Off to Paris and Home

 [22-23 April]

We were packed and ready to go by 9:00am. After last-minute tidying up we left the apartment keys on the table, hauled our bags down the two flights of stairs and walked the 10 minutes or so to the train station. Our train was on time and we got right on board without jostling with crowds. 

The train ride back to Lyon was smooth and quick and we enjoyed the scenery just as much as on our way to Annecy. We made a point of looking out for the Gorges du Fier on our way out of town. That was pretty cool.

Our train arrived in Lyon on time and since we had a couple of hours before our connection to Paris we grabbed a bite of lunch.

Our TGV high-speed train to Paris arrived on schedule at platform G and boy was it packed!. Our luck held out though and our assigned coach stopped right in front of where we were standing! We walked on, stowed our bags and headed up to the top deck and our seats.

The ride was fast, really fast, and we pulled into the Gare de Lyon in Paris on time (5:00pm). After making our way out of the station we called for an Uber and off through Paris rush-hour traffic to Charles de Gaulle Airport and our hotel for the night.

Our driver dropped us off at Terminal 3, and we walked the few hundred meters to our hotel where we spent the night. It gave us an opportunity to recharge our batteries (i.e., have a glass of wine and a tasty last meal in France) before the next day of flying west and home. 

fish and chips for me

chicken Caesar salad for Susie

Up early and out of the hotel we walked to the nearby CDGVAL inter-terminal train and got off at Terminal 2E. After checking in we made our way through the never-ending security/passport control stations before finding our gate in the new concourse M.

Our flight to Detroit took just a shade over 8 hours and we arrived a bit early. Oh, and we did skip the onboard food service, thank you very much. It looked terrible. 

We were now in hoofing stage since our transfer time was short, only about 1 hour 40 minutes. Since we were coming into the USA from elsewhere we had to claim our bags and go through security again. We first zipped through passport control (thank you Global Pass!), grabbed our bags, handed them off to the re-check luggage people and then through that last security check. It was then darting from concourse A to B, but we made it with plenty of time to spare for our flight to Grand Rapids and home.

Our kind neighbor Don Trap was waiting for us as soon as we landed. 

After leaving Paris that morning we were back in our home in Michigan that same day. Complaining about queueing and waiting and the stress of flying, all perfectly understandable, really pales next to that simple fact. 

It's good to be home.