France 2010 - Last day, sad goobyes and back to Tripoli

I got up at 7AM, actually Tracy had been up since 6AM clearing her sinuses. We got ready and made it downstairs by 8:30. The taxi driver was in the lobby waiting on us. I checked, the extras came to 650€. Wow! We got to the airport by 9:15. We searched for our check-in gates, we were both at area 2. We found the US Air counters but the Afriqiyah counters were not open. Tracy got in line while I waited. They started opening mine by the time Tracy got up to the counter. She only had to wait 10 minutes for me to be checked in. I asked for an emergency exit row seat and got seat 23C. Nice! We went to the departing area were we got tea and coffee then sat and enjoyed out time together before I had to leave for the gate. Tracy looked good and was starting to feel better. Draining her sinuses must have helped. We said our goodbyes until February. The scanning area went rather quick. They switched our gate three times, however all three gates were in the same rotunda so no big deal. That gave me time to work on yesterday’s journal. We took off one hour late. We landed at 5:30PM Tripoli time. I got through passport control fast because I was placed in a line that had just opened. My luggage came out pretty quick as well. However, when went out to the waiting area, I could not find the driver. Therefore, I made several calls, which was tough because everyone is out of town. I managed to contact Adel, the department manager and located the drive. We hooked up and started home. He said he was going to take a “short cut” because traffic was bad on the normal route. Oh boy. I saw this coming. It took us 15 to 30 minutes longer. At least I got back just in time to grab some food before they closed the dining room. I finished unpacking. I opened a Coke that I had in the refrigerator then though, wait, Duncan Donuts Coffee!

France 2010 - From the Troc to Moosehead

Last full day in Paris. Tracy and I got up early, 7ish, so we could get into the Eiffel Tower. I had the whole day planed out with all of the Metro stops and connections needed to make the day a success. We took the Metro to the Trocadero stop. It was a clear and cold day. When we got to the Trocadero area, the sun was rising and we took some great sunrise photos of the Eiffel Tower. We arrived at the Eiffel and got in line around 9:15AM. The lines had already formed, the tower did not open until 9:30. As it ended up, we were in the line for a different tower leg than the one we thought we were in. We finial got on the elevator around 10:30. We went up to the second platform. Then we had to get in a queue for the elevator ride to the top. It was very cold Tracy and I were both freezing. We went up and took pictures then decide to head back down. We had a short wait to ride the elevator back down to the second level. We found the queue for the ride back to ground level. We were second in line. We made it back to the ground by 11AM. We were hungry and cold so we headed back to the café in the Trocadero area. I ordered the quiche again and Tracy ordered the onion soup again. I had a carafe of wine. We hoped back on the Metro to go to the d’Orsay Museum. I forgot to write the correct train route, we took the nine train in the wrong direction and should have taken the number six. I discovered my error and hoped on the correct train. When we got to the museum there was a long line again. Therefore, we bagged it and headed back to the Metro. On the way we swung by a cool shop with all kinds of nick knacks. We rode the Metro to the chocolate area and got our treats. I wanted to go back to the Horse Tavern were we had drinks last week. The place was crowed and we were seated in the restaurant area. We did not like the seats so we left to go to the Moosehead bar we saw earlier. It ended up being an America bar with an American from Jersey bar tending, small world. We talked to her for a bit and had drinks. Before we headed back to the hotel I called Troy to see if he was back from the airport. He and his girlfriend had been back, took a nap and were walking through the neighborhood. We decided to meet at his hotel around 6PM. We arrived at six and met up, had drinks in the lobby and took the Metro up to the HRC in our hood. We used our HRC Access card to get priority seating it was great. The waiting time was 45 minutes, we got seated in 10 minutes. The meal was good. Afterwards we went to our hotel for a nightcap. The hotel called a taxi for Troy and his girlfriend, and we arranged for a taxi to the airport in the morning.

France 2010 - Happy New Year!

Woke up around 9ish again. I went down for breakfast while Tracy showered. We went out to go to a movie, I had all of the info this time. The Metro system was free everywhere. When we got off the Metro, we could not find the movie house. We ran into a cinema down in the Metro area. It was closed and the movie we wanted was not showing. Therefore, we decided to go on the Green Hop-on Hop-off tour bus. This time we were going on the Orange line. We got off the metro and looked for the pickup locations but could not find them. Ended up walking near Norte Dame. We found it at the location were all of the tour buses drop off visitors for the Norte Dame cathedral. We waited 20 minutes and decided to go to a café next door. By the time we took off our coats and sat down, I saw the tour bus. Nevertheless, we wanted to stay and have a snack. I had a mulled wine and a croissant while Tracy had tea and a croissant. We went back to the stop and waited about 10 minutes then a bus arrived. We were able to sit inside this time. The tour was over in about an hour. We walked over to the Norte Dame to see if we could get in but the line was too long again, should have gone in the first we came here. We walked up the street and went into a small café. We found seats toward the back, a nice cozy area. I ordered quiche and a salad, and of course a beer. Tracy ordered the onion soup. The same order we had a week ago at the café in the Trocadero area. We left and check out I few souvenir shops. I bought a set of coaster. It was cold and Tracy wanted to head back so we found the nearest Metro and went back to the hotel. I got caught up on my journals and Tracy read a magazine. Tracy was not felling to well so we called it a night.