We took the TGV from Avignon back to Paris on Saturday AM with only a small hitch finding the TGV station in Avignon. But, on the plus side we did see many of the small streets in the center of Avignon that we would not have seen without the detour, of course nerves were not so long and there were some short words exchanged during the debacle, but after 16 nights with the three of us being together I think we did quite well.
We arrived in Paris around noon and got quickly settled in our VERY SMALL hotel room by the train station. We realized upon check-in just how lucky we had been with our accommodations throughout this trip - this "quad room" was TINY. There were 2 double beds (hence quad as four people could have laid down there), and literally NO place to walk or stash bags or anything else and the bathroom was no better. After "settling in", we tried to make determinations of what we were going to ship back to the states vs. try to cram in our suitcases, then headed off to find the one and only FEDEX office in Paris. We jumped on the metro with our bags of stuff and found the FEDEX fairly quickly with help from our hotel front desk man.
We didn't quite understand how "shipping" from a foreign country works... Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork - and oh by the way, nothing flammable (like perfume) can go in the box, and food items need to be "sealed and packaged" yada, yada, yada... And, customs may decide to take anything out of the box and you will never see it again... Yikes! Plus, we had ALOT of stuff and with Mighty Hunter's account we couldn't ship such a big box with a discount - HOLY EXPENSIVENESS. But, we were tired, hot and ready to just get on with the day so charge us whatever and let's get out of here! Hopefully it will all be intact in Colorado in a few days.
From FEDEX, we jumped back on the metro and headed back to our original stomping grounds, Ile St Louis, to finally have the famous Berthillon ice cream and do some final chocolate shopping for Travis and Lloyd. Once on the Ile, the lines for ice cream were crazy and it was really crowded, so we quickly bought some chocolat and headed to our favorite cafe to get some grub. Geesh, we had forgotten how cute Michael (owner of the cafe) was... The cafe personnel was happy to see us safely back and sporting a bit of color from the sunny south of France, and served us up some sandwhiches and drinks.
It was weird being back in Paris, so different from arriving the first day, it almost seemed very familiar and like we belonged there. So, from the cafe we headed on back to the hotel to do our final packing, enjoy some champagne, and comtemplate our trip. It was a nice night on our balcony just reminiscing and reliving all the fun and not so fun events of the 16 nights enjoying a bottle of sparkling rose from Provence.
None of us slept well, it was a noisy hotel too! And we decided to spring for a cab to the airport instead of hassling with the metro and RER and train changes etc. to get to the airport. It is amazing at the end of the trip when you are tired and run down and want to go home how money just doesn't seem as important anymore... Things (like the cab) we would have considered frivolous when we first arrived just seemed to be so necessary and worth any cost at the end. The trip to the airport and the plane ride itself were really uneventful and we landed back in the land of the free with no issues.
First things first in Chicago - A CHEESEBURGER! We were starved and nothing sounded better than a greasy Chili's cheeseburger - how american. It was so weird to be surrounded so suddenly with people speaking english that within a half hour or so it was almost as if we had never been in France. I thought I would be saying oui or other french terms for at least a week, but they vanished in the blink of an eye - it was actually sort of bittersweet.
It was nice to be home and see our significant others and our dogs and cats, and most of all to sleep in our own beds! I was recently reminiscing about the trip with a couple of "Francophiles" and realized how much fun it was and how much I can't wait to go back! My biggest issue is my desire to see other places too, conflicting with my desire to be back in France - just too many places to explore and not enough time or money. For now, my dreams and squeaking in a trip every other year will have to be enough, but come early retirement the sky is the limit!
Thanks to Sandy and Shan for making this a great experience with great friends, it was a trip none of us will ever regret or forget and likely not get to take again alone (husbands have decided they want to go too). Thanks also to all the great information provided on slow travel and the wonderful blogs by other slow travelers!
