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.

Started the day meeting up with David and Colleen for coffee, then they were off back to Seattle. I decided to do a field trip and took the RER A out to the Ile des Impressioniste. This was where Renoir did many paintings. It was windy and rainy, I chased my hat across a bridge and 4 lanes of traffic, and amazingly nobody ran it over, so it, a little worse for wear, I got it back. Walked around a little and ended up at the classic Maison Fournaise, with a lovely Lobster Bisque followed by a mushroom risotto. With rainy and very windy weather, I headed to the Bastille and found a nearby place on Rue de Lappe for Pho. Then back to Le Bucheron, my local where I get a warm reception. I bought a nice bottle of Gigondas from a local wine shop and you would have thought it was Christmas. This was shared with the owner and his mother and two other friends. All in all a fine low key evening.

Today I did a grand tour for Colleen and David who only had one day to see the sights. Here’s what we did: Coffee at Back in Black, walk to Marche d‘Aligre, Metro to Trocadero for Eiffel Tower pictures, then metro to Champs Elysees then Gallery Lafayette, roof top and tour of store, walk past Opera Garnier. Lunch at Le Grand Colbert. Walk to Louvre, pictures with pyramid. Back for nap. Then bus to St. Sulpice, church, then walk through Luxembourg gardens, then tapas at L’Avant Comptoir du Mer, Wine at les Editeurs and then charcuterie at Deux Magots. All in all a pretty full day for a one day Paris tour! 16,600 steps!

Low key day to day. Walk through of the Bastille market, then off to Marche d’Aligre, coffee at Early Bird. Lunch at Vietnamese place that was good. Then regroup and off to Distillerie du Viaduc for an Earful Tower event, followed by meeting Seattle friends David and Colleen for dinner.

After running around like crazy yesterday, I needed a little bit slower day today, but it still ended up being quite busy. Woke up early and went over to the storage space, that Linda, our secretary, has rented for the Fractional. It is about a10 minute walk around the corner. Noticed that the Synagogue about 2 buildings up from us was guarded by 4 serious looking soldiers with Automatic rifles. Later in the day the road would be blocked to cars. Multiple Airports in France got bomb threats today so they were closed. After making sure I could get into our storage unit and storing my walking poles, grabbed a bus over to the Orsay where there is an interesting Van Gogh exhibit. With my membership card, I skipped the line and was right in at 9:15am. Unfortunately they apparently let some guides and tour groups in so there were multiple clusters of people with talky guides, oh well. Great collection of paintings. After a quick run through of that, back on the bus to the Rodin museum for a walk through the garden. They had some truly disturbing exhibit of bodies suspended from the ceiling. Still not sure what that was about. After that walked over to Rue Cler to see if I’d bump in to Rick Steves. Then another bus ride to Montparnasse, where the Relais de L’entercote actually didn’t have a line. This restaurant only does one steak and fries and a salad and that’s it. It was good and they bring you seconds whether you ask for them or not! After that back home to regroup and then to Le Hibou by Odeon to meet up with some people. LM from HNL came by to say hi, and some of us ended up next door at Breizh for a pastrami Galette. Raining all afternoon, but fairly warm.

I booked a train round trip to Reims last night before going to sleep and it went pretty well. By booking the direct train, it was about 47 minutes each direction from Gare de L‘Est. Reims was much bigger than I expected and seemed like a very nice town. There is a good main drag of restaurants, then a great cathedral, and a large covered market. Unfortunately, Tuesday is not a market day. After some exploration I ended up with an excellent lunch menu of vegetable potage and fish with risotto. Tried a little champagne with it. Then I had heard that Pommery had great tunnels, so took a 20 minute bus ride out to the caves. Mainly full of modern art, not really much discussion about the champagne making process, and offered a glass of champagne with the admission, but no real tasting process. Other Champagne houses all over the town, unfortunately often closed or by appointment. Really didn’t find much champagne on offer other than at local cafes and at places selling stuff. They were largely closed during the time frame I had to deal with. Never the less a nice town and I would gladly go back for another visit.