Really The Last Vacation entry...

I fell asleep in Indiana Jones, reminding me why I rarely go to movies anymore. The girls enjoyed SITC.

On June 18 we took the communter train (R and R) to Versailles. It was amazing --even bigger than Villa Cipora, but more gaudily decorated. We walked through the rooms, and it occurred to me --Marie Antoinette was right --the place IS too nice for poor people. It must have driven her to drink --having them track mud through the marble floors.

We walked through the gardens anfound a lovely cafe, where we had sandwiches. The day was gorgeous!

We took the train back to Paris, and chatted the entire trip with a graduate student who had studied at Furman University in South Carolina. She and D1 talked about accents, and dialects. I asked her how people afford Paris prices, and she told me none of her friends shop in the city --the prices are more bearable in the suburbs.

We had dinner in the Latin Quarter at a cafe, and then spent the most lovely 2 hours of the trip --in Luxemborg Garden. If there is a more delightful park in the world, I don't know where it is.

The sun was out, and the air was soft in the late Spring. Lovers were on the lawn smooching, and children ran around gaily, with peals of laughter.

D2 and I walked over to an enormous head sculpture (Parisians seem to have a thing for these --we saw many enormous head sculptures) and took some photos.

We walked back to D1, and sat and observed some more. The people were savoring the weather. It seemed everyone was smiling. If I could paint, I'd have captured the scene forever.

We took a bus home to Rue Bac, and then went to the hotel. We sat in the lobby bar and had tea and hot chocolate --talking of our adventures.

The next morning, a very nice Cambodian-French driver returned us to Charles DeGaulle, and we met the first and only nasty Frenchman of the trip --an American Airlines gate agent, who delighted in telling us we'd have to wait in a separate line to pay a special tax that was incurred when our tickets were upgraded to Business Class, and AA forgot to charge us. I muttered something about how he'd have been great in the Vichy government, and we walked away.

The 10 hour flight to Miami went surprisingly quickly, with many meals and movies.

Auf Wiedersehen and Au Revoir, Summer, 2008 Euro Trip.

As we reluctantly say goodbye to the Continent, we think back of the memories we'll forever of the time we spent there...