Joy of Home

Our last day in Paris passed way too quickly.  We had agreed to spend the day each doing what we wanted - I headed to the Boutique Hotel Deville (BHV for short) - the eight story department store not too far from our hotel.  I wandered quite awhile and then decided to head back to the hotel - only on the way to the subway, (I took the subway for the first time!  So proud of myself for trying something new vs. the bus - it saved a lot of time!) I saw that on the fifth floor of the department store, there was a Starbucks so I headed back in again and trekked up the escalators for a green tea. (No black iced tea at any Starbucks in Paris - no idea why? but not available - green tea is also really good and J. tried a passion tea and enjoyed it, too).  There was also a sushi restaurant and a host of other restaurants.

The restrooms were also a highlight - pink toilet paper!  And like all bathrooms in Paris, they were immaculate.  

J. went to Notre Dame and the Louvre.  We met up for dinner and enjoyed a really great dinner at the restaurant literally steps away from our hotel - I had beef bourginon, we shared a salad, creme brulee for dessert and a nice bottle of wine.  

I think I will miss the wine most of all.  Somehow, it just doesn't feel right to have wine nightly when we're not on vacation.  

I didn't actually feel all that great on our last day - really bad sore throat, headache.  Our departure on Friday morning came too soon - and the 10 hour flight from Paris to Atlanta felt like slow torture.  It's just such a long flight in the daylight....time dragged.  We landed in Atlanta on time and made it through customs, picking up our luggage and then trucking it through to drop it off to put it back on the plane to SFO.  Thankfully, the flight to SFO was blessedly shorter and passed more quickly - thanks to watching House of Cards on the video monitor.  

H. picked us up and we trekked home.  The house was in good shape and H. did a good job keeping up with watering, etc. - our garden is going crazy and I think we have enough kale for a salad this week and may actually produce squash this year!  Fingers crossed.  Sadly, our backyard is not doing well - the grass is dying - and we're not sure if it's a sprinkler issue or disease in the grass.  J. will hopefully straighten it out this week.  

I slept fitfully with a scratchy throat that kept me watery-eyed and coughing off and on most of the night.  I'm doing OK at making it through today without a nap - barely.  It's approaching 5PM and I think I will get dinner going (Tortellini Primavera - thanks to Pioneer Woman for the idea) and likely head upstairs early tonight.  My feet are very swollen (a side effect of 15 hours on planes) and I need to put them up a bit.  Can't get any shoes on...even my sandals won't go on.