Life is short and the world is wide! The end of another great trip.
Hotel: Jeanne d Arc, Marais - great location and very nice staff.
On Sunday we had arranged for the shuttle to pick us up at 1 o'clock as we were leaving to stay at a hotel near the airport.
We had to check out of the hotel at 11:30, we could have stayed in the lounge but decided to just go for a short walk and to keep our distance. We rounded the corner to the Bastille and holy mackerel the market was in full swing!
It is difficult to see but there is a cat in that backpack, it is looking to the right - there were large air holes in the bottom of the clear part but really, taking a cat to the market? It's Paris, what can I say!
We arrived at the Marriott about 2. It was empty - as a matter of fact there were only 3 other guests. It was explained to us that the restaurant was closed and they were working on a menu.We could order dinner and breakfast, but it had to be room service. We hadn't had lunch and as I said the restaurant was closed so we were forced to buy chips for lunch ; we had apples that we had bought earlier in Paris.
We wiped down the room and turned on the news! Depressing!
Dinner was excellent - very expensive - but excellent!
The next morning we both headed to the airport early even tho my flight left a few hours earlier than Tikis. The shuttle let us off and we made our way to Air Canada , I checked in and went to the lounge. Tiki made her way to Air France.
I arrived at Pearson absolutely exhausted, the last 48 hours in Paris was surreal and scary. I drove off in my car shifting gears - it's an automatic!! Woops, I had to pull over to connect my phone and GPS along the way. A coffee would have been nice as I was frozen from standing outside for over 30 minutes but I had no Canadian money and no debit card.
Wendy, Jeff and the girls had arrived back early from Florida. They flew out the next day heading back to PEI in order to reset their health care. Leaving Jolene here and thinking they would be back shortly .....not happening! Everyone was told to self isolate for 14 days, so they are self isolating in PEI and if they returned to Ontario it would be another 14 days and another 14 days for whoever they decided to stay with. So, I am glad that she and Zoey are BFF's.
I haven't been out of the neighbourhood in ten days - my car sits in the garage - I still don't have a functioning debit card as it needs to be pin activated. I don't have a driver's licence or a OHIP card. Luckily I do have a credit card that I can use. I have ordered "GoodFood" but it is labour intensive and only dinners. I have placed an order with Loblaws and can pick it up Monday night at 7pm. The dogs need food, which I can get as soon as I finish my 14 days and we can also go for a drive. Not sure how I will get a Ohip card and driver's licence as Service Ontario is closed.....
Self isolating is really difficult and extremely lonely. I am thankful for the texts and calls. Also thankful I have two lovely girls who keep me hopping!
Thankful to be home and thankful to be a Canadian.
I will get this printed out as I do with all my blogs. When I am in the old folks home (hopefully) I can look back at this adventure and shake my head as to how lucky I was to get out of Thailand, get out of Spain and then get out of France all in the nick of time.
"Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that's okay. The journey changes you;it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness,on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind. "
Anthony Bourdain
On Sunday we had arranged for the shuttle to pick us up at 1 o'clock as we were leaving to stay at a hotel near the airport.
We had to check out of the hotel at 11:30, we could have stayed in the lounge but decided to just go for a short walk and to keep our distance. We rounded the corner to the Bastille and holy mackerel the market was in full swing!
It is difficult to see but there is a cat in that backpack, it is looking to the right - there were large air holes in the bottom of the clear part but really, taking a cat to the market? It's Paris, what can I say!
We arrived at the Marriott about 2. It was empty - as a matter of fact there were only 3 other guests. It was explained to us that the restaurant was closed and they were working on a menu.We could order dinner and breakfast, but it had to be room service. We hadn't had lunch and as I said the restaurant was closed so we were forced to buy chips for lunch ; we had apples that we had bought earlier in Paris.
We wiped down the room and turned on the news! Depressing!
Dinner was excellent - very expensive - but excellent!
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| Ferme |
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| The AC lounge was not really that busy considering. |
I arrived at Pearson absolutely exhausted, the last 48 hours in Paris was surreal and scary. I drove off in my car shifting gears - it's an automatic!! Woops, I had to pull over to connect my phone and GPS along the way. A coffee would have been nice as I was frozen from standing outside for over 30 minutes but I had no Canadian money and no debit card.
Wendy, Jeff and the girls had arrived back early from Florida. They flew out the next day heading back to PEI in order to reset their health care. Leaving Jolene here and thinking they would be back shortly .....not happening! Everyone was told to self isolate for 14 days, so they are self isolating in PEI and if they returned to Ontario it would be another 14 days and another 14 days for whoever they decided to stay with. So, I am glad that she and Zoey are BFF's.
I haven't been out of the neighbourhood in ten days - my car sits in the garage - I still don't have a functioning debit card as it needs to be pin activated. I don't have a driver's licence or a OHIP card. Luckily I do have a credit card that I can use. I have ordered "GoodFood" but it is labour intensive and only dinners. I have placed an order with Loblaws and can pick it up Monday night at 7pm. The dogs need food, which I can get as soon as I finish my 14 days and we can also go for a drive. Not sure how I will get a Ohip card and driver's licence as Service Ontario is closed.....
Self isolating is really difficult and extremely lonely. I am thankful for the texts and calls. Also thankful I have two lovely girls who keep me hopping!
 |
| A few of the balls we have found! |
Thankful to be home and thankful to be a Canadian.
I will get this printed out as I do with all my blogs. When I am in the old folks home (hopefully) I can look back at this adventure and shake my head as to how lucky I was to get out of Thailand, get out of Spain and then get out of France all in the nick of time.
"Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that's okay. The journey changes you;it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness,on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind. "
Anthony Bourdain
