As I type this, I am sitting in the lobby of a small hotel (Hotel de la Residence) in Beauvais, about one hour north of Paris. We left Duncan on Wednesday afternoon and drove up to Nanaimo fully expecting a wait since it was the beginning of the Canada Day long weekend. But miracles do happen! No wait! Especially surprising when we got off the ferry in Horseshoe Bay and saw the line up for Nanaimo all the way to Caufield. We dropped by Leslie's house to borrow her GPS (Thanks Les!) and went on to spend the night with Sheila who drove us to the airport in the morning. We flew AirTransat to Paris in a very full plane with very small seats. The flight was long - nothing you can do to avoid that - and we were all very happy when the plane touched down. In fact the passengers broke out into spontaneous applause on landing! Really the flight was uneventful except that we had to move our seats. The two ladies sitting next to Miyuki were both wearing tons of perfume and Miyuki had an asthma attack because of that. Fortunately we were able to move and Miyuki was okay but I would like to see airlines become scent free. Once you are on a plane with nowhere to go, it is a huge problem for people with sensitivites to scents.

We landed in Charles de Gaulle Airport - I must say that for a city the size and importance of Paris, CdG is not much of an airport. It is disorganized and dirty and the people working there are not so helpful and certainly not polite.

We took the train to Port Maillot in the centre of Paris and then caught a shuttle bus to Beauvais Airport. We took a taxi to the hotel we are in tonight. Our host here is called Emmanuel. He is the quintessential Frenchman. When he told us that he couldn't get us a taxi for the morning so we could get our flight he shrugged and said "Oh, I don't know, perhaps you will have to walk." He did eventually find a taxi to come and take us in the morning. When Nick was having trouble connecting with the Wifi his response was "Don't be so stupid Monsieur." yet, he wasn't being mean - just French.

We went for a walk to find somewhere to get something to eat at about 1 but of course the restaurant had closed. Instead we went to a little bar - the Auto Bar - which had pictures of cars everywhere. The proprietor was a young guy with pretty good English. We were the centre of attention there - I don't believe they get a lot of tourists here - until several emergency vehicles converged on a building about a block away. Not sure what was going on there but it certainly engendered a good deal of conversation and shrugging amongst the people in the bar. The bar owner came to take our order. He said "Do you want meat? I can make you meat and frite maison!" (Frite maison are really really good fries). So I had some kind of steak. It was wonderful. It may have been beef or horse, not really sure. There were a couple of young guys, early twenties, hanging out in the bar. At first I thought they were customers but then one of them stood up and went behind the bar. I realized then that he "worked" there. As we sat there it became clear that what he thought was working involved shrugging a lot, saying 'Je ne sais pas' a great deal, and instructing others while he did nothing himself. We came back about 3 just in time because the rain started. I don't think I have mentioned that the temperature is 32 degrees. The rain led into one of the most spectacular thunder and lightning storms I have ever seen or heard. The thunder rolled one after another after another loud enough to shake our windows. I could see the lightning even with my eyes closed and the wind, which was blowing the trees so hard I thought a couple of them might uproot, was blowing the rain against the windows so hard that it sounded like sand or pebbles and not rain. It lasted a couple of hours and then it completely cleared up again.

So, what am I learning today? You cannot have even one iota of control when you travel in another country, especially one that uses a language you don't speak. You have to trust - trust that things will turn out the way they are supposed to. Trust the people around you. Otherwise you are closed to all the wonderful things that can come to you.

I think that is all for tonight. Take care everyone. Love you all!

PS. Sorry some of the pictures are sideways. I am exhausted and can't think straight enought to figure it out tonight. Take care.

D N M