J'aime Paris!

On Monday, March 28th, my sister, Deb, her husband, John, and their eldest son, Jonny, drove from NE Indiana to our house here in Fishers. We promptly transferred their luggage into our van and headed for the Indianapolis International Airport. After clearing security, we stopped at Champs for a bite to eat before boarding our plane to Philadelphia. We had a very smooth flight to Philly and headed towards the International Terminal. We found a place to sit and relax; where Deb and I could load up on Diet Coke as we knew in France we would be limited to Coca Cola Light....not quite the same and usually out a bottle or can. We were so pleased with USAIR. Although we had coach seats, they were much roomier than the flight we took last year. Also, each seat had a built-in entertainment system in the seatback in front of you, so there were many good free movies to choose from and also we were able to track our progress on the built-in GPS. It always helps to see how far you've gone and how long it will be until you land! Our flight across the pond was uneventful - the way we all like to fly! We arrived in Paris earlier than scheduled - always a welcome surprise - and quickly claimed our baggage. We went to the rental desk - Avis - and claimed our van. By then it was around 8:30 am or so Paris time (2:30 am Indy time).

Our ride for the week, a 9-passenger van!

We found a little coffee shop and a place to sit while the guys had their coffee and Deb and I had our first Coca Light. After that, we found some seats out-of-the-way in the airport and sat and waited on nephew Jack's train to arrive around 11 am.

Once we met up with Jack, we loaded our luggage into our van and headed out from Charles de Gaulle Airport, through Paris and beyond. Getting out of Paris was more difficult than we expected. Of course it didn't help that I had printed off the wrong directions to follow! Oops!

After many missed exits, driving around round-abouts more than once, getting on the wrong roads, etc., we finally made it through Paris and into the French countryside, bound for Besancon, France. where we were spending our first night. One of the towns we passed along the way was Dijon - like the mustard - a picturesque city withe some beautiful parks.

Pretty park in Dijon.

Besancon is the larger town where we had heard the Schenher's and Girardots may have originally lived before coming to the US, so we choose to start our adventure there.

It was a bit of a drive to Besancon, but once there we were delighted with our hotel. A smaller boutique style place, Hotel Florel, brand new, very modern, it was a welcome site to our weary eyes!

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Hotel Florel, Besancon.

There was a nice restaurant beside our hotel, so we went there for dinner. We had a nice server - Delphine - whom caught Jonny's attention. She didn't speak English, but with Jack, we were able to order easily.

Stan, Delphine, and Jonny.

A very weary bunch - John, Deb, Jack, Jonny, Linda

A French meal isn't complete without cheese!

Several of us ordered this special- "noodles" (actually what we would call bow-tie pasta)

cooked in a rich broth, and pork. It was very good!

Stan & I were going to split a side order of sauerkraut, and Delphine tried to

tell Jack this was a lot of food.....we didn't realize the sauerkraut "side" we thought we

ordered came with ham, sausages, bacon and potatoes, too!

After dinner, Deb, John, Jack, and I headed back to our hotel, but Jonny, and Stan started talking to some locals on the way out, so they stayed and chatted with them and watched soccer on TV. A little later, John decided to go back to the restaurant and hang out with them too. The guys met a man from Algeria who kept telling them how much he loved the US and said, "I love Americans!" I don't know how they found the energy to stay up later. For me, this bed was a welcome site for some very tired eyes!!!

Our room at Hotel Florel...clean, comfortable, modern!

We were off to a good start!