On the Road Again

Yes, believe it or else, we are back in the traveling mode. We arrived in France last Sunday, after reasonably pleasant flights on Delta Airlines – St. Louis to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Paris. Picked up a car, drove to Mary and Gilles for a quick visit with their family, then to our French “home away from home.” Very nice to be back!

We decided to give this a go when, a few months ago, we read that France and other European countries were considering opening up to vaccinated travelers. We knew that might not happen, but airlines were allowing cost-free changes so we figured we didn’t have anything to lose; if France didn’t open up, we’d just re-schedule to next year. In the event, France did open up to vaccinated travelers, ended some pretty draconian quarantine measures, and said, “C’mon over.” So we are!

First, a quick update: five days in St. Louis!

St. Louis

This is our first time in St. Louis and, we think, first time in Missouri, which is commonly pronounced “Missoura” and even more commonly pronounced “Misery.” Currently second-lowest of all states in vaccination rates, it has one of the highest COVID infection rates in the country. St. Louis just reintroduced a mask mandate for all indoor places and public transportation, which the county council immediately voted to overturn, to cheering and applause in the council chambers. Idiots.

Craig and Annie and the grandkids moved here in early July because Annie has taken a position with a biotech company that has labs here and works with the university. She is totally excited about her new company and the many new things she’s going to learn there. Craig likes having a house that doesn’t require major repairs all the time.

They live in a lovely area of Kirkwood, a suburb of St. Louis proper. Their street is lined with beautiful old trees, and the houses are a mix of older ones built in the 1950s, and newer ones that have replaced older ones. All very nicely done, so the neighborhood has a nice feel. There is an excellent downtown area within easy walking distance, with lots of good restaurants and shops and a seven-day-a-week farmers’ market. All very nice; Craig and Annie and Clara and Henry are happy to be there.

Moves are, of course, not ever trouble-free, and this one was no exception. Due to be delivered about July 2nd or 3rd, the furniture and household goods arrived the day after we arrived, July 26. So we got put to work; my job was to take the empty boxes to the garage, pull out all the paper packing and break the boxes down flat. I ended up with a lot of paper, and Henry and Clara had some fun with it. Here’s a picture of Henry being thrown into the pile; he loved it!

Henry in the air

And here’s the new abode. Quite a change from their Elmsford house, which was about 40% the size and 60 years older!

Last Sunday we said goodbye – for now – to St. Louis and headed to the airport. Honestly, for the first time in a long time, I was a little anxious about this: first international trip since COVID so we didn’t know the process, new airline (Delta – hadn’t ever flown Delta internationally), new airport, didn’t know how we were going to contact the car place in France to have them come to pick us up. Of course, it all worked out fine: the Delta agent in St. Louis was an absolute delight, checked vaccination records and other necessary forms, didn’t weigh our bags (always a worry because 3 months of clothes put us near the 51 lb limit on all three bags), “forgot” to charge us for our extra suitcase, then both of us got TSA Pre-check (Laurie has had some problems with this even though we have Global Entry), so security took a full three minutes or so.

Now, arrival at Charles De Gaulle (still called its old name of Roissy by every French person) was a little less fun. Thirty-five minutes to go through passport control – and when we got in line, it looked as if it was going to be much longer than that, and a bit of a hassle getting someone to call the car place. Remember, our phones don’t work in France until we put our French SIMs in them, and the SIMs were at Mary and Gilles’ house, so we couldn’t just dial the place. But a wonderful lady at the Air France baggage services called them, told them we were there and that they needed to send a car. Merci beaucoup, Madam!

Got the car, drove to Mary & Gilles for a quick visit, went to our cottage, where Penny and Pierre (our hosts but much more importantly, great friends) had us and Mary and Gilles over for champagne and cheese and birthday cake for Mary. We could not have had a better welcome back to France.

In case you’re wondering, we’re in Bois-le-Roi, a town of about 6,000 folks, 50 km or so south of Paris. Real Soon Now, I’ll post pictures so you can see it. In the meantime, here’s our French “home-away-from-home,” where we’ll reside for two and a half months, except for a few rambles we have planned:

We’re here! We are very happy to be here! Four bottles of champagne down, many to go.

P.S. Started the 2021 cheese log