On Tuesday, July 15th, we left Eguisheim, France--just by the German border--and drove to Paris. It is not more than 4 or 5 hours, but we needed to get in to Paris in time to return our rental car and conclude some random unfinished business. So we cleaned up the gite we'd rented for the weekend as best as a stressed-out husband with a nauseous wife and 3 small children can, all the while trying to pack efficiently so we could get all of our stuff in the suitcases for the plane ride home. We made it out fairly early, like 8-ish or something, with the intent we would stop by the McDonald's outside of town and get breakfast there. Well, we got there, and guess what? McDonald's doesn't open until 9; we were about 20 minutes early. But there was no food that I could guarantee I could eat on the autoroute, so we sat in the drive through, just behind the barrier they put up, and waited. We got up to the window right at nine, confidently ordered our Egg McMuffins or whatever the French equivalent was, and oh, they were out of eggs. I think I almost cried. We ended up with these weird pancakes stuck together with cheese and something else forgettable. Not exactly the protein rush I was looking for to feed my nauseous stomach.
We made it without much event to the IKEA we had mapped out to stop at for lunch, and to pick up a lamp we had broken in our Paris apartment, that if our landlady replaced was going to cost 35 euros. It's actual price at IKEA? 3.50 euros. (At that time, the exchange rate was $1.60=1 euro) No brainer, right? We got out of the car and I got really sick and threw up in the parking lot. Special. We went straight in and got lunch in the cafeteria and it was great. It's pretty much the same menu they have in the states, and very family friendly, with a kids play area in the middle of the eating area. Heaven for kids who have been in a car--a very, very small car--for several hours. After an infusion of meatballs, potatoes and salmon, my stomach was ready to travel again. We set off downstairs to find our lamp. We found it without any problem and purchased it. We put it in the trunk with our suitcases, because there was not an inch to spare in the seating area of the car: we already had all these random bags full of stuff I just couldn't throw away yet or thought I'd find room to pack later. Ha.
So a few hours later, we stopped at a rest stop and Andy opened the hatch of the trunk to get out diapers or something. The lamp fell straight to the ground and broke. Looking back, it is actually really funny--something Elder Wirthlin would've laughed at. I didn't. I cried. I felt so defeated. Sick, lampless, tired from being up too late packing, immensely homesick. I couldn't get home soon enough.
We got into Paris. Paris is crazy to drive in. Still, somehow Andy got me and the kids safely to our friends'--the Shirtliff's--to hang out. The plan was he would check in at our hotel and drop the luggage off--all the stuff we'd been carrying around for 3 weeks. Then he was supposed to return the rental car, which was right by our Paris apartment, and finish up some business there (like return the lamp we no longer had) and last, ride the Metro back to Shirtliff's.
Meanwhile, the kids and I watched movies and chatted with the Shirtliff's and the 6 or so adult guests who were staying there right then and leaving the next morning, just like us. Except they had a non-stop flight to UT. Okay, I know that we still would've had to get on another plane in UT to get to AZ, but UT is so much closer to home the NY. I was definitely jealous. Amidst all the little mishaps, there were several little blessings, which were big, that were great. Like Sister Shirtliff, of course, offered to feed us dinner. It was so good, and I didn't have to make it, or find it or pay for it-- I had dreaded finding food for our family of 5 at the height of the Paris tourist season. We stashed some stuff in the laundry; I was able to release a little stress as I cried to Elaine that I was pregnant. (I was happy to be pregnant, just sick of being sick and in a foreign country).
Andy made it back later than I expected. And he had not-so-good news. It took him an hour and half just to get back to the hotel. The rental car was due in 45 minutes. Consumed with worry that he wouldn't get the car back in time, he checked in and carried in only the 2 largest suitcases, leaving all the small bags and smaller suitcases in the car. He sped to the rental car place, and made it in a mere 15 minutes. He returned it, ran the errands and then headed back on the Metro with all this random luggage we still had with us. I was depressed. I had no idea how we were going to get all that luggage, plus the stuff we still needed to pick up at our friends'--Chris and Brittany's--that we had stored there 3 weeks earlier, because it wouldn't fit in our rental car. But there was no other option. You do what you have to do, so we threw away all the random stuff from the bags we'd been carrying around--stuff like ostrich sausage and cheese, opened rice containers, cereal and chip bags etc. We said our goodbyes and headed off into the still-bright Paris night, fully loaded.
More tomorrow.
We made it without much event to the IKEA we had mapped out to stop at for lunch, and to pick up a lamp we had broken in our Paris apartment, that if our landlady replaced was going to cost 35 euros. It's actual price at IKEA? 3.50 euros. (At that time, the exchange rate was $1.60=1 euro) No brainer, right? We got out of the car and I got really sick and threw up in the parking lot. Special. We went straight in and got lunch in the cafeteria and it was great. It's pretty much the same menu they have in the states, and very family friendly, with a kids play area in the middle of the eating area. Heaven for kids who have been in a car--a very, very small car--for several hours. After an infusion of meatballs, potatoes and salmon, my stomach was ready to travel again. We set off downstairs to find our lamp. We found it without any problem and purchased it. We put it in the trunk with our suitcases, because there was not an inch to spare in the seating area of the car: we already had all these random bags full of stuff I just couldn't throw away yet or thought I'd find room to pack later. Ha.
So a few hours later, we stopped at a rest stop and Andy opened the hatch of the trunk to get out diapers or something. The lamp fell straight to the ground and broke. Looking back, it is actually really funny--something Elder Wirthlin would've laughed at. I didn't. I cried. I felt so defeated. Sick, lampless, tired from being up too late packing, immensely homesick. I couldn't get home soon enough.
We got into Paris. Paris is crazy to drive in. Still, somehow Andy got me and the kids safely to our friends'--the Shirtliff's--to hang out. The plan was he would check in at our hotel and drop the luggage off--all the stuff we'd been carrying around for 3 weeks. Then he was supposed to return the rental car, which was right by our Paris apartment, and finish up some business there (like return the lamp we no longer had) and last, ride the Metro back to Shirtliff's.
Meanwhile, the kids and I watched movies and chatted with the Shirtliff's and the 6 or so adult guests who were staying there right then and leaving the next morning, just like us. Except they had a non-stop flight to UT. Okay, I know that we still would've had to get on another plane in UT to get to AZ, but UT is so much closer to home the NY. I was definitely jealous. Amidst all the little mishaps, there were several little blessings, which were big, that were great. Like Sister Shirtliff, of course, offered to feed us dinner. It was so good, and I didn't have to make it, or find it or pay for it-- I had dreaded finding food for our family of 5 at the height of the Paris tourist season. We stashed some stuff in the laundry; I was able to release a little stress as I cried to Elaine that I was pregnant. (I was happy to be pregnant, just sick of being sick and in a foreign country).
Andy made it back later than I expected. And he had not-so-good news. It took him an hour and half just to get back to the hotel. The rental car was due in 45 minutes. Consumed with worry that he wouldn't get the car back in time, he checked in and carried in only the 2 largest suitcases, leaving all the small bags and smaller suitcases in the car. He sped to the rental car place, and made it in a mere 15 minutes. He returned it, ran the errands and then headed back on the Metro with all this random luggage we still had with us. I was depressed. I had no idea how we were going to get all that luggage, plus the stuff we still needed to pick up at our friends'--Chris and Brittany's--that we had stored there 3 weeks earlier, because it wouldn't fit in our rental car. But there was no other option. You do what you have to do, so we threw away all the random stuff from the bags we'd been carrying around--stuff like ostrich sausage and cheese, opened rice containers, cereal and chip bags etc. We said our goodbyes and headed off into the still-bright Paris night, fully loaded.
More tomorrow.
1 comment:
Oh the Saga Going Homeward. Can't wait to hear more!
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