23 May Paris

   Today we slept in.  Our tour is officially over with Rick Steves but several from the group have stayed on, most going to Versailles this morning.  John decided he didn't want to go and I have been there before.  It is a nice castle and all  but there are many others to see!  We were happy about our decision the way our day went and because the others told us it was very crowded there due to the four day weekend for most Parisians, well maybe most French.  I woke early but managed to fall back to sleep and we made it down for "breakfast" about 10am.  Noe and Sara, Ron and Becky were waiting for their shuttle as they fly home today.  Scott and Geordine also slept in but told us of the 7pm group plan to meet in the lobby and go someplace for dinner.  Meanwhile we have repacked our clothing, books, maps, etc. and we depart for the Royal Regency in Vincennes to leave some things until we return from the cousins and Provence.  As we left for that outing we also bid farewell to Keith and Karen as they left on the Metro at  the same time to take the shuttle to CDG airport.  Our trip to the Royal Regency (timeshare) was a bit longer than we hoped, not the Metro part (15-20 minutes) but the walk after getting off the Metro.  I suppose it would not have seemed as long if it was not raining and we knew where we were going.  Finally we found the place and all the staff was quite friendly and nice.  They stored one suitcase and one very stuffed backpack for us.  That leaves us with one suitcase and my tote, plus a small back pack and my purse.  We do have an expansible bag in the suitcase too.  On our Metro trips we experienced some really great music today! 

   After leaving there we rode the bus back to the Metro station to head back into Paris.  This was fine but we had to use 2 tickets because we couldn't determine if we could get a transfer.  I think we should have received a transfer but again there was a communication gap.  Actually we used 3 tickets because we stopped at Gare de Lyon (one train station of several in Paris) where we will depart tomorrow for the cousins.  The third time we stood in line we actually got someone to help us and our pass is validated and we paid the extra needed to upgrade us from 2nd class to 1st class for this one trip only (E$110.40) to Perpignan.  I am glad we didn't put this off until tomorrow as it took quite some time, well over an hour.  I believe we could have had a first class pass each for what we paid in the one upgrade, live and learn.  Also, had I made that particular and most popular reservation earlier I may have gotten it in second class.  Again, a learning experience.  We then back toward the hotel stopping to buy some fruit and a sweet item from the bakery.  We had a half cheese sandwich as we worked out the Rail Pass issues so we were hungry by then at 5pm.  We are to meet some of the group in the lobby for dinner at 7pm but I am sure we will be hungry again by then. 

   We had a group of 8 for dinner tonight; Scott and Geordine, Jack and Helen, Gretchen, Helen, and John and me.  We walked just a short distance to Le Bouquet and had a delicious dinner.  John had steak and I had scallops, a fun and delicious dinner for our last night in Paris with new  friends.  Oh, last night we  began talking about a reunion trip for our group.  We think it will be next year on the Big Island in Hawaii where Scott and Geordine live.  It would be great, I hope it works out. We had "red wine of the month" at our restaurant, which was Gamay, and of course delicious.  

   We really can't say enough nice things about our Rick Steves trip and our guide for the tour.  She seemed to go above and beyond in most cases.  She never seemed to get tired either!  She lives in the south of France and she will be researching a new Rick Steves book for that area.  She was very interested after all I told her about our cousins and wanted René and Odette's contact information.  I gave this information to her feeling that it could work out well for all of them.  Time to get to bed.  We want to be to the train station one hour early just to be sure things go smoothly.