France Day 14 - Au Revoir

Mitch & I were on the same flight with RRR's departure a few hours behind us so we the first to head out to catch the Air France bus to De Gaulle. We had heard horror stories about how expensive the cabs were to the airport so on my insistence we went the bus route.

Well, let me say, I was wrong. After waiting 45 minutes, we were told there was an accident on the highway and the bus was delayed if it was even going to show up at all. So Mitch and I frantically tried to flag a cab and eventually jumped in one with three other women trying to make a flight and it only cost us 10 euro each...the driver didn't even want extra for a tip! Oops! Sorry Mitch!

By the time we got to the airport, we saw the growing line at the American counter. Mitch watched the bags as I grabbed a cafe noisette at a take out counter nearby. We waited and waited and waited and watched it get closer to when our flight was supposed to take off. I have never been in a more disorganized airport in my life! And my biggest worry? That I would not have time to buy something good to eat before I got on the plane.

Unfortunately, in our haste to make a flight that wound up leaving an hour late, neither of us got to purchase food before boarding the plane and were stuck with airline fare. Nothing is more disappointing than catching up on a food journal about all the wonderful cuisine we had in France knowing there's a frozen chicken suprise dinner coming down the aisle.

I hedged my bets and chose the chicken pesto over the beef. It actually was decent, Lean Cuisine decent mind you, not Babbo decent. They served it with some absolutely vile carrot-cabbage slaw, a roll and a piece of cheesecake. What a buzzkill!

They did a bit better with the snacks that came a few hours later.
Pringles, yogurt covered fruit, Oreos, cheese and crackers. But enough about airline food - we all know it blows.

What was amazing was all the wonderful food and wine we had on our gastronomic journey through France. And while we ate in a lot of great restaurants, it was really all about the wonderful breads, cheeses, olives and other goodies we would find at the local marketplaces that made this trip something really special. I hope I was able to put this experience into words but some of the things I have seen, heard and most importantly tasted were simply
indescribable but I hope I was able to give you, my 10 loyal readers, a taste of this fantastic trip.

And truly one of my favorite things to see were pedestrians carrying baguettes the way Americans carry their containers of calorie-laden Starbucks lattes. Maybe tomorrow I'll carry a baguette through Times Square on the way to work, just for the memories....