will definitely miss them). Oh, and Steve.

My computer and the internet. It has been great keeping a log of our travels.