Paris, Thursday October 16

It’s our last night in France, and we’re at a hotel near the Charles De Gaulle airport, just north of Paris. We were able to wander around Dijon a bit in the morning before starting our train/bus/shuttle trip that got us here just before supper time.

 With the weekend getting closer, we decided to see if there was any more action in the market hall than there was the last time we looked. Yes, there was, though it still wasn’t going at capacity. But these cheeses were certainly well worth capturing a view of.

As were these mushrooms.

Then as we walked along the street came this sign, one  of  many in a shop window.

Translation

Theory, it's when you understand everything and nothing works.

Practice, it's when everything works but you don’t know why.

Here, we have succeeded at both:

Nothing works

and

Nobody knows why.

Yours for 27 Euros!

Then a stop at the tourist bureau to pick up a few pamphlets, for us and to bring home to give to one of Sue Anne’s companions from their long ago Dijon adventure.

The office is in part of the palace of the Dukes of Burgundy. Not bad digs.

Here’s a chapel in a room next door.

Two more scenes from a shop window, this shop illustrating all the delicious? offerings of electronic cigarettes. They are all over the place here!

And we’ll wrap up our final walk around  Dijon with this sign from a shop that’s now out of business. Perhaps L’Académie Française clamped down on them?

Then, not illustrated, we stopped at a kabob place for a delicious Doner Kabob sandwich, checked out of the hotel, and trundled our bags down the cobblestones to the railroad station.

It was a two hour ride on the TGV train to Paris Gare de Lyon, with just one or two stops. Nice views along the way, especially the view of Lac Kir, a recreational area just outside of Dijon. It was originally named Lac Artificiel, out of pride for their having constructed it, and then was renamed in honor of the mayor. Best known for his heroism as a member of the French Resistance, he is also immortalized as the creator of the cocktail named Kir.

A large, husky man sitting across from us on the train with his little daughter voluntarily picked up our bags and put them up in the overhead rack, a task that would have been very difficult for the vertically challenged likes of us. Then when we arrived in Paris he took them down and carried both of them to the vestibule at the end of the car. And to top things off, as we were about to part ways at the end of the platform, he sent his daughter over to give us each a goodbye hug!

Nice.

Signs told us that there was a bus shuttle to the airport, which was a welcome relief from the expectation of a subway ride with luggage, followed by another train ride. We had been to these stations before and knew that they had no elevators or escalators. The signs however were not very helpful in telling us where to find the shuttle. But we finally succeeded. A few more questions to ask once we arrived, since the hotels are all off the airport proper and served by their own shuttle routes. But it all worked  out, we’re here, we had a good supper, and tomorrow we fly back to Boston via a rather long layover in Dublin. But now most of the decisions and the hassles are behind us.

Now a quick flashback to Dijon

L'Eglise Saint Benigne is one of Dijon's many churches. The façade is stone and the roof colorful glazed tiles in a eye catching pattern.

Yesterday I drew this tiny carousel, dated 1900. I liked the airplane labeled Le Petit Prince.  There is a streetcar and a rooster too. And the usual horses.

 I was pondering on carousels and why we parents wave every time our child or children pass by. We are saying “I will always be here for you as you go off into the world on your many adventures”.  And the children always wave to say “Here I am, I have not forgotten you”.

We’re not done with the blog. We plan to wrap things up in a day or two, after we get settled at home. Don’t go away.