Il est revenu!

(And all was right in the world again)

Au revoir Paris; hello Florence.

Kentucky, that is.

Waking up in full-on travel mode, it was 6am when our duo tossed the key to Yannick, bid him adieu, and smartly hopped a taxi to CDG. 4 hours early with nary a bag to be checked, it wasn't long before they had cleared security and were swilling espresso in the Air France Club Lounge. Foo happily stuffed her pockets with all the edibles she could find—crackers, cheese, cookies, and a pain au chocolat for good measure.

One of the first to clamber on board the 767, Bob's initial disappointment in discovering the lack of individual seat back TVs was promptly offset when the boarding doors closed and he realized there was no one sitting in the seat next to him. This meant nine hours in the air relishing the extra space, enjoying the view of Greenland from the window, and NEVER having to worry about crawling over someone to go pee.

A turbulence-free flight and an easy trip through customs found our heroes heading to the Hilton in Florence, Kentucky for the night before heading home.

Kentucky as you may not know is a Commonwealth, not a State. Can you name another?

Fighting off jet lag, they strolled over to Rafferty's restaurant to find that the local dialect was almost as alien to their ears as French had recently been. "They actually say y'all in this fine burg!" whispered Foo to Bob.

So with a dinner of potato soup, a fillet of beef, and a slice of Kentucky Silk pie—our weary travellers called it a night. For tomorrow would bring one more flight, then home to Mama Foo.

Au revoir Paris—vous voir bientôt.

Fighting off sinking into travel mode, Bob and Foo started the day with their usual routine—cafe at Le Nustrale. But that wish would be short-lived as Le Parisien headlines screamed something about an RER stike: the train line between downtown and the airport. Oh no!

Now fully gripped in travel mode, Bobbers tried to deduce if this was a one day event (tres typique en France) or an ongoing labor outage. Noting there was absolutely nothing he could do about it (and that a taxi was always an option, albeit an expensive one), they fully embraced their last day in Paris and hit the streets doing a circuit that took them up towards L'Opera. They found interesting passages to wander through, and spent the morning window gazing.

Grabbing a sandwich, they arched a circuitous route to Place Vendome, skirted Concorde and crossed the river to Invalides. Slugging down their afternoon cafe in the Babylone section of town they paused to call Mama Foo who reminded them to be in the moment, not in 'travel mode'—but to get home SOON! With this sage advice they went back Seine-side and dropped onto the lower quay before vectoring back to Les Halles to grab their dessert eclair, and prep for their pasta-in-a-bucket dinner.

A fitting final meal before heading home (depending on who you ask).