My brother, the blogger

Introducing my (much older) brother Gary's travel blog:

GaryGoesSomewhere.blogspot.com

He and his family are headed to Italy. Feel free to follow if you'd like.

Olympic recap day 03

This is the Yaletown Subway entrance/exit. I think you can count about ten volunteers in the blue Olympic parka. They are waiting for people to come up and ask them questions. The most amazing thing about Vancouver was the volunteers. On every corner, at every turn, twice as many as you'd expect, all giving freely of their time to make sure the guests of their city had the best possible experience. When you watch the closing ceremonies, and the representatives of the Vancouver Volunteers is presented, take note of the deafening roar of the crowd. It was certainly heartfelt by the 60,000 guests inside GM Place that night.

Day 03 in Vancouver for the final Winter Olympic weekend. It's a bit fuzzy. Mostly, everyone was trying to firm up exactly where they were going to be on Sunday for the big US versus Canada Men's Gold Medal Hockey game. In the midst of that, we toured. The friends that Mikka was staying with had been given last minute tickets to the Gold Medal Curling game. Mikka called to say she was on her own and would we like to see her? Hell yes!

So we met downtown and went for coffee. Then we caught the subway one stop to Yaletown and headed for the LiveCity venue. Mikka claimed to have connections to someone who offered to get her (us) in ahead of the lengthy line.

We got there and the line wasn't nearly as long as it had been on other days. Was it wrong to be disappointed that we were only cutting ahead of a half hour line instead of getting to feel superior for cutting ahead of a three hour line? Please note, Mikka's commitment to the hat. Once the hat is on, all photos for the rest of the day will be with "the hat".

Mikka's connection, Roy, came through and we were sent through with ease. When Mikka asked him what he was in charge of at LiveCity, he gave a sweep of his hand and said, "All this." We were duly impressed.

I want a BEAVER TAIL!
(pssssssstttt.... it's a big flat doughnut)

Roy gave us a brief tour and told us that the Coca-Cola tent was probably the longest line to go through. He said he would see what he could do, and found a Coke representative to see about getting us in "VIP". As the Coke representative radioed their boss, Mikka interrupted, "Are you asking for Dave _____? Does he have a twin brother? Tell him it's Mikka! We went to High School together!"

And that is how our VIP experience in the Coca-Cola tent came to pass.
Coke has sponsored the torch relay since 1992. In the entryway they showcased torches of previous Olympics. On the far left is Vancouver, next to it is Beijing, the blue one to the right is Torino and the last one at the far right is Athens.

This is what Coca-Cola employees wore at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988 to work in the Coke pavilion. You may not be able to tell the boots are shiny silver, and the pants are a sparkling red. The hat, is not optional.

Inside the tent is a whirlwind of Coke propaganda and Olympic spirit. As we waited in line, Canada won a gold medal. A Siren/Horn wailed and my first thought was, "Tsunami! Run for higher ground!!!" But then the giant Coke bottle in the center of the room turned glowing gold, the event finale was projected all over the roof of the tent, announcements were made and the party kicked off!

At last we make our way to the front of the line and it's our turn to touch an Olympic torch!

Two gay guys and a girl with a big prop, official photographer, how will we ever stand out and make this photo our own?

Good Morning Charlie's Angels!

We left LiveCity and walked along False Creek toward the Russian Pavilion. Across the water was the athlete's village.

You can see flags on the balconies to give you an idea of who was staying where.

I was having major deja-vu on the walk. This was the former Expo "86 grounds. I spent almost every day here on this site way back when. I thought it funny that two completely distinct, international events could happen in the same spot and give me so much joy. As I walked, I flashed between current moment and 1986. Things have changed (I can buy more that a McDonald's ice cream cone for dinner for 39 cents), and things are the same (I have the best most amazing friends!).

The Russia Pavilion was closed by the time we got there, so we doubled back to the Quebec tent. We ducked in to get warm, get dry, get a snack.

Mikka still working "the Hat"!

Maple syrup butter tarts with whipped cream.
I wish I'd bought the whole tray!

We parted way so everyone could re-group, have a real meal and meet again for the fireworks finale at LiveCity. Roy had been kind enough to give us VIP passes to return with later that night. I love Roy.

While Robb and Lewis took a much needed rest, I hauled ass back to the cauldron and my elusive view of the "Five Golden Rings"! It was 7:30, it was dark, no umbrella or woman was going to stand in my way.

Simply gorgeous.

We went for dinner with friends where I learned that all businesses had to receive their shipments between 6 am and 11 am. Most restaurants weren't normally staffed those hours and had to bring on additional help. The businesses weren't complaining. They were all full!

David, Mark, Me, Robb and Lewis.

We walked down to LiveCity and went past what felt like Time's Square on New Year's Eve. MASSES OF PEOPLE lining every sidewalk, street, balcony all waiting to see tonight's final fireworks show over False Creek. We raced to the back VIP entrance and walked right in. As we gave our passes, the woman checking them asked for our names to go with each ticket. I reached for my wallet to give her my ID. "Oh not that. Just your name. SO when you want to use them tomorrow, you won't have any problems." Tomorrow? "Yes, these are good for either LiveCity venue tomorrow as well."

And BANG! Just like that we had in our hands the golden tickets to get into one of the hottest venues for Gold Medal Hockey in the city!

LiveCity, from day... into night.

As if the night couldn't get any better, we were about to watch a fabulous fireworks show!!!

Olympic recap Day 02

Every good day begins with a even better cup of coffee. On Day 2 Robb and I bolted out of the house at 11 am. I love sleeping. We walked past the Bay's Official Olympic Superstore. Or rather, we walked past the Bay Official Olympic Superstore line to get in. Over a block long and rumored to be from 2 to 3 hours wait time. All just to get in and give them money. I'm a savvy shopper and will only wait half an hour. So we went for coffee.

There were many foreign pavilions and and cultural houses to see in the city. Robb knows me best and we immediately hit the most important places to see in Olympic town, shopping. We started at Holt Renfrew (the Neiman's of the North) and then H&M (Robb, you better have purchased new jeans by now) then Gucci. You know, to round out the internationalness of it all.
We did manage near the end of the day to capture some Olympic magic. Robb and Graham are holding an official Olympic torch. If you look closely in the background you may be able to see Catherine and I ready to start our bobsled race!

As we toured town, the clock was ticking to our actual Olympic event. This would be the Men's Hockey match between Canada and the Czech Republic. Canada had to win this game to move forward to win Hockey Gold. Mikka's friend Tanya & Derek had a bar in Gastown they were meeting a gang of people. These venues would fill up quickly. We were told to be by 4:45 for a 6:30 game. Derek & Tanya got there at 3.

Historic Gastown was decked out in all things Red & White.

So much to buy, so little I needed.

Mind you, I did manage to grab a "Canada" T-shirt so I could fit in like a native.

Derek wins the prize for best Canadian shirt of the night!

After the game ended (Canada won and advanced to the Gold medal round!), we made our way down the street to the German Haus. A culture envoy from the people of German to the people of Vancouver. Rumor has it that after the first 5 days they had run out of beer and had to send back to Germany for reinforcements. Canadians definitely love their "culture".

Tanya's best photo of the night with Mikka.
Your eyes are open!!!

The mood inside was über-celebratory and the beer was undeniably tasty.

The band on stage played mostly 80's music and added that German twist of an Oom-pa-pa swing to it.

Nearing midnight, we left Germany and walked over to see the Olympic Cauldron and off in Coal Harbour, the Olympic rings. It was slightly raining and everyone had their umbrellas up. I kept waiting and waiting to line up my perfect shot of the gorgeous golden rings, then I snapped my photo.
BLUE? They were gold a second ago! "Oh, it must be midnight," someone said as they looked at their watch. And then it was explained to me that the rings are blue unless Canada wins a gold medal that day in competition. Then the rings change to gold and remain that way until midnight. Curse you umbrella lady in my way! You'll only outwit me once!

Then we paused in front of the Olympic torch.

Pretty stunning.

Cathy got her photo taken with it.

So did Mikka.

I think we all knew that was going to wind up on my head sooner than later.

Olympic recap begins.... NOW!

Let's launch this blog post into outer space!

Forgive me Blogger, it's been over a week since I have written anything. I've been overwhelmed.

It's not that I took a 6 day tour of the Great White North, or that I have all this work to do. Nor is it that my parent in-laws are visiting. My problem is that I am still trying to process everything I saw and did at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. And what I am slowly realizing is... that it's impossible.

There is no way to explain the level of hype and expectations that I was feeling just getting on the airplane. No way to share how those astronomical expectations were EXCEEDED. When they tell you it is a "once in a lifetime" experience... BELIEVE IT.

Although I hope not. Because the Olympics are like crack, now that I've had that high, I am going to be chasing it for the rest of my life. I think this explains why all those athletes come out of retirement, participate in spite of broken bones, or hang on well after their moment may have passed. I get it. I need it. Now I too, am an Olympic Junkie.

We join our Olympic tale at midnight the night before I am going to Vancouver. My flight is at 6 am. I will need to be in a cab (no way Lyle is driving me at the time of day) at 4 am. I will need to shower at 3:30 am. I normally go to be around 2 am. Screw it, I'm staying up. And that is how I arrived giddy, and punch drunk at the customs and immigration counter in the Vancouver Airport. I've been awake for 38 hours. My flying companion, Mikka, sensibly got 5 hours of sleep. She is so wired, you'd never know.At the baggage claim carousel, there are TVs showing Olympic coverage. While waiting for our bags, Canada wins a gold! The entire airport staff and all Canadians in the waiting area erupt into a joyful cheer. I've never seen such a friendly, joyful, smiling airport in my entire life. Olympic Fever crack, the first hit is free.

Driving into the city everything is red and white. Normally there are a lot of Canadian logos that utilize red and white. But this? This is different. Yards have signs, flags are flying everywhere, block after block of store windows have Canadian flags draped elegantly, hastily, crooked, repeatedly. This land of polite people seems to have found a pride that no longer hides. Olympic Fever makes me giddy.

On the street, there is red and white on all the people. My Gucci scarf of grey, green and red seems out of fashion immediately. Lucky for me, my advance team has warned me and I have packed a vibrant full red scarf. I change scarfs before we get to my friends home. "Bienvenue, Canada! Je suis Canadian, aussi!" my scarf cries out in French, because of course as any good Canadian scarf would tell you, he is bilingual.

My scarf is also very respectful of the native arts, pausing to pose in front of these official sanctioned blow up totem poles with LED lights.

Our first Olympic act was to get to a viewing venue to watch the Women's Hockey Gold Medal game. We walked toward LiveCity downtown and the line was a shockingly short at only 30 minutes to get in. We met a friend of Robb's, Ben, who told us that he heard there were seats available at the gay sports bar Score! a few blocks away. We left the line and high-tailed it over to the Sports bar. There were two seats, outside, on the smaller unheated patio. We were three people. We squeezed in. We arrived and the score was already 2-0 in Canada's favor. Clock running out on the third period and... Canada wins the GOLD!

The volume on this is VERY LOUD.

The volume on this is VERY LOUD.

Thank god I was outside. I was stunned. I was overcome. These people are nuts! Inside, it was crazier. All that noise all that testosterone (quite a few lesbians in attendance) and all that joy forced to live inside a square box. Unbelievable.

The locals had been doing this for almost two weeks at this point. I asked a few people how they were managing to keep going after two weeks of this kind of energy? Most everyone agreed, PURE ADRENALINE.

After dinner we walked the two blocks from Robb & Lewis's house to Robson Square. A fantastical light show was performed here twice a night. The bright orange blasts in the video are fire. From a block away you could feel the heat on your face. There was a zip-line across the sky spanning two blocks. By day, you could wait four hours in a line-up to pay and take the 10 second ride over the crowds. By night, they added another dimension to the light show. Watch in the first half for the skier in the sky!

We caught the first light show at Robson Square because we had plans for later. We were watching a different fireworks show 10 blocks away! Robb's friend Ben hooked us up with a 15 stories high skybox views in a condo next to the launch site with floor to ceiling windows.
The lighted village on the lower right is "LiveCity" on False Creek. The two small blue rectangles to the front of it are the stage. About 5000 people fit in front of the stage. The red and white square in LiveCity is the Coca-Cola pavilion. We'll see that in a later post.

Donna and I are working our "Italian Super-Model on the ski slopes" look with our skinny jeans tucked into our boots. It may not have been snowing in Vancouver, but I promise you, it was definitely cold enough for my silver puffy. (Keep in mind, I wore my silver puffy coat to walk the dogs here in Los Angeles two nights ago as well.)

And so, after being awake about 40 hours in a row, we made our way home to sleep. Tomorrow promised to be another banner Olympic Fever day and I was going to need my full 6 hours of rest!

I'm Cold!

It's cold and raining in Los Angeles.

Screw this weather.

I'm out of here.

Meet me over here:

See ya' Tuesday.

Looking backwards at September

I've been so busy, I didn't have a chance to mention my trip to New York.

Fine, I'm lying. I went on a trip to New Jersey. But I did manage to snag about 20 hours in Manhattan at the end.

Lyle got unexpectedly sent to New Jersey for work. Our planned pleasant weekend at home together got the boot and he flew off to New Jersey on a Thursday morning. On Friday I was lamenting that I missed him and was "not digging being home alone". So he said, "Get on a plane."

Right. Like I'm gonna' find a house and dog sitter for the weekend, buy a ticket to fly on the same day, pack, ditch work and fly over five hours... all for the opportunity to stay near a convention center in New Jersey?

It must have sounded better than that, because I got it all organized in under half an hour.

Friday night I went to a friend's birthday party with my luggage in my trunk. After the party I drove to LAX and boarded a plane at midnight. I arrived in New Jersey at 8 am.

You know how sometimes stuff happens in your life and you say out loud, "I just want my mom." Well, stuff had been going on in my life and it turns out, "I just wanted my husband." It was a lovely thing to notice.

The convention in Edison, New Jersey was less than stellar (and so was the nearest mall). I felt like I had been locked inside a low rider boom box bass unit for 8 hours at a time. The cast of characters that passed by was the land that time in front of a mirror had forgot. I won't immortalize it here. I don't want to remember it.

But we had a good time. Lyle and I. We had a good time because we were together. And we had a good time because for our last night in New Jersey, we moved into Manhattan. We had dinner out with two stellar people that we never get to see, then walked around SoHo at midnight. We woke up in one of our favorite cities the next morning, and had lunch with another beautiful friend. I may have been in the wrong place (Edison New Jersey convention center) but I was with the right person.

We came back to the hotel one night to find this tour bus parked out front. I think this would be a brilliant business model.

We ate at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill. We had the coconut cake.
THE coconut cake.
OMG. Delicious!

We had a chance to walk the newest park in Manhattan, the Highline. It's an old elevated railway that nature had taken over. They kept seeds from all the plants that had thrived here before they turned it into a park, and once the park was completed returned the seeds to the soil. Its an amazing space.

Can you believe it!? There they go again, using my body without my head. It's all a ploy to get around paying me my royalties.

THIS, is how it's supposed to look!

Our last fleeting shot of NYC. Meatpacking district, just under the Highline park (up there on the right), pretty sky.

Well, Google me!

A long time ago, like in January, we were trying to get home from Las Vegas. Without warning the freeway from Las Vegas to Los Angeles was shut at the Nevada/California border. I'm going to skip over all that ensued and just go to the part where we take a remote side highway through Searchlight and towards Needles, after which we will rejoin the highway we should've been on all along.

So there we are basically NO WHERE and we see a really odd car ahead in the distance. What the hell is that? As we get closer and closer it really doesn't get much more obvious. Then when we are finally nearly on top of it I see the bumper sticker that says, Google.

OH MY GOD! IT'S THE GOOGLE MAP CAR!!!!

I beg Lyle to slow down so I can get my camera out and snap this photo:That's the camera stuff all up top taking photos all around, all the time.

We drive by and wave and smile. The driver gives a wave and feeble smile. I'm guessing he gets waved at a lot. Hopefully all the waves are as nice as ours.

CLICK HERE to see me taking the photo!

Periodically I check in on the road in the middle of NO WHERE and see if they have the photos up. Today I hit pay dirt.


You probably can't tell, but that car is COMPLETELY full in the back.

Signs of travel

Some of my favorite signs or ads from Paris.Every little boy dreams of staging their own opera. Wait a minute Jean-Timmy, are those all of mommy's Bic lighters at the front of your stage? I told you not to play with fire again!

What a happy pig to be cooked in a pot!

This piggy is ROUND, with square edges.

This goose is proud to be your stuffed liver.

translation: it is stupid to have badly
Stoopid monkey.

Paris, the finale.

On our final full day in Paris it was no obvious that Spring had arrived. The Place des Vosges behind out hotel had been all sticks on trees when we arrived and 9 days later was fluffed out in feathery leaves to welcome the sun. I was all ready to unfurl and enjoy myself as well but since this was out LAST DAY IN PARIS I was going to have to PANIC.

We all went out to breakfast together and then scattered across the city to accomplish our tasks. For Lyle and I we wanted to go to Au Bon Marche. (I had worked at The Bon Marche in Washington state and I highly doubted this store in Paris had even a remote connection. Once inside, I was proven correct.)

Le Bon Marché was the first department store ever created in Paris. Designed by Gustav Eiffel (of the Eiffel Tower) and opened in 1852. Today it is reknown for "La Grande Épicerie de Paris" a grocery department that offers you over 5000 different products, selected from around the world. From hard-to-find bottle of mineral water from Wales, jams made by a French artisan, or an exquisite tomato sauce from Naples! What you can't find anywhere else, you will find there. The spanish ham's corner has the best spanish ham in Paris. If you are a gourmet you should visit Le Bon Marché.

But oh, what a delight it was. We started in the food department. We also finished in the food department. In between we darted into the clothing, but really, the food, the food, the food!

Unending macaroons.

Check out the millefeuilles (Napoleons), they are on their sides!

And they tasted AMAZING...

This picture was taken just for Lewis Boscolo:
Look Lewis, Nutella BIGGER THAN YOUR HEAD!

After an exhausting day of shopping, shopping, shopping (and buying very little) we met up with our friend from Los Angeles, who works now in Manhattan, but had come to Paris for the weekend because he had just finished a trade show in Switzerland. Anyway, we met up with Ricky.

Ricky had agreed to go on the grand hotels of Paris bar tour with Lyle and I. Since there were a few to conquer we had decided to start at 4 pm.
The Hotel Raphael is just off Etoile de Charles de Gaulle (the traffic circle that has the Arc du Triomphe in the center). Lyle's printed guide told us that this hotel is considered THE hotel to have an affair in. Romantic, grand style and off the beaten path.

The Raphael Hotel is quite extraordinary - even by Parisian standards. The high-profile glamour at the Raphael is transformed into a haven of discreet charm and singular luxury. The hotel's history (built in 1925) is rich with the devotion of the world's great figures in literature, cinema, music and politics - and has included such luminous personalities as Marlon Brando, Katherine Hepburn and Jack Kennedy. The Raphael's magnificent gallery-lobby is decorated with wooden wall panels and period paintings (including an original Turner). As for relaxation and dining, there is the club-like English Bar, offering deep sofas and red velvet, and roof-top dining (from May to October) at Jardins Plein Ciel, providing panoramic views of the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Sacre-Coeur.

We were hoping the rooftop bar would be open, but alas it was not.
We sat in The English Bar and had a a drink.

I was on a complete champagne kick.

We finished our cocktails and caught a cab. from the Raphael to our next destination to us right through Etoile de Charles de Gaulle. 12 roads feed into the giant traffic circle which can accommodate 10 cars abreast.
As horrified as I would be to drive through all this myself, I am always happy to let someone else (like a taxi driver) lead us through. As it happened, there was a ceremony taking place at the Arc.

We arrived at our next grand hotel, The Bristol.

This classic palace hotel opened its five-star doors in 1925. Guests entering the vast chandelier-filled lobby are here primarily to enjoy the sheer grandeur of the place. This is a world of white and pink marble, where gilded glass cabinets display expensive French perfumes and Cartier watches. Take the antique lift and admire the metal grillework designed by the Jewish architect Lerman who went into hiding here during the Second World War. The atmosphere is suitably formal: at the award-winning bar, dare to drape your coat over the arm of one of its plush sofas and one of the maids, dressed in classic black and white uniforms, is sure to disappear it into the cloakroom. The atmosphere is also suitably French: take afternoon tea in the bar on a Saturday and you can enjoy a fashion show with your tisane.

I don't even know what some of the words in that explanation mean. Tisane?* What I do know is the champagne here was fabulous! Not to mention complimentary snacks... which we probably paid for with the cost of that champagne.

(*tisane is an herbal infusion made from anything other than the leaves of the tea bush)

My new purple sweater! This color was in EVERY store window. It's the must have color for Paris for Spring. Go, get yours right now.

Two bars down (and the Mercier a few days earlier) and we were more than halfway through our tour. Time for dinner.
We met Christine and Richard at the Royal Madeleine near the Place Madeleine. It is described as "A typical Parisian Bistro, chic and warm, very close to the Madeleine plaza, honoring traditional French cuisine. The ambiance is very 1900’s."

Since this was our final night, I went ahead and had my final foie gras.

Lyle had the white asparagus.

Carol Merrill showcases her pig foot.

And Lyle had... uh, something. Something he told me I didn't want a bite of. Something he told me I didn't want to know about. And so far, I have no idea what it is. If you do, please don't tell me.
He did day it was delicious.

Time for fussy coffee and small desserts and (heavy sigh) our last meal in Paris is over.

Richard and Christine were not up to out continued grand bar tour. So far they had managed to not go and see the Eiffel Tower up close, only from afar. I begged Richard and Christine to stop on their way home. They humored me and went near, but apparently not close. We all agreed it really was a good way to guarantee that you HAVE to return to Paris in the future. Leave one thing undone.

Lyle, Ricky and I forged ahead and went to The Ritz.

The Place Vendôme at night, in front of the Ritz.

The Hôtel Ritz is a hotel located at 15 Place Vendôme, in the heart of Paris, France. It is one of the most prestigious and luxurious hotels in the world and is one of the seven Parisian palaces recognized by The Leading Hotels of the World organization. Established in 1898, it is the oldest Ritz Hotel in the world. The hotel became a favorite of many of the world's wealthiest people, with luxurious suites named for some of its notable patrons from the past. These include Ernest Hemingway, for whom a bar in the hotel was named, and couturier Coco Chanel who made the Ritz her home for more than thirty years.

The hallway leading back to Bar Hemingway is long. About a block long. It goes from the front of the hotel to the back of the hotel which is the other side of the block. The hallway is lined with glass cases displaying all of the Paris finery you could ever want, and more.

That man in the picture is about halfway down the hall.

Ricky gets his horns on in the Hemingway Bar.

Papa Hemingway watches you from every picture on the walls.

We left by way of the back door this time, it was so close to the street! And voilá, there we were, at CHANEL. How convenient that must have been for dear Coco. It was about 30 steps from the Ritz door the Chanel door.

I think we look like two sexy stewardesses on a layover.

We walked down to Place de la Concorde and returned to our favorite grand hotel the Crillon.
The final views of the Eiffel Tower lit up the night. And the bar felt like a comfortable slipper to lull ourselves to sleep in. Basically I'm telling you that we arrived and it was packed full and after two or three champagnes, we closed the place, second to last people to leave.

We walked Ricky back towards his hotel and we walked by Madeleine.

When construction of the church started in 1764, the plans made by architect Pierre Constant d'Ivry called for a design similar to that of the Invalides church. When d'Ivry died in 1777 his designs were dismissed by his successor, Guillome-Martin Couture. He decided to raze the unfinished building and start with a new design, this time based on the Panthéon. Construction halted during the French Revolution until 1806 when Napoleon decided to build a temple in honor of his army. He appointed Pierre-Alexandre Vignon who razed the structure yet again and started with the construction of a temple based on the 'Maison Carrée', an ancient Roman temple in Nîmes. Finally in 1842 the building was consecrated as a church which it still is today.

This is another place we had seen from afar but never walked around. How on Earth did we ever get around this city without stumbling across this? and the most amazing thing is just sitting there (closed now as it is nighttime) Fauchon.

At place de la Madeleine stands one of the city's most popular sights -- not the church, but Fauchon, a hyper-upscale mega-delicatessen that thrives within a city famous for its finicky eaters. It's divided into three divisions that include an épicerie (for jams, crackers, pastas, and exotic canned goods); a pâtissier (for breads, pastries, and chocolates); and a traiteur (for cheeses, terrines, pâtés, caviar, and fruits). Prices are steep, but the inventories -- at least to serious foodies -- are fascinating.

And there we stood with out noses literally pressed up against the glass... wishing we had ONE MORE DAY.

We kept going around the square and came across the Baccarat showroom. Wow, their windows were stunning.

And then like all good dreams, it came to an end. We left Ricky and returned to our hotel to sleep. I had packed us all up the afternoon before and we had reserved our cab for early in the morning. Only one catch...
The Paris marathon was on that day. We were in the center of the course and the police weren't letting ANY cars in or out. We knew about the marathon, that's why we had reserved a cab the night before. We had also built in an extra half hour for extra traffic troubles. But as the hotel staff valiantly tried to find us ANY car that was inside our circle of doom the minutes ticked away. After 45 minutes of tense waiting, Lyle ran up the street to see if he could just hail a cab. There he found a cab the hotel had called trying to argue his way past the police blocking the end of our street. He ran back shouted at us all to MOVE and off we tore, wheeled luggage filled with precious champagne bottles, bouncing down the cobblestone sidewalk.

I'm pleased to say, we made it the airport with time to spare, we just had to shop duty-free a little quicker than I would have liked.

Flying home over the white cliffs of Dover, Great Britain.