Marjorie goes to Paris and the Heart of France
a Rick Steves tour 2023
Days 11+
The journey home
My flight is at 10:30am, which is just a touch too early. Virginie recommends arriving 3 hours early for an international flight, so I'm leaving the hotel around 6. There are plenty of Parisians up and about this morning, but I'm too early for the hotel breakfast.
I take the RER train to the airport because it's the most economical choice for a single traveler. The train is a lot less crowded than it was when I arrived in Paris.
Three hours is a comfortable amount of time for long lines at check in, security, and passport control. But then I realize that I'll be spending more time in airports today than I spent yesterday in Giverny, and I feel pretty depressed. The Giverny withdrawals continue when I try to work on Claude on the airplane. With every stitch, I'm thinking about the beautiful country and the new friends I'm leaving behind. I am so undeniably sad that I have to stop stitching.
Jet lag check: I sleep a little on the short flight to London, but on the flight to Seattle I decide to stay awake. I get home in the early evening insanely tired, survive work the next day, but then spend the following day in bed. I can't figure out if I'm just tired, or if the lack of motivation comes from a serious case of vacation withdrawal.
A lovely flight home over Seattle and the San Juan Islands
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Flying home
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a final jet lag check
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keeping France in my heart
my flight to London has a bunch of Brits on their way home from Disneyland :-)
Epilogue
More than any other trip, leaving France has left a hole in my heart. But I've found a whole bunch of ways to fill it!
I brought back some cookies from Brittany, but they only last a few days. The best thing I can find at my local grocery store is a baguette.
Studying French on Duolingo
On a trip to Disney World in November, I have so much fun at the France Pavillion in Epcot.
Favorite moment: one of the cashiers says "Marjorie--that's a French name!"
I can't get enough of the France film in Epcot, and I watch it every day! Look at the scenes that capture my memories >
I think I've done a great job keeping France in my heart, even months after coming home. But what best fills the France-sized hole in my heart? Making this scrapbook! Assembling my memories, photos, souvenirs, and thoughts from my journal into this final product warms my soul. Thank you so much for letting me share it with you!
I found every recording on the Audio Europe app that features Virginie. I put my earphones on and walk around town, but I'm transported across the ocean and back with our tour group.
Visiting the D-Day Beaches has inspired me to learn my grandpa's WWII story. He enlisted in the Navy as soon he graduated high school (1943) and reported to duty when he turned 18 in September. He served close to home, working on ships at the dry docks in Bremerton, WA
I explored the library's app to find French literature. I read The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which reads like a love letter to Paris and Gothic architecture; The Elegance of the Hedgehog, written by and about women who spent too much of their adolescence studying philosophy (i.e. French women); and a book I actually liked, The Women of Chateau Lafayette. It's from an American author and tells the stories of women from three eras (American and French revolutions, WWI, and WWII) all united by this chateau in the French countryside.
