I received a message from Saint Christopher today...

I received a message from Saint Christopher today...... GO HOME!

“I believe that today was payback

for all the good fortune we've had during this trip”

Doug Luxton

Oct 23 2011

We set off for Caen early this morning to drop off the rental car. Everything went pretty well.

I pulled off at a gas station to fill it up only to find that it was a totally automated station... no attendant and it didn't like my credit card. So we ventured further down the road until I found a station with a real live person at the cash and filled up the car. Great mileage by the way. It was a diesel and we went from Calais to Ypres Belgium then down through Vimy to Courseulles Sur Mer on half a tank of gas!

Anyway, i digress. We arrived at the Avis drop off location across the street from the train station, but the miniscule lot was jammed with cars overflowing onto a dedicated bus route. I managed to get most of the car off the road and proceeded to the Avis storefront.

No... Marty didn't park this.. .I did.

Now I knew that they were closed today, but I was assured that there was a drop box for the keys. Well, surprise, surprise.... no drop off box, no mail slot, no little note in the window telling you where to leave the keys.... nothing at all! We asked the people in the establishments around the rental agency if they knew where to leave the keys. One gentleman finally told us to leave them at the ticket wicket in the train station across the street.

We headed off to the ticket wicket, keys in hand, where we met up with Janet who was taking the crew to Paris for a shopping spree, and were relieved to see that the attendant was in fact scheduled to be working only to find that he/she must have had other priorities because no one showed up for the entire time we were there!

We finally flagged down a conductor-esque looking young lady who was very helpful, and directed us down into the bowels of the train station where a gentleman confirmed that 'this happens all the time' and relieved us of the keys.

With our troubles behind us, we boarded the train and headed for Paris!

Everything went well until we reached a remote station about 1/4 of the way along. '

The train stopped and the conductor informed us that there had been an accident on the tracks and that the train would be delayed indefinitely.... indefinitely.... Indefinitely..... INIDEFINITELY!!!!

Luckily they gave us a free lunch box to tide us over.

Free Lunch = Happy Travellers

Personally, I like the nuts.... on my left.

After a two and a half hour layover on a trip that should only take 2 hours, we were back on our way to resume the remaining three quarters of the trip.

Anyway. We were hoping to tour the Louvre with Janet, Kathleen, Cathy and Isabella, but with the late hour and the museum closing in a couple hours, we parted ways and headed for our hotel at Charles de Gaulle airport.

On the positive side, I suppose this gives us an excuse to return to Paris some day.

We have now had a good look around the airport... the hotel is great.... and we're ready to hop aboard our flight tomorrow for Canada!

If all goes well, we should be raking leaves by 4:00 pm!