We're Back!!

SUNDAY, 9/9:

The clouds finally broke just as we flew over Lake Superior and just as U2’s “A Sort of Homecoming” popped up on my iPod’s shuffle.

Coincidence or not?  You hafta wonder. . .

Greetings from Chicago, where we’re waiting four hours for a flight to Marquette after spending the last 9 hours flying from Paris.  I always like the flight back to the U.S., if only because I get the window seat and get to spend most of the time staring out at the window, satisfying my inner geography nerd.  Unfortunately, the clouds started as we were over England today and with one exception stayed until, like I said, we flew over Lake Superior.

Bummer.  But I do have to marvel at the timing of their departure.

The one time the clouds DID break, though, we were right over Greenland, which means I got to spend 20 minutes studying the topography of glaciers and ice sheets from 35,000 feet.  It was actually quite neat; I got to see how glaciers move like rivers (only, of course, at a glacial pace) and I was also able to observe how they create icebergs when they finally start to melt after reaching open water.

See?  Geography nerd!

Other than that the day’s been mostly uneventful. We did have one interesting moment when everyone in our terminal was stopped in their tracks at Charles de Gaulle airport.  We were told to wait in line, heard an explosion a few minutes later, and then were told to go on our way.  As it turns out, whenever they find a piece of luggage just sitting unattended, they blow it up.  No, really.  They put it in a little bomb box and detonate it, blowing up any potential explosives and, of course, everything else in the luggage.

Oh, and they also fine you 450 Euro if they figure out to whom the bag belonged.  So don’t leave your luggage unattended in Paris!

Okay.  I said yesterday that I had a few pictures I haven’t posted that I wanted to.  You ready?

This is how they deliver mail in cities in France—

Here’s the newest restaurant in Bayeux—

Restaurants all over the place are starting to cater at American and British tourists, in fact.  Here’s one right outside of Carentan=--

This is the view from the church at La Pernelle, which sits several hundred meters above everything else, including the coast—

Here’s the car, an Opel, we drove for 2,260 kilometers—

And finally, here are two flower shots, one from Avranches—

and one from Bayeux—

As always, Loraine and I thank you for following along, and hope you enjoyed it.  We also hope you’ll join us in a mere 51 weeks as we join the legendary Tony the Tour Guide to ramble around eastern & southern Germany, with a side trip to Poland.  Make sure your virtual passport is up to date by then!

(jim@wmqt.com)