Paris

What Sunday lacked in just about every area, Monday gave back beaucoups! Left the airport on the Air France bus to travel the peripherique toward Porte Maillot....even at mid-morning, the traffic reminds me of Orlando, LA, Chicago, take your pick. When we arrived at Porte Maillot, we began the walk down Ave. de la Grande Armee toward Charlotte's apartment....past my favorite store, the Peugeot store...I always have to stop and drool at the new ones because if I could, I'd own one. Love that car.
At the corner we turned, went past the Patisserie, smelled all the wonderful breads, then a block to Rue de Bois de Bologne, turned left to #11...pushed the button (release for door) and went in. Spoke with the manager (in French, of course) and got Charlotte's apt. key as well as a package that I recognized was from her mother. Decided after all the walking/running we'd done yesterday that we'd take the lift up to the second etage...the 2 of us could barely fit with our wheeled carry-ons...there's no way to get furniture in the lift, so instead, it must be carried up the winding staircase! No A/C because most of the buildings are so old.
Charlotte's apt. is familiar because Terry and I stayed here last year for about 4 days for our 10th anniversary while Charlotte was traveling.
Having dropped everything on the bed and surrounding floor, we decided the first order of business was to eat something substantial...after the horrid meal (a first, I'll admit, for Air France) on the plane. Changed out of our jeans into something cooler and didn't want to go very far since it was already about 1:30, so we just walked to Le Touring Cafe, on the corner across from the Patisserie. Sat outside, ordered one salad and 2 chicken plates and some San Pellegrino.....ahh....one gets so parched from plane travel. Rested our weary bones and then went back to the apartment to get walking shoes.
Walked to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed the 274 (yes, we counted) steps to the top where we had an incredible view of all of Paris...and of course the 10 streets coming out like spokes...remembered when Terry and I got married 11 years ago and he had to drive around the Arc...as Charlotte's mom Elke said "you just have to go! Do not wait because that will cause a crash. It's better to keep going fast!" Thought my new hubby was going to have a heart attack, but as you can tell, we're both still here. Great driving and very good advice. It's when one pauses at a right-of-way that one is most likely to cause an accident.
Took tons of pictures and I pointed out all the landmarks of the city.....walked down again and by this time it was almost 7pm so we just decided to come back home. At least we didn't waste away our first day with naps! (which, by the way, would have been the worst thing we could do.....Terry and I always try to stay up the entire first day no matter how tired we are, and it always evens itself out with a great sleep the first night.
Back at the apt., we showered and dressed for dinner...waited for Charlotte to come home and then when she did, we walked to Chez Clement, the wonderful restaurant we'd been to last year...there's only one entree, delicious meat with an incredible sauce and frites (fries)....a light greens salad, and then a choice of desserts. We had a demi of red wine with the meal, and then for dessert, ordered a meringue, ice cream, meringue, ice cream and whip cream covered with chocolate.......and profitrolles. Oh yeah. Now we're talkin' All the dieting I always do before an overseas trip? Wiped away with just the first meal (or better to say the first dessert). Strolled leisurely toward "home".....it's completely safe here even late at night (which it was...about 10:30), sat for just a few minutes and talked before Charlotte sent us to bed......and slept really wonderfully, even with the noise of the people in surrounding apartments. Rain in the night woke us up for a bit...closed the windows that were wide open....so we wouldn't get rained on (no screens...not necessary). I was up around 8, just as Charlotte left for work but "the queen" (don't tell her I said that!) slept in till 10. While I waited for her to wake up, I went to the Patisserie for pain chocolat, came back and made coffee, and I guess that's when I blogged about the airport mishaps.

I just re-read this and realized it's been a LONG time since I've been able to connect. We are now in Montreaux, Switzerland, and boy do I have a lot to write about! For now, adieu and I'll be adding more soon.............

Delta airlines???

Ok, just for future reference, will someone please offer to slap me the next time I want to fly Delta? This LONG saga has tales of delayed flights and [very] RUDE agents. We were at O'Hare with plenty of time for our flight. Not checking bags, because I've already recounted more long tales of lost luggage! After we checked in and got through security relatively hassle free, we should have KNOWN something was wrong....but about 30 minutes before our flight was supposed to board, we saw the board quietly change itself to a departure time that was an hour and a half later! No announcement, not even a "ding" like when they're about to make an boarding call. No explanation. So one or the other of us began to wait in a line to ask an agent......but Sunday must have been the day for every flight in the US to cancel or delay! Really. There was a group trying to get to Laguardia that literally stood (or should I say leaned full force) on the counter for 45 minutes. No exaggeration. There were only another 8-10 of us also wondering about OUR flights, but the gate agent did nothing to help anyone except for the party of 3 people monopolizing her time. Like...the rest of us were paying customers as well, and possibly we were missing potential re-booking because she couldn't just give us equal time. If anyone works for Delta (or knows someone)...I'm sorry for you...this rudeness was rampant all through the entire Delta concourse. Debbie and/or I tried to ask several other agents about our flight... everyone curtly said "you have to ask the agent at your gate!"...which, of course, we did NOT have!
I decided to call Delta and after several attempts got a woman who tried to re-book us. Gave us a flight to Cincy (same connection as our original) and then a connection through O'Hare! and then on to Paris. I'm just thinkin' here, why do I want to fly to Cincinnati, only to turn around to come back to O'Hare for a flight to Paris??? I speak the truth, I had to explain this to her 3 freekin' times. My sister is rolling on the floor beside me in hilarious laughter. I managed to make my "friend" on the phone see the ridiculous-ness of leaving O'Hare only to return several hours later and said "why can't we just stay here and THEN take the flight to Paris? Oh, now there's an idea. What she did not tell me was that we needed to go to the international terminal. She just said she had re-booked us on a Delta flight. Somehow I found one agent in the whole concourse who was nice enough to look up and treat me like a human being...she said, "oh, that's operated by Air France - you need to go to the other terminal!" Well, thanks for your help. Finally someone with solid info. We realized that now we just might have to hurry a bit...went outside security, found the escalator to the trains, which, as the agent standing there told us, come every 4 minutes. Except the one we needed. Seriously? After spending all that time trying to find someone to help us, now we're in danger of actually missing the flight??? Train arrives, we get on and ride FOREVER to the other terminal, where we sprint up the escalator to get in the security line. We now have 25 minutes till the flight. Get up to the security person, who says we have to get new boarding passes...all the ticket counters had been empty when we ran past them. We protested and another agent told us to bypass the line and come straight to him on our way back and he'd "whisk" us through.
Running back to the Air France counter, where there were now 2 agents, there was a lovely woman who listened to our explanation and immediately called the plane to hold it. Ah...of course...Air France is operated by courteous people!!! What a concept. Being that it's the "Paige girls" (as we are referred to) the boarding pass machine is out of paper. I do not kid about this. The agent is very nice, but has trouble loading the cards into the machine. Now, we know they're holding the plane and all, but still, how long will their patience hold out? She hands us the passes, asks if we have any serious emotional connection to our previous boarding passes (also a sense of humor? almost too much to handle in one day...) which we do not. We take off running again (needless to say, this is seriously aggravating my plantar fasciitis) and find the agent who told us to come to him for immediate help. You may not believe this, but when we got there, he said, "just let me check these children through, they're going to Poland" (yes, we have Polish ancestry...however in this particular situation, we failed to see how that was more important than our flight leaving in 8 minutes) We waited for a minute or two, but even as we stood there, more children got into the line! We lost count at about 30. Debbie, who isn't particularly known for her assertiveness, says to me, "we're not doin' this" and promptly cut across 2 lines to - yes - "jump" the line to be first. You go girl! Now we've got to take off shoes, take out computers and liquids...and...I wish I were joking, but just ahead of us there were 3 20-something gals who practically unpacked their entire suitcases and then had about 3 jackets each to remove...we considered crashing the metal detectors but then realized the consequences of that would truly make us miss our flight. I get through first, begin putting on my shoes, and hear my name "would the Jill Winch party please proceed immediately to your gate?" Oh, ok. We were thinking of getting coffee first! Like..... we had just made a career of running through airports!!! We get to the gate and onto the plane. Took our first real breath since we started this whole process...found our seats and they were the last 2 in the section, against the bulkhead. (as in, they will not lean back for sleeping?????) This is one of those, "am I here?" moments. Before sitting down, I asked the attendant if there were any other seats available that would lean back...she, of course, told me we had to get in the air first, but she'd check.
We were in the middle of the row so each of us had to step over someone. (would this story be any good without that little tidbit?) The asian lady on my side wasn't too happy and made it difficult for me to get into my seat. Which, as you may surmise, made it more difficult to get out again when the attendant came back a little later to tell us there were 2 other available seats.
We moved, thinking these people will never see us again anyway, which probably made all parties very happy. Looked at each other and said "we're on our way to Paris!"
Flight so uneventful we were a bit bored after our day's experiences...(NOT!) Good dinner, not a great selection of movies...less than desirable amount of sleep. I always think that the other people who seem to be sleeping must be pretending just to make me jealous!
Sometime during the night as I woke up to go get a drink of water, I saw some pink light and realized, if it's a Monday morning sunrise, we must be in Paris! (isn't there a song something like that?) Cabin lights were turned on and breakfast began to be served. Ok, maybe it was only something LIKE breakfast. I've had some great meals on Air France flights. This was not one of them. Not even in my imagination (which is quite fertile sometimes). Their coffee is traditionally terrible, and the sour yogurt and hard roll seemed more like prison rations than food. (cutbacks everywhere I guess).
Once on the ground, we walked...s l o w l y....toward the passport control. Thank the Lord we had not checked any bags because at this point, there's no telling where they might have been. For now, we had all the time in the world and didn't intend to hurry for at least the next couple of days. Had a long wait...who cares?...some fun conversation with a young single mechanical engineer whose company was sending him here for 3 months to work (he thought he could get the work done in one and then travel around the country for the next 2...smart guy...cute too...where is my niece Mandy when we need her?) Once Deb got her first ever passport stamp, we were officially in France! Bienvenue at Paris.

made it to Chicago

Well, after 4 days in steamy TN (stayed in Franklin with good friends the Madge clan....loved every minute of it, as usual), I am in Chicago. Saturday was the biggest launch of a new product that I've ever been involved with...morning at a health fair at the Galleria Mall...handing out the MAX N-fuze vitamin drink & talking to people about the new ATP energy drink! I, for one, am thrilled about N-fuze because now it's much easier to take on a flight....used to be packets of a gel drink, great tasting but difficult to have to add to that ever shrinking quart zip-loc bag one needs in one's carry-on. Well, especially if you're me, who has had the doubtful "luck" of having luggage lost for many days....several different times! One time in Romania my daughter and I were without our bags for 6 days. I know THEY say to put an extra change of clothing in your carry-on. Who has room for this? Fortunately we were staying in the apt. of a dear lady who would have loaned me some clothing, but she was much shorter than I....each evening we washed our outfit, hung it outside on a line, then put it on again in the morning. In case you're thinking we enjoyed this, you're dead wrong. When the bags finally came, what we were the most excited about was the big bag of M&Ms!
3 years ago on our way to Greece, Terry & I were delayed on a flight out from Philly....causing us to miss our flight in Rome...forcing us to spend the whole day wandering around Rome (an extra little side "excursion" we had because the rest of the tour went straight from Philly to Athens).....we, of course, "made lemonade" and enjoyed every minute of it! .....the next flight to Athens was 8 hours later and I'll spare y'all the ridiculous-ness of our asking about our luggage at every stop, and having agents tell us they "were sure" our luggage would be there too....I'm sure many of you have "been there, done that". We both had our instruments, so it was necessary to check our suitcases. Flight left Rome a couple hours late (for no apparent reason) and when we finally arrived in Athens, it was after midnight, and of course the airport was for all purposes, shut down. Tracked down someone to ask about the bags and after going through that stupid useless exercise of checking which picture your bag resembles (where DO they get those pictures anyway? No bags look like that!), he gave us a phone number to call....ah, how very reassuring. With nothing else to do, we took a taxi to our hotel, the Hotel Stanley (seriously?) and checked in. Asked the guy behind the desk if there was someplace we could get something cold to drink (as it must have been about 150 degrees, although it was 1am) and he directed us to a roof restaurant (8th floor). We stepped off the elevator, bleary-eyed, willed our feet to take us to a table, looked up and saw the most glorious view of the Parthenon all lit up! We each instinctively rubbed our eyes and looked again, thinking this could have been some sort of Disney-esque mural. Nope, there it was, making us forget the almost 36 hours it had been since we left home. Since we were on a tour with the Nashville Praise Symphony, we had coordinated clothing to wear at each concert....well, that is, everyone but me and Terry. Fortunately there were enough people close to each of our sizes that we were able to borrow some things to wear...every morning, afternoon and evening making an attempt to call the number the baggage agent had given us, with never an answer! (gee, what a surprise) 6 days we checked with the front desk personnel to see if anyone had delivered our bags. We were only there for 2 more days as it was....I was upset because I had made some great sale purchases of some of the shirt colors we had been required to buy, and though the monetary value of all the clothes wasn't very high, the deliberate attempt to be as thrifty as I could seemed wasted because all (it appeared) would be lost when we left for home 2 days later. Each day the temperature was over 100 degrees....and the A/C units in each room didn't seem to work very well. (rendering it impossible to wash out clothing and have it dry to any degree by next am) We ended up changing rooms for a couple of degrees' difference. On our return after playing in the Plaka the 6th night, we walked into our room and nearly stumbled over our 2 bags! I did tell everyone the next morning that for that day and the next (our last) I was going to change clothes 4 times a day just to let everyone know what I would have worn! So, unless I need to use my violin as one of my carry-on bags, I usually try never to check bags.....Terry and I have gone all over the world with just carry-ons.....but it's pretty impossible to do if you have to take an instrument.
But, as THEY say, I digress....Southwest had a nice new (or refurbished and painted) 737 last evening for the flight to Chicago, which arrived about 30 minutes late. Just as we were to touch down, the pilot quickly pulled back and accelerated...one of those queasy stomach feelings...for another go-around. I was not near a window so it was difficult to see, but later found out there was a plane on our intended runway! So where in the world were the Chicago traffic controllers??? (hmmm, could they have been out getting energy drinks full of chemicals and caffeine??? perish the thought! Come to me for some all-natural, good-for-you, world's first and only "on-demand" energy drink...MAX-ATP.....minor commercial for a great company) Happy to be on the ground, carrying all my belongings in 2 bags, (at only about a zillion pounds each!) I got picked up promptly by Ken and driven the 30 miles to my sister's house! Yay! Stayed up way too late but didn't feel tired, (fueled by the ATP I had at the Madge's in the afternoon) we caught up, checked in, discussed final additions or subtractions to our bags, and finally hit the sack around 2-ish, I think, although Deb's light was on much longer.
Who knew I'd wake up knowing I couldn't go back to sleep at 4:30? Since Jacob (my nephew) had to leave for work at 5:45, I thought I'd come out, hug him goodbye, make coffee and write. The cup is 3/4 full, sunlight is coming through the haze and the trees, and the birds are already serenading me. My sis and I are great animal lovers, so I love to watch all the "critters" she entices to her yard with bird feeders, dishes for the squirrels and rabbits, and birdbaths everywhere.
I sure do wish I had gotten more sleep.

oh yeah

For those of you who read my blogs from Romania, you probably remember the big deal I made about my potted plants, and how stressed Terry was to not let any of them die! Of course, he did a perfect job, and all the plants not only survived, but thrived beautifully....we've already eaten beans, lettuce and tomatoes, and of course lots of fresh basil, rosemary, parsley and cilantro!
Suddenly it dawned on me last week that with both of us gone.....I'll be in Nashville for the first part of Terry's international travel, and then after we both return to the states, I'm staying in Chicago for 4 days while he has another gig in Nashville.....so it's over 2 weeks that we're both gone from the mountain.
Problem solved!!! We have a lovely neighbor Deborah, who will be watching the house and watering the plants while we're gone. She enjoys working in her own garden so she joyfully agreed to help with ours! I appreciate her cheerful attitude and friendliness, because, to tell you the truth, the rest of the people in this mountain community haven't been the least bit outgoing. I'm a people person and I love to connect, not just communicate, so you'll always see me smiling and waving if I pass you in the car. Down at the mailbox when we get out of the car.....no one even looks us in the eye! No kidding. We always say hi, and sometimes someone will respond in kind, but still continue looking down or at the mail in their hands. I think both Ter and I have been taken aback a bit by this "closed" behavior because both of us love to be friendly....whatever.
I've been in Franklin since yesterday....drove Terry to the Nashville airport and then came back to Franklin to stay at our good friends Troy and Rhonda Madge's home. They're coming back from Salt Lake City tonight.....so I've been here with the kids. What fun I'm having! Today, after doing a few necessary errands, I came home to just Rachel and her friend Grayson....they wanted to put on a play for me about Tinkerbell and asked me to record it. It was hilarious! They each had to be at least 2 characters, and at one point, dear, sweet Star (the family's rescued husky) had to endure wearing the fairy wings because the girls needed 3 "people" in one of the scenes! I hope the camera didn't shake too much as I was laughing. Star is purely a lover, not an actress! But she walked around the "stage" (prompted by treats) to suit the girls' vision for the scene.
I do miss those days with my own kids. My favorite time of year was June thru August, and I was the one crying when school started up again. This family has truly "adopted" both me and Terry and always makes us feel SO welcome when we stay. I walked in with a couple bags, and after Taylor hugged me, she asked if I had any more bags in the car to be carried in! She is so full of the beauty of Christ and it's very evident in her actions.
I haven't heard from Terry yet, but I'm sure he's arrived in Paris. They were to be picked up by bus and taken to the UK, so I'm certain there aren't a lot of "internet" stops along the way. Unless someone has an air card.....
Each day it seems my sister has another question....it's so fun to be planning this trip together and I think I've said it before, but I will probably enjoy seeing everything through Debbie's eyes even more than my own experiences! She and I always do a LOT of giggling.....it's pretty contagious, and wherever we are, people usually end up laughing with us (or is that AT us? Oh well, as long as they're laughing.....)
But, it's time for me to crash. I'm always amazed that even with only the one hour difference, I'm very ready for bed around 8:30-9pm here in Tennessee....so, off to dreamland, one day closer to the trip.

traveling again?

Was it just a couple weeks ago that I was unpacking??? and now, packing once again??? Think I mentioned once that Terry's been invited to play with a band that he used to play with when we lived in Wisconsin.....they were invited to play in the Montreaux Jazz Festival....Switzerland, on July 6! All expenses paid! YES! He flies into Paris tomorrow and then there will be some touring and playing in the UK and France....so he wanted me to join him. (Well, of course!) Since we were married in the Loire Valley and spent our honeymoon there and in Paris, we both always jump at the chance to go back. We also have some of our dearest friends in France...Charlotte, our French daughter, lives 2 blocks off the Champs-Elysses.....and her parents, Jean and Elke, live in Cotignac, in the south of France. We've visited them many times, and will see Charlotte again this time. My sister Debbie will come with me and we'll arrive in Paris on June 28......staying about 2 days in Charlotte's apartment, and doing a little sightseeing on our own. Deb has never even been overseas and I'm so excited that her first trip will be to Paris! We'll join the band when they arrive in Paris sometime on the 30th and then go with them to the rest of their gigs....culminating in Switzerland at one of the 2 leading jazz festivals in the world! Excited???? Just a little......don't know how much internet access there will be since much of our time will be spent in homes with families, but we'll try to blog if/when possible. Pray for safety and good health, and of course fun!