We’re from France

I’ve been in the land of the croissant since Monday morning and I have yet to see a conehead.

I thought I had escaped censure for another painfully long period without a post, but one of the first emails I got after touching down was from JB telling me it had been nine days. Even #1 had taken a chill pill, as he knew I had been wallowing in loneliness all month.

I had to pack myself, which caused me all kinds of agita, because I have the emotional intelligence of a 10 year old.  I checked my travel list about five times before I made sure all the doors were locked and the stove was off. Fortunately I was traveling with Katie and TCG, so they picked me up for the airport ride and held my hand until we were safely on the plane. Katie had called a few days before to tell me the pick up time and to make sure I packed a belt.  After a pause, I realized she was joking about the episode from my 9/22/23 post. I might not have taken kindly to being teased but I realized I needed my substitute mommy to be on my side 100%.  After we were on the plane for about a half hour I went up to her seat to confide in her that “I’m feeling lonely”.  She said, “I understand. Now go back to your seat”.

I reunited with my wife at an airport hotel Monday. We have gotten along amazingly since.  Let’s see how long that lasts. We took the high speed train to Strasbourg Tuesday morning. We think we got on the wrong car because we could not find our assigned seats. Fortunately we did not get kicked out of the seats we had plopped down in.  The train made only two stops before Strasbourg, but I was looking out of the window to see which couple might potentially eject us.

TCG and Katie arrived here this morning. They stored their baggage in our room as it was too early to check in. My attempt to get remuneration for that failed. We took a walk to the cathedral and then ended up at a cafe by the water for lunch.  We sat next to a local that looked like Rod Stewart and was approximately his age.  He seemed like he was half in the bag, but I’m not one to judge. He regaled us with the stories of the Americans he has met, like Reagan, Barack Obama, and Obama’s sister.  We thought that was a mean feat since Obama does not have a sister, but we figured out he was referring to Michelle. After lunch we planned to take the canal boat tour but had to push that to tomorrow as they were booked for a while. Tonight will bring us to the Drunky Stork Social Club for cocktails and L’Oignon for dinner.

Au Revoir