On to Paris

Monday morning the Whitten and Gilmour families moved out. We were all taking the same plane to Paris. Tim told us to just take a cab. I had found what seemed to be a taxi gathering place on our street - to call it's a taxi stand would be giving it too much stature. The problem was that twice when we went by, there were cabs and once NO CABS and I needed a large cab or two small ones. Tim had also warned us that sometimes they tried to rip off tourists.

The plan was that I would walk out and get the cab. The thing that made me nervous was that I didn't have a plan B. I realized during this, that I always have a plan B.

We decided that we would go to the airport early and have breakfast there. That way there was time to wait for cabs to arrive. It turned out that I had worried for nothing. My next problem was to convince the cabbies to let me take the second cab in line because it was a large one. Much talking and gesturing. My cabbie got the point and started explaining to the first guy. I then had to get him to make a u turn and go to our apartment and pull up on the side of the road where everyone was waiting so that they didn't have to drag everything across the street. I really am good at this, even if I do say so myself! We got to the airport and he charged us the amount that we had been told would be the base with luggage added on. No add on. I gave him a nice tip.

The bride's parents brought the Gilmours. We all met up at our gate and were able to arrange the seats so that the kids got to sit with their friends and I sat with Maggie and Larry.

Our apartment is great. We are all really pleased and I would rent this one again. The living room. The red couch pulled out and the kids shared it.




An adjoining room with a table and single bed. This was my room. There were boxes of games that the kids really liked.


Kitchen



Master bedroom


Bathroom that NEVER turned into a swamp - one of my pet peeves in France.


Separate toilet room.
Very fragile table place exactly where someone exiting the bedroom would fall over it. Notice it only has two legs. When we moved in, it was attached to the wall with two nails just at the ends. Alec took it apart and fastened it more securely. We managed to leave it in one piece.


Very narrow elevator. Alec wore his backpack on and couldn't turn around. To get the suitcases up and down was tricky, but we have played this game before. Load up suitcases with one person, send them up. Call it back, load just suitcases and call it from the apartment floor. Repeat as many times as necessary.


We went to la vauban for dinner. This is right behind Les Invalides and Chuck and I had eaten there a couple of times. Everyone liked their dinner and except for some burping were very well behaved.

Afterward, Branwen and Jef went back to the apartment and Alec, Calder and I walked over to the Eiffel tower to find out what time it opened in the morning. We ran into Larry who had come over to take pictures, so we all hung out together until it started to sparkle.



Home to bed.