Paris At Last!

Yesterday was a travel day, and you know how those are...even the best ones are stressful and tiring! Last night I had no wifi, so no blog. Tonight I'll try to cover two very busy days in one blog. Here goes: The day started well on Monday as we made our way to the Copenhagen airport. We arrived in plenty of time, which was to be a blessing. (I just know Tom and Brian are shaking their heads and saying, "See? See? It pays to be early so that when The Horrible Thing happens, you have time to fix it.")

I checked in and was waiting for Beth and Charlotte to finish their check-in and join me. I waited, and waited, and waited, and then realized that something was wrong. What was wrong is that Air France now has a 20 kilo baggage limit per person. Not a per bag limit, a per person limit. And Charlotte, having spent four months in Denmark, was quite a bit over that limit, and the airline was going to charge her 300 and some dollars each way. So $600 plus, when a passenger ticket was about $200. After standing in the check-in line for twenty minutes or so, they were told they had to go to another counter to pay the fine. At the other counter, my sister told the man, "We don't even need to take the stupid bag and I don't want to pay $600 to take it! I won't have any money left to spend in Paris!" So the guy said, "Well, maybe you could store it with the lost luggage, down the hall. But you only have ten minutes to either store it, or get it on the plane, so you better hurry." Charlotte frantically repacked her bag so she had all she needed, leaving her books and souvenirs in the bag we would leave behind. She and I then ran down the hall, found the storage place and left the bag, ran back to the check-in counter so that Beth could check the one bag, which was now under the weight. We then collapsed in a heap (figuratively speaking), sweaty and nerve-wracked, and went to our gate where the plane was already boarding. A little too much excitement before lunch. But at least the rest of the day seemed smooth by comparison!

Our flight went well, taxi ride to the hotel went well, and we even had time to stop at a cafe for tea and coffee before meeting Jeanne at her work at 6:00, as she was leaving. We got to go with her to pick Juliet up from the daycare center. It was great to see the daycare center, and meet the very caring young woman who cares for Juliet during the week. But, oh my, seeing Juliet again was incredible. I have been thinking about her every day, but here she is, in the flesh, so to speak, and she has changed so much, and grown so much, that she's like a different baby girl. She is fatter (in a good way), and more responsive, and she smiles more and she laughs now!! She holds her head up and her eyes follow movement much better, and her hands reach for things and grasp things, and oh my goodness, she's just changing every day and I don't like missing that!

Juliet likes her bath now; she doesn't scream at all, in fact she splashes a little bit and seems to enjoy the feel of the water on her skin. She doesn't stare at the mobile over her diaper changing place; she looks instead at the face of the person doing the change. When she takes the medicine for her reflux symptoms, she starts making a face as soon as she sees the tube of medicine. Then she does an artful job of pushing the offending medication out of her mouth with her tongue. She has a few tiny baby books, and she reaches for the pages and seems to be trying to turn them, although this could just be the opinion of her doting parents and grandparents. Grandpere Jean said, "Look! She can read!" So we might be a little overboard.

We had a lovely dinner with Jeanne, Matthew and Juliet Monday night, and we stayed late talking with them. Consequently, we didn't get up very early this morning. We went to breakfast after 10:00 and got a bit of a late start on the day. We made up for it, though. Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe, always my choice for the first thing to do in Paris. First of all, it's a very neat monument. Secondly, from the top one can see all of Paris, the avenues radiating out from the Arc like spokes. Seeing Paris from up there always makes me want to jump right in and go exploring in this fabulous city.

We set off down the Champs Elysees, stopping to glance in a few of the elite shop windows. We went to the Grand Palais and peeked in at the beautiful art deco glass roof. The exhibit there was closed on Tuesday. Across the street at the Petit Palais, there was an Yves St. Laurent exhibit, and the line was so long we didn't even get in it. We just continued our walk down the Champs Elysees, to the Place de la Concorde, with the Egyptian obelisk and beautiful fountains. Only one fountain of the two was working; in fact, most of the fountains were not working. It seems they should be working already, as there are lots of tourists around!

By this time we needed a rest stop for lunch, and we chose Angelina so Charlotte could have their world-famous hot chocolate. Charlotte and I ordered lunch, and then pastries, and Beth was smart enough to just choose coffee and a pastry. By the time we left we were all on a sugar high. We walked through the Tuileries gardens on our way to the metro, arriving back at the hotel with enough time to rest, shower, and leave for dinner with Jeanne's family and a few friends. The dinner was a sort of surprise birthday party for Matthew, arranged by Jeanne so that we could be there, too.

We had a wonderful evening with family, friends, good conversation in French and English, great food and a lot of smiles all around. I am happy; I am in Paris, the weather is beautiful, my granddaughter is brilliant, the wifi is working, and tomorrow will be another day full of adventures.