Day 42 - The journey home.

11:10pm - Los Gatos

It's been another long day.  We got up early this morning.  I'd told everyone the cab was coming at 8am, even though I'd booked it for 8:30 because I didn't think they'd be ready.  To my shock, everyone WAS ready at 8am.  We killed a little more time and the cab showed up precisely at 8:30am as promised.

Us with our luggage waiting for our cab in front of our apartment building ... a guy was walking by and offered to take our picture.

The cab ride to the airport was uneventful, but there was alot of traffic AT the airport.  Our wily driver knew some alternate routes and got us there.  We had lots of time.  But then, we encountered the American Airlines check-in line...  good golly!  It was long.  We waited in it for about 45 minutes and then we learned about the priority line for gold status members... well, heck, I'm a lifetime gold status member on American.  They hide the priority checkin downstairs and there's just this tiny-winy little sign that points you there.  It's no wonder everyone misses it.  We walked downstairs and right to the front of the line.  Five minutes later we were parted with our bags and onto security screening.  The rest of the pre-boarding bit was uneventful.

We had "Main Cabin Extra" seats and they were very comfortable.

Before we knew it, we were leaving Paris behind.

That's the Eiffel Tower there in the middle.  Bye-bye, Paris.  It was fun!

It was a nine-hour flight to Chicago, but a seven-hour time difference, so we were always in the sunshine and arrive only "two hours" later than we started.  The highlight of the flight was seeing Greenland and some icebergs out the window

Once we got to Chicago, we whisked through the customs bit and then Charlie and I were bidding farewell to Laura and the girls.  They're on an additional 10-day adventure in Wisconsin and Washington, DC.

Charlie and I made a connection in Chicago and flew home.  He starts band camp tomorrow morning.

Waiting for our San Jose connection in O'Hare.

Flight from ORD-SJC was exhasting, but uneventful.  So was the cab ride from the airport.  We arrived home safely.  There was a big pile of mail waiting... I think it can wait until tomorrow. Going to bed now.

Day 41 - Paris: Orangerie and Eiffel Tower at night

11:59pm - Paris

Today was our last day in Paris and our last day before flying home.  Hard to believe that six weeks has gone by.  We slept in and then spent the morning getting organized, packing, discarding things that dont need to come home.

After lunch, we went to the Musée de l’Orangerie.  The main attraction there is a series of water lily paintings that Monet did.  We had visited his gardens a week ago, so it was good to see how he chose to point the ponds and lilies we saw there.

After the Orangerie, we went over to the carnival at Tuileries Garden.  The kids did this giant water ball ride and some bungie jumping.  It was a little surreal to do look up from this carnival and see wings of the Louvre, but that's the way the French roll.

By that time, it was time for dinner.  We went to Au Petit Tonneau and had a lovely dinner -- and even got a discount because we'd booked through La Fourchette.

After dinner, we walked to the Eiffel Tower.  We had 10:30pm tickets for the elevator ride to the 2nd floor.  It was nice to skip the line and just walk on.

By the time we left the Eiffel Tower, it was after 11pm and we were all a little tired.  We rode the Metro home and you can see in our faces that it's definitely time for bed.

The cab to take us to the airport comes tomorrow morning at 8:30am.  You might think it's crazy to stay out till midnight the night before a morning cab ride to the airport a day of flying, but that's how we roll. It's going to be a long day of traveling.  Hopefully without much to write about.