And Then We Came Home

Last I left you, my dad was snoozing away and we were planning to go out on a river boat cruise on the Seine River later that evening. Since he was snoring, I decided to go out and do a little shopping and was able to get a few things to bring home with me and made it back about 30 minutes before we had decided to leave for dinner and the cruise.

We headed out a little after 7:00 and decided to eat at an Italian restaurant we had seen down by the Eiffel Tower. My dad just wanted some light pasta in hopes it wouldn’t bother his stomach too much and I had been craving pasta as well so it was a good fit for us.

After dinner, we went on down to the boat cruises and got ready for the 9:00 departure. It ended up being a great time because we saw the sun set in Paris while on the river and also as we were waiting to pull in to the dock, we saw the twinkling lights on the Eiffel Tower. My dad said it was a great way to end the week and I would have to agree.

I woke at 5:00 a.m. the next morning and got a shower and finished packing up. My dad got up around 5:30 and by 6:00 a.m. we were in the lobby awaiting the shuttle driver for the airport. The shuttle service apparently lets folks drive their own vehicles and you never really know what kind of driver or vehicle you will end up with. So, around 6:15, a guy got out of a Mitsubishi Montero that had been parked in front of the hotel for a while. He was apparently our shuttle driver for the day. We got in to the back seat of the stinky vehicle – this was one European who apparently did not believe in the power of deodorant – and he told us he had one more pick up. We thought the pick up would be one more person, but it was two more people and so we were crammed into the Montero like a pack of sardines. It was the longest trip to the airport I’ve ever had, relatively speaking.

Once we got the airport, we got checked in and had an hour or so to spare; so, I found some food to munch on in the meantime. The flight was late boarding and late leaving. My dad and another man in line both said Delta never leaves on time and apparently they are both right because the flight was supposed to leave at 9:20 a.m. and didn’t pull out until 10:00 a.m.

The flight home was rather uneventful. We both got a little bit of sleep. My dad got more than me I think. We watched the last couple of movies – The Adjustment Bureau (weird, but kept our attention) and Secretariat (which we had both seen in the theater but enjoyed the second time around). The first two movies that were shown weren’t of much interest to either one of us. We were served a choice of Cajun chicken and rice or eggs in the morning and yucky pizza about an hour before we landed. Unlike the Air France flight, there was not an overflowing amount of free booze on the Delta flight.

Once we got to Atlanta, we had to go through customs, get our baggage at baggage claim and recheck our bags for our connecting flight to Huntsville. We had an hour and a half and were both hungry and had every intention of getting a hot dog before we left Atlanta. By the time we got our luggage rechecked our luggage and made it through security again, we had about 15 minutes to get to our flight. So, there were no hot dogs in our future. We made it to the gate just as they were calling our names and about to close the door.

When we got to Huntsville, we went to baggage claim, only to discover, not so surprisingly that our bags didn’t make it. We found out they would be coming on the next flight which had been delayed and wouldn’t be arriving until 8:00 p.m. So, we left the airport sans checked bags.

We both went to church at 5:00 p.m. and then went our separate ways. I was greeted by The Tide who didn’t seem very thrilled to see me. Unfortunately, I have since found out, the girl I paid to stay with The Tide, didn’t really do much staying at my house and I think The Tide, who loves attention and to be around people, didn’t get all the attention she should have gotten. This has been a very disappointing revelation. The Tide acted really strange throughout the night and I hope she will soon be back to normal!

I went to bed about 8:30 because the exhaustion of the day was taking over and I soon would have been up for 24 straight hours. A little after 9:00p.m., the baggage delivery folks called and said it would be 10:30 or 11:00 before they could bring the bag by. I told them to just leave it on the front porch. The Tide heard them when they dropped it off and I finally got up to bring it inside only to discover it was my dad’s luggage and not mine. At least it was his and not some stranger’s! My bag was delivered to my parents’ house this morning and I’ll be stopping by there after work to make the luggage exchange.

So, we are back home safe and sound and more than a little tired; but we had a great time and a very relaxing break from the realities of life. As I got through my pictures, I'll try to post some that you might not want to miss. Now it’s back to the grind.