First day of back on the way…. Started with about a half hour of uphill out of town. Light rain and drizzle all of the day but got nicer in the afternoon. Generally country roads and gravel, but a little bit of mud towards the end of the day. My original booking was for a place called La Prade which would have been a few KM short of the town, but apparently the owner passed away recently and so the cancelled. Fortunately, Walk The Camino was on top of it and had me rebooked at a place about an hour further. La Ferme de Marsan, a sprawling farm type place. Quite a few pilgrims walking as compared to other times. Mostly French, and have not met any other Americans. Pleasant countryside and a wonderful moment when I came over a rise and spotted the snow covered Pyrenees in the distance. Solid first day walking, sore feet but otherwise doing well. 31,107 steps.

Started today with a little walk around Bordeaux and coffee at L’Alchimiste, an excellent coffee shop in Bordeaux. French Coffee providers still don’t get the concept that if you are a coffee shop you should be open early when people want coffee. This one opened at 9:00am, early by French standards… Then it was check out of hotel, tram to train station, then just under 2 hr train ride to Mont de Marsan, followed by a local bus ride to Aire sur L’Adour where I left off walking the last time. Back in the same hotel as before. Off in search of a late lunch, found a 3 course menu for 16 euros that included smoked salmon, duck confit, frites, salad and desert! It’s some kind of festival going on so a full 13 piece brass band fired up during lunch. Apparently performing tonight for the town! Walking starts tomorrow, unfortunately with rain in the forecast.

Headed south today. 96 bus to Montparnasse followed by 2:45 ride on the TGV at 305km/hr. Bordeaux has a very different feeling than Paris and the center is very pedestrian oriented. I headed out to my favorite Creperie after taking the tram to my hotel. Walked around a bit, had a quick nap and then tucked into some wine and charcuterie.

For some reason I woke up fairly early, so I went with it. Doesn’t mean the jet lag is over, but the sooner I can get on schedule the better. Started out by heading for a coffee at Early Bird, an excellent coffee shop in the covered market part of the Marche D’Aligre. Everything was very quiet as today is a national holiday, but luckily things picked up to near normal later in the day. After coffee, headed to NoGlu the GF bakery that does some tasty mini croissants and is only a 10 minute walk from the Marche D’Aligre. From there a nice long stroll back to the hotel via the Pl Bastille. After that, headed out to see the progress on Notre Dame, and progress there was. The Flèche or arrow or steeple has been rebuilt. Nothing is yet open to the public but it is pretty clear that major progress has happened. After a stroll around, took the bus to Rue Mouffetard and found some risotto for lunch at one of the cafes at the bottom. Then it was back to the hotel for a brief nap before heading to the Haute Marais for a walk. Seemed like there were demonstrations going on at Pl de la Republics and many many police. After regrouping, it was down the street to the Bistro Louis Philippe for some foie gras and a burger.

Nice easy flight back to Paris. Just before check in Delta offered me an upgrade to first for a reasonable number of miles, so I took it. This meant a lay flat seat in its own pod which meant I was able to sleep for most of the flight. On arrival, got through immigration fast and was in a cab shortly thereafter. Staying at a hotel across the street from my apartment, so familiar with the neighborhood. Did a quick trip to Rue de Montorgueil for an apero at Le Compas and then another bite at L’Avant Comptoir du Terre and a stop at Deux Magots. Then a night cap at Le Bucheron, my local right across the street from where I’m staying. Had a quick visit with other fractional owners while I recovered my Swiss Army knife from my cubby. Managed to stay up till reasonable hour which should help with the jet lag. One more day in Paris then off to Bordeaux and the back to where I left off walking.

Time to head back home. Luckily I noticed a few weeks ago that I had been shifted to a flight that was code share by Delta but flown by Air France. This wasn’t going to work for me since AF is very picky about carry on size and weight, and Delta has an official “no weight limit” on carry ons. Since I’m pushing both weight and size, I don’t want to fight with AF ground staff. The change was able to be accomplished on the app and didn’t cost anything and resulted in a an afternoon flight, something I’ll keep in future as it makes the departure much much easier. I had time to get up, do additional cleaning, go out for coffee and then take the RER B to the airport. By chance, I got an express train with only two stops between Les Halles and the airport, about 30 minutes. Then of course the fun begins…. After waiting about 15 minutes in the passport line, the PARAF machine wouldn’t read my passport, so I got shunted into the manual line for another 30 minute wait. (As usual, about 2 people actually stamping passports for the whole country!!! Unbelievable and typical of CDG). The concept of ramping up staffing to meet demand has never occurred to anyone at CDG. Then train out to the M terminal, followed by security, which decided not to be a pain this trip. Pro tip: The sky priority line is usually slower than the general line, since it only has one checkpoint and the general line has 4-5 checkpoints. From there, the M terminal has nothing but pastry shops except one place that serves charcuterie. I took a stool there and had a plate of things and it worked well. Refused admittance once again to the Air France lounge and not even possible to buy your way in on a coach ticket on Delta. (Since I’m always flying for free, I don’t waste points or money on upgraded tickets.). CDG is one of the worst airports I use, and I always feel bad that the final impression of France is somewhat of a clown show and invariably leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Given how well the French do trains, it is surprising how badly they do airports. If you do fly in or out of CDG be sure to be strategic, avoid flying out on weekends, check and avoid holidays, avoid strike days etc. If you have to ask why, try it sometime and you’ll know. During the summer Olympics this will be a total disaster and I would recommend you fly out of somewhere else. No problem boarding with my roll aboard and 32L REI Traverse pack, two empty seats next to me in the back of the bus. Easy 10hr flight with a couple of movies. Tested out the new Global Entry Mobile app, only useable in some airports, Seattle is one, take a selfie then walk up to the agent and out the door, skipping the kiosk all together. All in all a great trip with no major drama, only a few minor errors, some good meals, lots of contacts and generally good fun. It is interesting to contrast what the French do well with what Americans do well and they are quite different. It is nice to be back where bathrooms are spacious and well thought out, there are not quite so many obstacles positioned to hit your head, and you can get good coffee and real bacon! Unfortunately, you are unlikely to walk nearly as much, transit is generally not usable and there are no long distance high speed trains. There are, however, more convenient bathrooms, tremendously faster cashiers and waiters, and much much better coffee. One thing that happens more in France and particularly in Paris, is that you end up meeting and talking to all kinds of people. A big thank you to Quentin and Leopoldine at Le Bucheron, near my apt. For making me welcome and introducing me to their friends and family.

Pretty much starting to wrap up 5 weeks in France. Spent some time organizing my things in preparation for tomorrow’s departure. I decided to go for one last GF croissant NoGlu. After that, off to meet Lynda and help her get luggage etc. over to Left Bank to meet up with Pam where they will share an AirBnB for the next week or so. I had chosen a place for lunch, Chez Germaine, that ended up being tiny and wonderful. Some great Duck Confit and Boef Bourginion. Raining fairly hard, but luckily stopped as we finished lunch. Pam came in from Luxembourg and after lunch we dragged suitcases over to the AirBnB, right near the Bon Marche, and figured out the various codes, lockboxes and keys to get in. Nice little two bedroom. Since we were right there, only made sense to visit the Grand Epicerie, a foodie wonderland. I found a Gigondas and Vacqueras to give to Quentin, our host at Le Bucheron who has been so kind. Met up later for dinner and after a quick apero at Le Compas, through the covered passages to Le Mazenay. By now they recognize me and took good care of us. Excenellent dinner and off to Le Bucheron before calling it a night.

Met up with Lynda, neighbor from Seattle and we headed out to the Atelier des Lumieres for a light show that featured Chagall and Klee. They change the show every few months, so it’s a regular stop to see what the new show is. After a bus ride, we were able to buy tickets and walk in. Some nice music and good images, but not one of the more exciting shows. After that headed over to Pl de la Republique for a few photos and then walked down to the Haute Marais for lunch at Le Sancerre. From there and easy stroll back to apt. For downtime. Then a little walk across Ile St. Louis and metro to 6th for Apero at Deux Magots followed by a snack at Avant Comptoir and some risotto at Les Editeurs. Lynda called it a night and headed back to here AirBnB, while I stopped at Le Bucheron and tasted a chateau Neuf and a St. Estephe with Quentin and his mom and Léopoldine and friend.

A slow start today, but the charcoal worked and not much ill effect from whatever it was that didn’t agree with me. Decided to try the Pompidou museum of modern art, as long as I don’t get it. They were closed for a strike. So, had a Korean lunch, then back home. Lynda, from Seattle came in, and we met up with John R and Léopoldine for dinner. Great success. Both John and Leo are in the pharmaceutical industry and got along well. Very rainy today so just kept a low profile.

Started today with the traditional Sunday visit to the Bastille market. Huge local market that only happens on Thursday’s and Sundays, but is in easy walking distance. Had my usual breakfast crepe, you will not that it is cooked on both sides, BEFORE the filling is added. I have a long running dispute with San Francisco Ferry bldg crepe people who don’t want to flip the crepe before filling, resulting in raw buckwheat in the center, not good. Some of the servers are French, so they really can’t argue when I show them a photo from a French market! After that headed back home for a regroup then over to the Bourse museum for a dose of modern art. This was the old financial exchange building that Pinault spent vast amount to remodel and turn into a museum. I’ll let you be the judge of the “art” as I just don’t get it. Many of the installations look like someone’s messy attic or bedroom. Also headed over to the Tower of St Jacque, supposed to open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am-17:00. In typical French fashion they neglected to mention that of those seven hours they are actually closed for 2 of them for lunch!! So, wasn’t going to stand around for an hour waiting. Off to Le Baron Rouge for some oysters and a glass. That was probably not the best decision as at least one of the 6 oysters is not agreeing with me. Powering charcoal caps and going to bed early! In a rather unique business model, every Sunday is very crowded, so the close at 4:00pm and send everyone on their way…..Can’t understand why.