Tag Archives: Paris

holidays

Our big Virginia trip, part six– going home

We got up Sunday morning, enjoyed one last breakfast at the Hummingbird Inn, and hit the road for northern Virginia.  I thought maybe we’d get Bill some new pants for work, but we never managed to get to an appropriate store.  I think we were too focused on the long trip ahead of us to worry about shopping.  We feared heavy traffic as everyone made their way home after the holiday break, but it didn’t turn out to be too bad going north on Interstate 81.

The one big decision we had to make going back to Dulles Airport was where to stop for lunch.  I wanted something we can’t get in Germany.  We were going to get Mexican food which, while available in Germany, loses a lot in the translation.  We ended up at a Five Guys instead and had a couple of greasy cheeseburgers with fries.  Then we went to the airport and dropped off our rental car.

I was kind of impressed by the TSA screening at Dulles, both coming and going.  They seem to have streamlined it quite a bit so that it’s faster and easier to get through.  No need to take off shoes or remove electronics from our bags.  I did have my hands swabbed, though.  Good thing none of my cousins brought any firearms this year.

We had plenty of time to kill, so we stopped by a bar/restaurant that served Dominion beers.  We had enough time that I was able to try them all…  And it’s a good thing I did, too, because Bill and I ended up being seated in the two middle seats of a row.  Just as I was about to sit down, the lady who was to sit next to me hollered, “That’s my seat!  I’m sitting next to you.”

Mmm… beer.

The lady sitting next to me turned out to be a very annoying Jewish woman with a penchant for Sudoku.  I wouldn’t mention that she was Jewish except that she made it obvious by loudly mentioning it several times.  She’d also ordered Kosher meals and was served ahead of everyone else.  She’d get her food, then Bill and the lady sitting next to him would get theirs, because the flight attendants on their side were somehow faster.  I’d then get mine twenty minutes later, after everyone else was finished eating.  Not that it really mattered.  I didn’t have much of an appetite on the flight back to Europe.  It was just awkward having to be dead last.

The woman sitting next to me hogged the armrest and needed constant help from the flight attendants.  She wasn’t particularly unpleasant about asking, just loud and persistent.  She was part of a large tour group on their way to Florence and she had lots and lots of questions.  It didn’t help that the woman sitting in front of me was a notorious recliner who kept herself leaned back for the entire flight.  I will give her credit for at least putting her seat up when we were eating.  I have been on several international flights where the people in front of me weren’t even that considerate.

It was all too fitting that I’d choose to watch the film Anger Management on our way across the pond.  I had not seen it before and I must admit it was a rather funny film starring Adam Sandler and the ever adorable Marisa Tomei.  I noticed Tomei’s character was named Linda…  Wonder if Adam Sandler has an ex named Linda, since he seems to use that name a lot for the females in his films.  The film was in English with no subtitles.  I’m not sure if I’d requested it in French if it would have been dubbed or subtitled.  I guess that’s something to test out next time I fly across the pond on a European carrier.

Transatlantic flights are uniformly boring and uncomfortable, but at least the longer flight to the States was more comfortable than the flight going back to Europe.  Happily, the flight to Europe was also about an hour shorter than the flight to the USA.

We were delayed about an hour leaving DC, too, which aggravated a lot of people.  For Bill and me, it was a non issue.  Our one hour flight to Stuttgart didn’t leave Charles de Gaulle Airport until about 8:00pm.  We had originally planned to take a train to Paris and fart around the city, but by the time we landed in Paris, we were both totally exhausted.  Fortunately, Sheraton came to the rescue.

Back in 1997, I spent the night at CDG in a hotel called “Cocoon”.  It was a no frills establishment designed to allowed travelers the chance to rest during long layovers or before early flights.  The place wasn’t even an official hotel and wasn’t allowed to rent rooms for more than 18 hours at a time. Cocoon closed years ago and was evidently replaced by a full service Sheraton.

Being a corporate owned American establishment, the Sheraton at CDG takes full advantage of the exhaustion of weary travelers desperate for a nap.  After spending about a half an hour or so searching for the Sheraton, Bill and I rented one of their “day rooms” and we paid dearly for the privilege.  For about 200 euros, you get a room from 9am until 6pm.  Want Internet?  That’s another 19 euros.  Breakfast?  Another 37 euros please.  Yes, it was expensive… on the other hand, had we gone into Paris, we probably would have spent just as much or more and likely would have been even more exhausted.  Besides, the weather wasn’t all that great for sightseeing.

Touch the minibar at the Sheraton and you’ll surely be charged…

Ahh…

Marble bathroom!

One thing I will say about the breakfast offered at the CDG Sheraton– it’s HUGE.  We ordered one and it was more than enough food for both of us.  We had enough leftover that a third person could have joined us.

Sideways breakfast…

I took a very nice shower– the shower at the CDG Sheraton is of the rainfall variety and felt heavenly after our long flight.  Then, after eating eggs, fruit, and breads, and washing it down with coffee and juice, we passed out for about four or five hours.

Looks very space aged in the hotel…

Since check out time was 6:00pm, we left the hotel at about 5:30 or so and made our way to the gate where our flight to Stuttgart was.  We found a little gourmet market and had quiche and wine for dinner.  Then, we got on our flight.  Fortunately, it wasn’t full and I was able to change seats and sit by Bill. We finally got back to Stuttgart at about 9:20pm or so.  Despite the delay coming out of DC and annoying seat mates (which you will find on any airline), I was pretty happy with Air France.  I’d fly them transatlantic again.

Quiche and vino!

I was impressed the Air France highlighted Armenia in their most recent flight magazine.

Homeward bound!

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adventure, anecdotes

A month on a train in Europe… Tours, Amboise, and Paris

The last part of my month in Europe was in France.  Becky had her heart set on visiting the Loire Valley, which is where there is a beautiful chateau and wines aplenty.  Though I had been to Nice at that point, there’s a big difference between the South of France and the Loire Valley.  We stopped in Tours, exhausted from all the travel, and got a room at a chain hotel.  I want to say it was a Holiday Inn or something similar.  Becky was horrified and disgusted because chain hotels don’t have charm.  She wanted to look for a place further in town that might be more French. But I was fucking exhausted from two days of intense travel and needed to sleep before I tore her head off.

I didn’t actually get to see much of Tours, but I do remember going into a music store there and seeing a wall of CDs with no cassettes available.  James Taylor had come out with his album, Hourglass, which I had heard a couple of songs on while listening to VOA Europe in Armenia.  I bought the CD, but couldn’t listen to it until I got home.  I remember being really bummed out about that because I love JT’s music and needed something to soothe me.

Tours, France Courtesy of Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Loire_Indre_Tours1_tango7174.jpg) 

After one night in Tours, we moved on to Amboise, which turned out to be a really beautiful place that looked kind of like it came from a fairytale.  We found a pleasant three star hotel and checked in, then visited the local chateau, which looked like it was the biggest show in town.  It was actually pretty nice– and there was good shopping, though I don’t remember having much money for shopping.  I did buy a couple of bottles of L’Occitane perfume.  That was pretty dumb, since that’s an international brand, but what did I know?

I also remember the food.  One place we went to gave us terrible service.  The woman who waited on us seemed hostile.  Becky drew a frowny face on our check and wrote “Tres mal” on the receipt.  Childish, I know, but it was kind of funny.  The waitress was a sourpuss and that was before I’d had the experience of waiting tables myself.  I wouldn’t do that today.

We went to another place that had the most delightful croissants…  It was amazing.  Other than that, I remember drinking a lot of wine and doing a lot of walking… and taking some really lame photos.

Amboise was pretty, but it was time to move on to Paris.  I remember pulling into the main train station and seeing the vast city from the tracks.  This was to be my last stop before I boarded a jet to Amsterdam and then one that would take me to depressing Dulles airport.

Chateau in Amboise Courtesy of Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ambuaz_IMG_1760.JPG)

Paris in September 1997 was lovely, even though just weeks before, Princess Diana had died there.  Becky and I checked into a cute little hotel near Rue Cler and wandered along the Parisian streets.  I remember going to the Eiffel Tower, which was teeming with people.  We opted not to go to the top.  Incidentally, I went back to Paris in May 2009 with my husband and we made the same decision when we encountered the crowds.  Maybe if we ever get back to Paris, we’ll finally do it.

Eiffel Tower taken in May 2009

We never did make it to the Louvre, which kind of surprises me, given Becky’s love of art.  And when I went back in May 2009, we skipped it again.

I do remember Becky trying to talk some American woman and her daughter into sharing a cab with us… she wanted to save money and we were having trouble navigating the Paris metro.  I was kind of embarrassed by her boldness.  Then later, we went out to dinner and ended up sitting next to a Canadian woman who was very loudly and obnoxiously talking about her accomplishments.  I remember Becky saying in a very annoyed voice, “That was disgusting!” about the Canadian woman’s very public preening.

I, of course, was getting really tired of traveling with Becky.  I started making plans as to how I’d be getting home.  Becky had picked up a suitcase for me that I had shipped from Armenia.  It was in her apartment near Washington, DC.  We were going back to the US on different flights, so Becky said she’d give me her key and I could wait for her.  I figured that was the safest thing to do.

I called my parents to advise them of my plans.  My mom was in a foul mood when I told her I needed to stay in DC one extra night so I could give Becky her key.  Mom told me that was too much trouble for her and my dad.  I had no idea what was going on at home… or that I would be landing in the middle of a crisis.  I just knew my mom was being really bitchy to me, even though she hadn’t seen me in two years and I was coming home having triumphantly finished a two year Peace Corps assignment.

I ended up helping to pay for the last night at the hotel in Paris, but was nervous about the early flight and eager to get away from Becky.  So I took the bus to the airport and planned to sit up at Charles De Gaulle airport’s very uncomfortable benches.  I sat there for about twenty minutes, then remembered that at that time, CDG had a “Cocoon”.  Basically, it was a soundproof motel that wasn’t actually considered a motel… as guests were only allowed to book the room for sixteen hours or less.  The Cocoon had a bed, a clock radio, a TV, and a tiny bathroom with a shower.  It was very plain, but it was heavenly, because it was my room.  I slept like a dead person until about 5:00am and then got my early flight to Amsterdam.

The Cocoon is now closed, unfortunately.  I’m glad I had a chance to stay there, though… It was a blessing to have a safe, cheap place to spend the night before my early flight.  Charles De Gaulle airport is one of my least favorite airports and it was awesome to be able to get some rest before going home.  I was definitely going to need it.

Next… the flight home and family crisis.

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