First off lest anyone feel too sorry for my, this was my fourth trip to Paris. BUT it was in some respects the trip from hell. Saturday we were to fly from Birmingham to Cincinnati and then catch a connecting flight from Cincinnati to Paris. Our plane had mechanical difficulties and it was determined that by the time we got to Cincinnati, the plane to Paris would be gone. So we were diverted to Atlanta.
In Atlanta there was an Air France flight that we were going to get on. Well, the Atlanta airport had been shut down for six hours on Friday and they were backed up. They could take 4 of us but not all 8 of us. So, Delta gave us vouchers for meals and hotel room for the evening----there was just one catch----Delta couldn't find our luggage. So, we spent the night in Atlanta and left on Sunday for Paris not knowing if we would have luggage when we got there.
We arrived in Paris early Monday morning and (one stroke of luck we had) miraculously our luggage was at the Paris airport. Thankfully, we went to the hotel and changed from the clothes we had been wearing for three days. By now it was lunch time, so we had lumch and that afternoon I did get to go to Sainte Chapelle (a chapel with perhaps the most beautiful stained glass windows in all of Europe). Monday was probably one of the coldest days I remember anywhere ever. That evening we took a dinner cruise down the Seine River, where I had too much wine to drink and vaguely remember dancing with a Brazilian fellow.
Tuesday, (our only full day in Paris) we went to the Musee d'Orsay (I love French impressionists) that morning and then I spent the afternoon at the Rodin Museum.
I was determined this time to do a couple of things I had not done before (Sainte Chapelle and the Rodin Museum). This morning I began the 9 hour flight (OK Yorrick not as far as Australia I know) to Atlanta. I get to Atlanta, and low and behold, if my luggage is not lost once again. I am told to go on back to Birmingham and report it there, which I did. I am still luggageless (Delta is promising I will get it back-----we will see).
I'm heading to bed now because my body has no clue what time it is. Keep your fingers crossed that my luggage will miraculously surface once again. For all the Americans, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Moiraine, you would have been proud of me, spoke alot of French. In fact, my taxi driver out to the airport this morning was Morrocan and we chatted all the way to the airport in French-----and he swore he could understand me-----or maybe he just wanted a good tip.
