We're HOME!

Hi!

 

We physically touched down in the U.S. (Detroit, Michigan) on Tuesday evening about 5:30 pm.  Thanks to Global Entry, we breezed through customs and immigration in quite literally minutes.  Such a nice thing, after having to clear similar at Charles de Gaulle!  Then, having re-checked the luggage, we ambled over to the domestic side of the airport with basically no problems whatsoever.  The plane from Detroit was on time and we actually arrived in Phoenix about 10:30 p.m., which was earlier than expected.  Landed, collected luggage and got our rental car.  To the Hampton Inn near the airport and to bed somewhere around 1 a.m.  Up at 6 a.m. and while still a bit groggy, on the road home by 6:30.  So … we’re back.  Lovely to be here, that’s for sure – the weather yesterday in Tucson was 82 degrees; WOW!

 

Our journey through Charles de Gaulle was fairly complicated, and I wanted to write about that now.  At the Hilton (which is in the middle of the airport), we were just a step away from the check-in hall [actually, a whole lot of steps! – R], so we headed over at about 11:30 a.m., even though our plane didn’t leave until 3:50 p.m.  We always like to be early.  Well, honestly, it was a good thing we did.  Suffice to say that CDG was difficult.  Air France was unable to pull our records up through passports.  Difficult, really, as no working passport, no luggage check or boarding pass … makes it tough to fly these days, for sure.  The harassed agent in the line just kept running our passports through the computer, with the same result coming up each time!  He moved from computer to computer, and the same result.  R was actually allowed to go behind him to see if he had any suggestions.  Finally, after about 20 minutes, we were asked to step aside and “wait.”  Yeah…

 

That’s when Robert, my absolutely brilliant husband, swung into action.  He was able to talk to Air France folks and security people, and he found out that each shift at CDG, there was one leader/supervisor per shift.  Then he had to find him/her.  Which, of course, he did!  I was parked with the luggage (+ coats, + carry-ons) in a side location, which was nice as it was at least out of the chaos going on around the airport.  The supervisor and R came to collect me, and we went over to an agent who figured out a way around the “need more information” flags, and we got our baggage tags!  It took probably another 10-15 minutes for her to be able to print our boarding passes, but finally, out they came.  By this time, of course, we were certainly NOT early for our flight, and the lines at customs and security were very long.  However, we cleared them in about 45 minutes, and made it to our gate with about an hour’s lead time.  I was SOOOO thankful to the supervisor and her agent, I can’t tell you.  Very, very, very stressful.  It turns out that the Air France computers had glitched something on our reservation.  Everything was totally fine with our passports (which was what I was thinking…) and they were extremely apologetic.  It did make for an interesting day … one of those kinds you do NOT want to have to face.  This is the first time in literally 40+ years of international travel that anything like this happened.  I can only hope it never does again!

 

[Can’t decide which airport I hate most – de Gaulle or Heathrow. – R]

 

So, safely here in Tucson, and good to be home!

Happy, happy holidays everyone and lots of love to all!

m

xxx

No Photos but at the Airport!

We’re actually at Charles de Gaulle!

 

Hello!

 

Into every trip there are days that are definitely more challenging than others … and this was such a day.  Up this morning about 5:30 am; breakfasted, packed up and loaded up the car.  We were on the road about 7:08 am.  Our information indicated that from Carnac to CDG airport, it would be something about 6½ hours.  Well … it wasn’t.  We were moving along nicely until we hit the traffic in Rennes.  Ugh!  Fortunately, Robert was using Emmy, our GPS, as a resource, and not as the guiding light.  In that way, he could look over all of our options, in the hope that the awful detour through Nantes last Tuesday wouldn’t be repeated.  And that worked out really well!  However, because of traffic in general, it took us almost 8 hours to get here.  What made it worse was that about 50 km from the airport, our tire light indicator went on.  Good grief! I had hoped we had left that when we last left Montana or Wyoming a few falls ago, but I guess not.  We did stop at a service station so that R could inspect the tires – he said they all looked okay, so we proceeded.  The low pressure could have been because of the cold weather; it actually reached freezing at one point.  

 

So … got to the airport and needed to 1) drop luggage at the hotel 2) fill car up with gas; 3) return the car to Enterprise/Alamo.  We knew there was at least one gas station in the conglomeration that surrounds CDG…we just had to find it!  Eventually, we found the hotel – CDG Hilton – first.  This required that we pull up in front, unload the car and see if we could check in.  We could, which was great.  Our room had been upgraded – 8^th(top) floor, end view of the airport; great!  We dumped everything into the room and back into the car, now on the hunt for gas.  It took us several passes both around and through CDG to come up with the gas station.  [Driving around CDG airport is no joke; almost as bad as Heathrow]  We were able to fill up, and then back along the same path to turn the car in.  So … we the instructions to the Terminal 1 car return – only to find that when we got to the actually turn-in place, it was closed and all blocked off with cones and tape!  Ok!  Try again … this time, we went after the rental car return in Terminal 2.  Well … made it there, only to be told (and we’re actually in the turn-in parking lot, next to the Enterprise/Alamo signage – but nope, couldn’t drop it there - closed!  Rather than being in parking lot 2 A, B, C or D, we needed to be in the parking lot for 2 E and F!  Silly us!  So, back around several more times to 2 E.  And there was actually a person there!  Incredible!  Loved the question:  Is the car full with fuel?  Well … it was, actually, half an hour or so ago, but we’ve been making quite a few trips around the airport, so … all checked in, and all fine.  Always a relief.  So then … back to the Hilton!  Turns out, there is an airport train that takes people around and through parking lots and terminals.  In this case, we just had to get off at Stop 3, Roissypole, and then walk maybe 10-15 minutes and we were back at the Hilton!  Who knew?  Not nearly as convenient as Rome’s Hilton is, but it worked!  

 

This hotel, being in the middle of the airport, is very convenient for our purposes but it is not the best Hilton we’ve seen.  The restaurant menu is very sparse (not surprising during the Covid pandemic) and the lighting in the room is minimal.  Robert then found the business center so that he could print out our declarations that we need to have to re-enter the U.S.  Two copies all now printed.  We were not able to get our boarding passes from Air France yet, but as they cleared us last night with “GOOD2GO” for our documentation, I don’t think that will be much of a problem!  Our flight doesn’t leave until 3:50 pm tomorrow, so I’m thinking we have a nice morning and breakfast, and then work our way over to the airport about noon-ish.  And then, hopefully home sooner rather than later!  

 

Robert had some thoughts he wanted to share about traveling with computers!  Read on:

A word about travel in the modern world: Ya gotta have a computer!

 

As we get ready for our return flight home, we have to deal with all the requirements for travel.  First, we are receiving – by email - detailed instructions from the airlines (both Air France and Delta) regarding our flights, including lists of documents required to get on the plane.

 

Specifically, we needed to upload – via the internet - to the airlines (a) copies of our vaccination records and (b) copies of recently-obtained negative Covid test results.  The test results, by the way, were sent to us (again) by email.  Finally, we had to download – from the internet - attestation forms to be filled in, printed and presented at check-in.  And, tomorrow, we get to download – from the internet - and print our boarding passes.

 

Maybe all this could be handled with a smart phone; I’m not sure.  But it can be done using our computer and even so, it’s not easy.  As it is, we will have to make use of the Business Center at our hotel in Paris to print whatever is needed as paper documents.  (Is the day coming when we are going to need to travel with a portable printer?)

 

Clearly, the travel industry now assumes people have access to sophisticated internet and email platforms, which may be true when one is at home, but less likely when on a trip.

 

Thank goodness for our MacBook Pro!

 

So, for now, lots and lots of love!

m

xxx

Our Last Sightseeing Day!

Hello!

 

I’m actually just up from a brief nap!  We had a lovely day in Vannes, and got back here about 3-ish.  I did my last load of wash – 30-minute quick wash, yeah!  And now there are a few things scattered around the apartment.  The very easiest way to get things dry, though, are radiators and the bathroom towel heater.  That works amazingly quickly, and voila! Things are dry!  So … to recap!

Vannes harbor

Old town Vannes

LOVE the colors!

 

Up this morning about 7:30-ish to a clear but very cold morning.  However, R did ask me to check Lyonweather – and we found that there is supposed to be SNOW there today!  Not a lot (maybe half an inch) but happy we’re near the coast now, that’s for sure!  I did, in fact, repack the suitcases, as we will be moving on tomorrow, back to Paris and Charles de Gaulle Airport.  

 

We went out about 10 am and headed towards Vannes, a very lovely small city that we have visited several times in the past.  Vannes is located on the Gulf de Morbihan and years ago, we went out on a boat ride and ended up being part of a huge boat parade around the harbor; great fun!  This time, we headed to Vannes Center; it was about half-an-hour’s drive from Carnac.  

Did I mention it was cold?

Vannes inner harbor

Town gate

Really a lovely place!

As we were driving into town, though, R spotted an Intermarche supermarket, and as we needed more water, and the place was open (it is Sunday, after all!) in we went.  Wow!  The Intermarche is a really fabulous supermarket!  SOOOO much better than the two smaller markets we had visited here in Carnac!  Who knew?!  I found an excellent assortment of soups stocked there, and their wine selection went on and on and on!  We were able to pick up a few things – including a bottle of Prosecco - (as well as water) that we needed.  I would have loved to explore the supermarket more fully – we’ll have to save that for “next time!”  

 

We drove through town and down to the old port area, where we parked the car.  Considering that it was a Sunday early afternoon, there were lots of people out and about, as well as folks riding bicycles, jogging and one group was even roller-skating!  Oh, my aching knees!  

 

Wine ... again!

Interior of restaurant; book pages!

All sorts of "sea" things!

Beautiful color in the trees!

We compared menus of several different bistros/restaurants (not sure exactly what the difference is, but I’m sure that somebody will enlighten me!) and Robert picked L’Escale, which I am told translates to “Stopover.”  There were actually people eating outside, but we were not going to be among them, that’s for sure!  In we went to a cozy table for two right next to a very efficient heater, so at least one side of me was warm at any one time.  

 

Robert ordered Gravlax for his starter, and it came with guacamole and some green salad – which was obviously homemade, and delicious!  I had ordered the hamburger, which I was told was HUGE, so I decided to skip a starter.  Robert’s main course was langoustines – which of course came with ALL of their parts on! Robert is so good and efficient in cleaning fish and shell fish.  The photograph is hilarious!  My hamburger – cooked rare, just the way I like it - was excellent!  It had some grilled onions, some melted cheese as well as some greenery around it, and came with French fries as well as a salad.  Lovely meals, both!

 

Then, for dessert, I ordered the Paris-Brest au Chocolat (whatever that was!) and R ordered the Café Gourmand.  That one I looked up, and it turns out that it is espresso with a variety of petit-four size deserts served on a plate.  Wow!  R’s assortment was wonderful – he had an almond cookie, and a hazelnut very thin cookie (Katy, think Julia’s hazelnut cornacopia’s, and you’d have it!) along with a small square of brownie-like chocolate, and almost a tarte-like creamy cake.  My dessert was basically a round large-donut-sized circle of pastry, sliced in the middle and then filled with chocolate cream.  Sprinkled all over the top was powdered sugar and toasted almonds.  It was great but, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish it! 

 

My hamburger

R and his langoustino

...with all the parts...

R's Gravlax and guacamole

(At this point, I am now officially in trouble!  I’ve done something to the computer and really need to wake R up from his nap to fix it … hopefully I can keep going and save what I’ve already written!  We’ll just do that, shall we?)  [Problem solved.  I think there are just too many menu items in Microsoft Word for some people to deal with. – R]

 

From Vannes, we decided it was time to get our groceries back to the apartment, so on we came.  When we got here, I put the last load of wash in, and R worked on the computer.  I then promptly fell asleep on the couch in the living room, and woke to find R was missing – but softly snoring from the bedroom.  Nice relaxing day!

R's espresso and desserts!

Paris a Brest Chocolat!

Delicious!

 

We stopped on our way back to pick up croissants and pain-au-chocolats for tomorrow morning.  We will just need to finish packing up and then I think we’re about set to head to Paris!  So!  More tomorrow – from Paris!

 

Love to all!

m

xxx

 

 

 

We passed our TESTS!!

Bonjour!

 

We passed our TESTS!!  YEAH!  I’m sure everyone in the U.S. knows that to re-enter the States, one must produce a negative COVID test within 72 hours … Fortunately for us, Aurelie, the lovely lady that greeted us on our (LATE) night arrival in Carnac, had all the information we needed.  Apparently up to several weeks ago, there were many pharmacies doing Covid tests.  However, since that time, the pharmacies have apparently given back that business to official medical labs and centers.  So … Aurelie found a place where 1) we didn’t need an appointment; 2) anyone qualified; and 3) they were open Monday thru Saturday, 8 am – 12 noon.  So, this morning we were up at 6 and out the door about 6:30 am.  It only took about half an hour to get there, but it was a difficult half-hour.  First of all, it was dark and it was raining heavily, and the regular headlights on our lovely Peugeot were not too terrific – which meant that I had to do much of the trip with the brights on, just to be able to see the sides of the road.  We were the second and third in line for Covid.  There was a second line, but that apparently was for people getting testing done OTHER than Covid.  (Is there such a thing these days??)  The door swung open just a minute or so after 8, and in we went!  

Me & Great Soup

R's swordfish & potatoes

Great ham and cheese omelet!

R's teeny tiny cup of coffee!

 

The Covid clinic was very interesting.  It was not in a permanent structure – it was more like a large temporary metal room divided into two halves.  The first side was check-in, where they had two ladies working.  We needed to pay for our tests, (44.60€ each).   

We (of course) took longer for processing, but soon we were called for the actual testing, which took place in two spots next to the receptionists.  Then, once tested, out the farther door and fini!!  As I had never been tested before, I’m afraid I was a bit nervous, and the technician was very, very kind.  She asked me if I had ever had the test, and when I told her no, and that I was nervous, she smiled and told me to take a deep breath!  (Wow, does she know my number or what?) At any rate, the test was absolutely no problem at all!!  It wasn’t painful or anything; I was SO pleasantly surprised!  [Even so, I don’t particularly enjoy having people stick giant Q-tips up my nose. – R]  Then, back to the apartment in Carnac for breakfast – yummy pain-au-chocolat et croissants!  Can there ever be a better breakfast anywhere??

 

Second Gate

Lovely exterior corner -
not correct timewise, though!

Looking from the port

Exterior of Vieux Concarneau

While we got rained on this morning, by the time we got back to Carnac, the weather was looking decidedly better.  So, we decided to head to Concarneau, a bit further to the west toward Brest, to have lunch and see the town!  We had been there years ago, and I remembered it as quite lovely.  Oh!  I forgot to mention that the weather reports we had been looking at had a high-wind advisory … and boy, “they” weren’t messing around!  We have had occasion over the years to drive some very windy freeways – watching those “slab-sided vehicles” (usually trucks) would always prove interesting … it’s just that now our Peugeot was dancing around on the freeway as well!  Incredible wind!  

 

Made it into Concarneau and parked the car at the port.  Found a lovely small bistrot, l’Admiral, and went in for lunch.  I had a bowl of their wonderful home-made vegetable soup (definitely better than the out-of-the-box soup I had for dinner last night, but for some reason pre-prepared soups aren’t really big here in the supermarkets at any rate.  Does everyone make their own?!). That was followed by the first omelet I have had since our Late Dear Friend, Art Rotstein, made us breakfast one morning more than a Covid-lifetime ago!  Wow!  Robert ordered the local special of the day, which was Swordfish with a beurre blanc sauce, boiled fingerling potatoes and salad.  [Honestly, how does France do it?  I mean, they have the very best chickens on the planet – how do they also have the most tastetiful (my word; sorry!) potatoes?  Definitely NOT fair!]

Another stone gateway

Getting ready for Christmas!

Talk about deserted streets!

 

After lunch, we walked across the bridge to the Vieux Concarneau section of town.  This is a HUGE and lovely castle (dating from the 1600s) and surrounding walls entirely to itself on a small point of land.  It appears to us that basically Concarneau is getting ready to close up for the winter!  The stores were having sales and from what we read from the signage, it looks like things will be closing up effective December 1 – but for how long? At any rate, most everything tourist-related was closed up tight for Hiver (Winter).  I’m sure it will be lovely in the spring!  One added thing:  It looks to us like they plan to have a HUGE Christmas tree on the main square of the old section – except for the fact that the wind was SO strong, and obviously the tree hadn’t really been secured properly yet or decorated, it was tipped over on the ground!  That’s going to be one tall tree, if they can get it to stand up again! 

 

From Concarneau we decided to head back to the apartment.  The weather was really unsettled, with clouds scudding past with spits of rain alternating with spells of sunshine.  We stopped along the way to fill up the car with gas – one never knows on a Sunday in France, what may or may not be open!  And, by the time we got home – 3-ish or so, our test results were on our email!  Yeah!!  So, working my way back to how I started – We’re going to be able to get home on Tuesday!

Beautiful (but empty!) central square

Not warm enough for a fountain

Looking out into the bay

Lovely harbor

Me beside Christmas tree!

 

We have one more “sightseeing” day tomorrow, and then it’s packing up and heading to the airport on Monday.  We will turn the car in on Monday afternoon as well, at Charles de Gaulle, and then overnight at a Hilton near the airport.   Heading home Tuesday afternoon.  

 

So, Family and friends, that’s about it for today!  More tomorrow!

Love to all!

m

xxx

Black Friday?

Happy Friday!  

 

You know, the French don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but for some reason they still celebrate the Black Friday concept!

 

Beautiful Post-Aven

with mill stream running right through town!

An Idyllic Small Town

Up this morning about the usual time – 7-ish, still pitch black out (see note below), but definitely the promise of rain in the forecast.  We went out for our usual croissants and pain-au-chocolat; it was REALLY cold out!  3 degrees Celsius – about 37 degrees F – but also with the car’s thermometer, there was a little * snowflake symbol, and the warning about ice.  UGH!  Back to the apartment and our usual breakfast, but by the time we were ready to go out, it was raining … and raining… So, we decided that as we had no special plans for the day, we would stay nice and warm in our apartment for a bit and read our books!  

Pont-Aven harbor

Certainly they have enough rocks!

 

Weather seems to move very quickly here – one minute it’s pouring, and 5 minutes later there is sunshine! And, as R commented, even when it’s sunny it can also be raining.  I know in Hawaii they call that liquid sunshine – but not sure what they call it here! 

 

One of our favorite places in Brittany, from years long past, is Pont-Aven.  It’s a small harbor town with a beautiful main street and lovely houses.  There was also some sort of fine art connection (if I remember correctly) to Art Center, which sent me here at least once or twice.  So, decided we would head that way, which is west.  Truly lovely drive, both there and back!  Robert found some wonderful funky little roads, but had to be careful as there are so many inlets and not all of them have bridges … meaning that one could drive a very long way, only to be stopped by a very narrow and shallow body of water!  

Me freezing on the breezy bridge!

Great Houses!

Beautiful park!

And even a rainbow to end the day!

 

And, I must add here, that R, continues being the patient, wonderful man he always is!  I’ve got a bit of a “chippy tummy” (happens occasionally when we travel) and honestly, I wasn’t feeling a bit inclined to go out to dinner.  (Chippy tummies need things like scrambled eggs or soup – not pizza or beef steak!)  So, we went out to our local Lidl grocery store, and I was able to get several boxes of Knorr “12-vegetable soup”.  At the same time, R picked up pasta and sauce for himself.  So, we are now in for the night (when it’s supposed to rain a lot!) and then wind tomorrow!  On to Vannes, we’re thinking!

 

Lots of love,

m

xxx

 

A note about time: All of France is on European Time, which is one hour later that Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) – that is, England.  But Brittany is due south of England (actually west of London in longitude), so by rights, the time here should be GMT – an hour earlier than, say, Paris.  Sunrise tomorrow is about 8:30 European Time but, if the clocks in Brittany were set correctly, it would be 7:30.

Rocks Everywhere!

Dolmen Crucuno; note house next door?

Interior of Dolmen Crucuno

Parking spot for Neolithic fans!

Dolmen de Mane Kerianned

End of Dolmen de Mane Kerianned photos

Locmariaquer site

Two large pieces of broken menhir

Reconstructed tumulus

Wall engravings

More rock engravings

Interior of reconstructed tumulus