We're off to Paris!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Packing and getting ready to leave – so many last-minute things to do. I haven’t gotten my glasses fixed yet, but I plan to go out right after lunch to do that. This morning I finished labeling and packing up Christmas gifts for my siblings. Eric will take them to Dallas and they will be passed around at Christmas time. Is that planning or what?!!!

Hmmm . . . glasses issue will have to wait until Paris. The shop Alicia sent me to does not repair glasses, and they recommended one all the way out in Druid Hills. I don’t intend to go that far. I did mail the car license plate to the Louisiana DMV and deposit our car cash.

We took a couple of hours to pack, but managed to get everything in with room to spare – four bags to check, four to carry on. Lots, but then, we’re going for a year. We will have to buy winter coats in France.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010
We are in Heathrow Airport after our late overnight flight from Atlanta. We were over an hour late departing because of a storm in Atlanta, complete with lots of lightning and thunder. We were scheduled to leave at 9:20, and finally departed about 10:30. The pilot made up most of the time – I think we were a little late arriving in London, but I really didn’t pay attention since we are not pressed for time. Our flight to Paris does not depart for more than two hours. Thank you, Alicia and Peter, for the little pouch of international money! Those few British pounds came in handy here at the airport for water and a bite to eat.

On the way to the airport, I panicked, thinking that we do not have the hotel address written down anywhere. Roger informed me that he printed the reservation confirmation to his laptop via OneNote, so we are good there. We are scheduled to meet our landlord and landlady Thursday at 2:00 at the apartment. The landlady provided us with entry codes last week.

Once we got off the ground, the flight was pretty uneventful. We had a really late dinner due to the delayed departure. I managed to sleep some, but I’m not sure Roger got more than a few minutes here and there. My ankles are hugely swollen. I am so grateful that my sore back resolved itself before this trip – I would have been in agony otherwise. The deplaning was rather bizarre – we exited via covered stairs onto the tarmac and took a shuttle to the terminal. I didn’t realize that this was done any more at modern airports. We had to lug our carry-ons down some 16 or so stairs – bummer!