It has been a relatively mild day here in Moscow, grey of course, but the temperatures were just above freezing. Cindy tried her new routine of taking the bus so that she might sleep a few extra minutes. It seemed to work for her, but I was wide awake at five thirty - the normal time we get up - and just laid there quiet as a church mouse until the alarm went off at 6:20, at which point I jumped out of bed -much to the surprise of Cindy.
Once everything was cleaned up and I had sorted the emails, I decided to attack the car, which was buried under six inches of snow. My, what a surprise awaited me when I tried to open the door; everything was coated with two inches of solid ice. From what I could tell, it appears that it snowed, and then we must have had freezing rain and then another layer of snow. It took me an hour to get the car free of all the ice and snow and then, just like when I learned to drive, I drove around the parking lot to make sure that all systems were working well. Cindy now has a back-up just in case she misses the bus this week.
In looking back at our long holiday, I would have to say that the highlight was our all too brief time in Charles Town. I had forgotten that Cindy had not been home since we left on August 2nd. I had been back two times and therefore had seen some of the grandkids, some of the kids and lots of the house. She was just tickled to be back in our own room with our own big bed and a house full of family. Megan and grandson Blake were at the house when we arrived, as were Colin and Meagan who had moved in the week before. They had gotten a lovely tree and had the tree as well as the whole house decorated for Christmas. Our flight had been several hours late so we got home just before dark and the Christmas spirit was alive and well in the house, as was the party. Not sure where we summoned the energy but Colin was outside grilling steaks, the two Megs were assembling salads and other foods, while at the same time plying us with Champagne as we played with Blake and Hannah. After an evening filled with laughter, wine, great food and catching up, we staggered up to bed and collapsed for about nine hours.
We spent the next several days taking long walks - runs for Cindy - and catching up with family and friends. Darling Megan had to leave early on Monday so we only had a few days with her, but they were intense and filled with fun. Colin and I did a heaping helping of cooking and we really enjoyed ourselves. He is an accomplished cook but defers to me once in awhile, which allows me to avoid peeling the veggies. We had lots of great meals with marvelous wines; in fact, I had Champagne every day I was there. I’ve attached some food and family photos here for your entertainment. In addition to family meals, we had a small cocktail party for our neighbors and their kids to thank them for all they do to watch over the house while we are gone.
The afternoon of the cocktail party Cindy’s mother, aka EllaMom, flew in from the Twin Cities. Colin and Meagan drove to Dulles to get her while Cindy and I drove to a little French restaurant about thirty minutes from the house to pick up our two Buche de Noels which we had ordered as a special holiday treat. We also did some last minute shopping for the party and we got back to the house just as everyone else got back from the airport and started yet another happy reunion with toasts all around. The party was a roaring success and it was lovely to have a house full of people and young kids, all of whom were dressed to the nines and on their very best behavior, at least when they were upstairs with the adults. I did have go down to the theater room once and give them my stern grandfatherly lecture on what should and shouldn’t happen at a party, but for the most part they were all angels and were rewarded with little Christmas gifts from Moscow.
Christmas came and went in a flash and all too soon it was time for us to repack for the trip back to Europe. We had brought two large suitcases, empty, from Moscow and we filled them with essentials that we can’t find here. On the twenty-seventh Colin drove EllaMom and her tiny little carry-on and the two of us with our four bags and two little carry ons, back to Dulles. EllaMom’s flight was just about an hour before ours so we were able to make sure she was safe and sound at her gate and well taken care of before we headed to our United flight to Paris. After the long flight from Moscow to Dulles, this one seemed like a really short milk run. With strong tailwinds we made the trip in only seven hours and were outside the airport with luggage by seven. We piled all our stuff into a taxi and had him take us to the airport Hyatt where I had made arrangements to store the luggage until we returned on the seventh. Freed from the heavy burden we hopped back in the taxi for the ride to our hotel in Montmartre.
As expected, our room wasn’t ready so we walked around Sacre Coeur, early enough to be the only ones on the hill and in the square. After about an hour of walking we headed for a café and had coffee and croissants, but what we really wanted was a shower and some sleep. Hoping our room might be ready we headed back to the hotel stopping once to fortify ourselves with another coffee at our local bistro. No luck on the room being ready; this is a very small ten-bedroom hotel with one staff member to clean each room. So we sat in a small room that the family that runs the hotel uses for their dining room and we waited for our friends, who had arrived two days before, to show signs of life. We finally spotted them coming up in their PJs to return the breakfast trays and arranged to meet them at the Bistro at noon. We went out for another walk and got our second wind in time to join everyone for lunch. It turned out to be a very long and lovely lunch with lots of Kirs, oysters, wine, more oysters and frites and then whatever their specials were with more wine. By the time we returned to the hotel, our bags had been placed in our room and Cindy and I collapsed for two hours. The room was small - we knew it would be - but it was clean and had a big window. What is didn’t have was a proper shower. It was just this little three-foot long tub with two humps in the bottom. Getting clean each day was an exciting challenge.
We ate and drank our way around Paris with our friends for six days with lots of walks and tours all over the place. We took buses and trains and would wander all around as our mood dictated. Sometimes we had a destination in mind but that almost never worked; most of the time it was just spur of the moment stuff, which always seemed to work. When in doubt we would all head in different directions and rendezvous for drinks at the bistro. Our last day together involved a long walk down the famous streets of downtown Paris to see the lovely lights and decorations and to marvel at the glorious day. We said our goodbyes over Champagne in one of the rooms; they had an early flight to the States and ours was several hours later that morning.
We flew to Porto out of Orly Airport and I must say, it has grown a lot since my last visit. It is a very nice place, not as hard to navigate as Charles De Gaulle, and seems to be much more efficient. We were flying on TAP, the official airline of Portugal, and we were very much impressed with every aspect of the two flights we had with them: clean, modern airplanes staffed by smiling and attentive staff. On the way back to Paris, we landed at Orly but had to take a train to Charles De Gaulle. What a fiasco that turned out to be. We had purchased our tickets before leaving for Porto and we stood in line awaiting the train. I had thought it would be a special train with places for luggage and nice seats, but it was just an old Metro train that made fifteen stops before going non-stop from Gard du Nord to CDG. It stopped twice at CDG, first at Terminal 1 and 3, which is called Roissy Port and then to Terminal 2. It seems that things have changed a lot in the past six months and the bus we were used to taking from Terminal 2 to the Hyatt no longer exists so we had to go all the way back to Roissy Port to await a shuttle bus to the Hyatt. This added an additional hour to our journey, which meant that it took twenty minutes longer to go from Orly to the Hyatt than it did to fly from Porto to Paris!
We settled into our room at the Hyatt and headed to the club where we had some wine and snacks before walking across the parking lot to one of the ‘modest’ eating establishments. These are big chains that are all over France and we chose the Courtepaille, which is a great place to have a decent meal without spending a fortune. We had our last French fix: Kir Royals, paté, duck confit, fish brochette, and Rosé wine before heading back to the hotel for a wonderful night’s sleep. We flew on LOT, Polish National Airlines, and again we were wonderfully impressed. They accepted all of our luggage without any additional fees, and then we waited in the Star Alliance lounge where we had a great breakfast. We flew to Warsaw and enjoyed the service and the smiles. It was a small Embraer 170, which was spacious and comfortable, and always on time. It was a lovely way to end a fantastic holiday.
Ciao, Cindy and Wm
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