Bon Délire

  I was awake when John and Babette headed out, so I got my last hugs in. Since they have moved stores Tennessee, these times together are just so special. And here we are, Ron, Lenore, Gary and Kathy...our last morning in Paris...heading back to California this evening.  After a little stroll around our neighborhood that included a croissant (sadly, the worst one we had on the entire trip - we shouldn't let the gluten-free guy pick which cafe to stop at!) and a coffee.  Lenore and I bought new glasses frames that we will have our prescription lenses put in at home - that will be a fun souvenir!  We wandered a bit more, stopped for refreshments at a nearby cafe that was facing our wonderful apartment, and then we headed for the airport.  FrenchBee says to arrive 3 hours before departure...I'm a bit of a worrier, so I allowed for 4 hours.  And thank goodness I did. The Uber driver insisted there was no Terminal 4 at Orly Airport and he dropped us off at Term...

Well, all good things must come to an end...and this fabulous trip is no exception.  The day started with my regular walk to Bo & Mie bakery, just 1 block from our apartment.  Their croissants are out of this world.  Just look at these beauties! We never tried the raspberry one... next time!!   We apparently are more traditionalists...we prefer the "croissant au beurre" and the "pain au chocolate". This was our last full day in Paris.  Gary was feeling guilty that we hadn't gone to enough museums on this trip I think...so he and I headed off to the Petit Palace, which neither of us had visited before. We headed off on the Metro, which I just love so much.  I like the hot metal smell of the tracks, the whoosh sound when the train pull in, the efficiency of the way the whole Metro system is laid out, how easy it is to use, the variety of people you see on the Metro trains...and if you are lucky, you might get to hear a busker deep in the tunnels of the Me...

When we were first starting to plan this trip, I thought we needed to do something really "special" on our last night to commemorate this wonderful family trip. I mean, there is no guarantee that we will all be able to travel together in the future.  Thankfully, we all love each other so much (so close quarters are no problem), we all are currently in good health (no guarantees of that in the future), and we all enjoy traveling...this was really a unique opportunity for us all to spend time together.  A special final dinner seemed so appropriate.  I had something picked out and presented it to the group...and they were all excited about it.  However, the more I thought about it, I decided our next to last night would be better.  John and Babette's flight back to Nashville leaves early in the morning, and I knew our special dinner would be a late night.  We decided to move our dinner to the next to last night.  Where was our dinner going to be?!?!? ...