France: Brittany and Normandy 2018

The $153 hotel room included breakfast that had the best variety of food of our trip. Unfortunately, if you wanted an egg you had to wait on a long line to boil it yourself, we passed that up. The coffee machines were amazing! You push a button and you could have American coffee, cappuccino, latte, espresso or a double espresso. After breakfast we took a 4.5 mi walk passing the École Militaire, a school created in the 18th century to train young cadets for the royal army. Napoléon Bonaparte attended this school in 1784. We passed the Dôme des Invalides, Napoléon's Tomb that also houses the military museum. We ended up at the foot of the Eiffel tower, still an amazing site by day. We continued our way through the Champ de Mars, a park stretching a kilometer from the foot of the Eiffel Tower to the École Militaire. We retrieved our car from the hotel's garage for $50 bringing our 1 night stay in Paris to $203. C’est la vie! We left for the airport, 4 hours before our flight's departure and needed ever bit of that time. We had to survive another terrifying ride through Paris and than search for the rent-a-car return. This was achieved by circling the airport twice. We departed the garage and searched out our terminal and Level Airline. Level flights did not appear on the departure board, of course. We could not find their check-in desk and had to walk 3 blocks dragging our bags to the information desk who directed us to Level's location. We had to drag our bags all the way back to where we had started and then some. Level told us we had to wait 4o min to check our bags so they could finish checking-in their current flight. Finally, at the check-in Jim had to pay $70 to check his giant bag, I took my bag as a carry-on. After check-in, we stood on the Custom’s line for over an hour and then stood in the security line for another half hour. Three out of our four bags failed the security check and had to be opened and searched. Next, we needed to locate our gate. After three hours and 15 min we could sit back, go to the restroom and have ourselves a picnic lunch and were even able to order a glass of wine. Now all we had to do was board the plane and sit on it for 8 hours. Jim said the flight home was the best he had ever experienced. We were even able to order food and wine on this flight. Touch down, time to stand around in lines again and wait for Custom’s and baggage. Finally, bags in hand we called my daughter Christine to give us a lift to her home where our car was parked, 15 min away. We drove 35 min to our home. Ah! 'Home Sweet Home' with 1350 photos, a giant bag that will never be used again and two tired travelers who would turn around and do it all over again (maybe, give us a few days). 'Au Revoir'.

Patricia Simpson

15 chapters

16 Apr 2020

15 Paris Day 2

October 14, 2018

The $153 hotel room included breakfast that had the best variety of food of our trip. Unfortunately, if you wanted an egg you had to wait on a long line to boil it yourself, we passed that up. The coffee machines were amazing! You push a button and you could have American coffee, cappuccino, latte, espresso or a double espresso. After breakfast we took a 4.5 mi walk passing the École Militaire, a school created in the 18th century to train young cadets for the royal army. Napoléon Bonaparte attended this school in 1784. We passed the Dôme des Invalides, Napoléon's Tomb that also houses the military museum. We ended up at the foot of the Eiffel tower, still an amazing site by day. We continued our way through the Champ de Mars, a park stretching a kilometer from the foot of the Eiffel Tower to the École Militaire. We retrieved our car from the hotel's garage for $50 bringing our 1 night stay in Paris to $203. C’est la vie! We left for the airport, 4 hours before our flight's departure and needed ever bit of that time. We had to survive another terrifying ride through Paris and than search for the rent-a-car return. This was achieved by circling the airport twice. We departed the garage and searched out our terminal and Level Airline. Level flights did not appear on the departure board, of course. We could not find their check-in desk and had to walk 3 blocks dragging our bags to the information desk who directed us to Level's location. We had to drag our bags all the way back to where we had started and then some. Level told us we had to wait 4o min to check our bags so they could finish checking-in their current flight. Finally, at the check-in Jim had to pay $70 to check his giant bag, I took my bag as a carry-on. After check-in, we stood on the Custom’s line for over an hour and then stood in the security line for another half hour. Three out of our four bags failed the security check and had to be opened and searched. Next, we needed to locate our gate. After three hours and 15 min we could sit back, go to the restroom and have ourselves a picnic lunch and were even able to order a glass of wine. Now all we had to do was board the plane and sit on it for 8 hours. Jim said the flight home was the best he had ever experienced. We were even able to order food and wine on this flight. Touch down, time to stand around in lines again and wait for Custom’s and baggage. Finally, bags in hand we called my daughter Christine to give us a lift to her home where our car was parked, 15 min away. We drove 35 min to our home. Ah! 'Home Sweet Home' with 1350 photos, a giant bag that will never be used again and two tired travelers who would turn around and do it all over again (maybe, give us a few days). 'Au Revoir'.

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