Ending a great trip is kind of like leaving your dearest love....the one who you know will always be there, but you never know when you will get to see them again.
And departure is pretty much uneventful, you get up, you get some breakfast, you go to the airport and then 'phhffft'......it all becomes just a beautiful memory.
But fate did put one pretty good dent in our departure day. As we were standing in line to check in, we were all ordered to leave the terminal because of a bomb scare. OK, typical NY'er (and from what I observed, probably typical Parisienne also), we were more annoyed than scared. Everyone took their sweet time exiting and vied to be closest to the original check-in line once the evacuation was over. Eventually, we were all deposited on the sidewalks outside and tried to get a handle on the situation.
Well, at least I got some entertainment during our wait. A few feet in front of us was a woman conversing with a sock puppet on her hand. Oh, this was a full-on conversation mind you. She even had the puppet talking into her cell phone and posing and taking pictures. I really wanted to get a photo of this little farce, but never did.
So this whole bomb scare was the result of a briefcase that had been left unattended. Hordes of policemen, security guards, bomb squads all descended upon the sad and lonely attache.
And then they blew it up.
A little piece of advice for you......don't forget your luggage a CDG.....you'll never see it again.
Somehow, we still managed to board the plane on time.
As I settled into my seat, I pulled out my little box from La Duree and bit into what was left of my chocolate and pistachio macarons from two days previous. My husband looked at me aghast and said "are you eating again?"
I replied, "No, I've been saving these last bites for just before we left Paris! I don't want our trip to end, and this is my way of tasting the last three weeks all over again."
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We've been back from France for nearly 8 months now. A lot has happened, and we still don't have cemented plans for our return this year. We still hold on to our dreams of owning a little gite or B&B somewhere in the south. This is ten to fifteen years in the future, but it's fun to think about it now. We've stayed in touch with Marie and Jerome and are looking forward to seeing them again. We've attempted to make Cassoulet (well, DH tried this, on his own...and we're still looking to perfect the recipe). I've cooked dinners from my Provence cookbooks, trying to recapture the magic of it all.
The exchange rate has gotten worse and airfares have gotten out of control. So, as of today, we are hoping to return in September.
In the meantime, even though I can't physically go to France...in a way, I am visiting there in my imagination.
I am in rehearsals now for the New York City Opera's spring production of Candide!
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