Leaving Day

Monday was our final day.  I had been in Europe since June 27 and Reginald since May 24.  Now it was time to return to Paris for one night and then back to Memphis.  Gabi drove us to Prague airport for our flight and went on to see our old Memphis Czech friends, Vytek and Paulina.  She was planning to spend the day with them.

Once we got to CDG, we took the bus to our hotel nearby.  We rested and made plans for our last evening.  We wanted to spend it with Josephine in Paris and eat at Chez Andre.  After several attempts, we were finally able to get Josephine on the phone and made plans.

It was cheaper to take the RER to Paris, so we left around 5.  Still that took an hour since we had to take the bus to the station before catching the train.  Once there, we descended at Chatelet, probably the busiest metro and RER stop in the whole city.  We just ascended at the closest exit and found "Les Halles."  What we did not know was that there is a big restoration of Les Halles going on now.  We made our way to the Louvre and took the metro to Franklin Roosevelt station to walk the rest of the way.  Just as we neared Josephine's place, we had a downpour and ducked into the Plaza Athenee Hotel.  I must say that I was not impressed at all.  The Peabody lobby has much more to offer!

Eventually, we made it to Josephine's, had a drink, and then left for the restaurant.  We sat in a lovely corner of the restaurant and had a very typical French meal.  I had endives with roquefort followed by poulet frites.  Reginald had the endives also with a steak tartar.  Josphine is not eating much but took the shrimp entree.  Afterward, we walked her home.  Of course, the main topic for the evening was Bruno, whom we all miss.

We took a taxi back to the hotel since it was late and we could not face the RER again!  Now it was time to pack up and leave France.  We don't know when we will return, but we know that this summer was a special one.