France Day 7 Bon Voyage
Today we go home, but not without a couple of stops. We began the morning packing and then heading over to Sainte Chapelle after check out. This is a special place in Paris that has over a thousand stained glass windows many of which depict biblical stories. From here we managed to find the bakery we were intrigued by the night before on our way to dinner. We had an amazing breakfast which included a nice sandwich and a pistachio napoleon. I grabbed some croissants as well to share with my friends at the coffee shop I use to work at in Virginia, since he shared an amazing one with us from Florida once before.
After breakfast we picked up our car and made our way to the airport which was fun. Driving in cities like Paris is an interesting way to test your driving skills. Monica has said, since Italy she really enjoys riding with me when I drive a manual transmission in Europe, there’s something fun about it for her. After dropping off the car, we had a negative experience with Air France. We literally sat in the same spot trying to check our bags for an hour. All the time we had for arriving early was now lost in a train wreck of bad service. The people were nice, but something weird was going on today that baffled us in the line. Thankfully we still made our flight without any problems, other than not having any time to buy some duty free wine from Bordeaux. I really wanted to get that for Monica to bring back. Overall we can’t complain though we have 26 bottles coming home combined between shipping and luggage. This is always one of the highlights of our travels. We like to share these bottles with visitors over the year as a connection to our experience, in addition to the holy cards I print and bring to the tombs of the saints we visit.
My one regret, is I missed a chance to purchase another statue for my dashboard due to the gift shop closing early. What was even worse is there are almost no Catholic gift shops in France, and if there is one the selection is very limited. Sadly I had to settle for candles from all the shrines we went to, which will be nice for my altar, but I have nothing for my international shrine on my dashboard which has a story to share with anyone who rides in my car. I was grateful to end this trip on the feast of St. Andre Bessett who I visited in Montreal back in May when I went to purchase my espresso machine. It was providential considering we met the seminarian at the beginning of our journey who was associated with him. I look forward now to my new life, with my new wife and coffee business. My hope is to get busy in these farmers markets and plan one more international trip of some sort toward the end of the year God willing. Thank You for keeping up with us during this time, and click here for all the photos.
