Author: rphbaker

We have survived the last real leg of our trip in the quiet car. We enjoyed some beautiful scenery along the way. All in all a good experience minus the few jolting bumps along the way.

Maddie and Jake walked to find the restroom towards the end of the trip. Washington was the final stop on the train so everyone was up in the aisle gathering their stuff as they were trying to make their way back.

We stepped off the train onto the platform into what felt like stifling heat. The air was so thick it was almost shocking. Jake’s parents were picking us up and had almost arrived at Union Station so we hurried to meet them.

Jake spotted his mom’s car as soon as we walked out stuck in traffic and not moving. We decided to hurry over to her and his Dad to save everyone the hassle of the pick up traffic lanes at Union Station.

They were so kind to drop us off at the hotel and leave us one of their cars to drive to dinner. Maddie is staying with them, while Greg, Brooks and I will be at the hotel.

When we check in Brooks was given a room with two actual double beds. Logan just missed out!

After we freshened up (although with clothes we have been hauling around for three weeks I’m not sure how possible that is despite washing them along the way) we met them at an American restaurant that they picked knowing we would be ready for some American food.

Logan sent a pic once he got some of the animals. I swear Ozzy is actually smiling at him.

We enjoyed a nice dinner with Jake’s family that was the perfect ending to a very long day. After 20 hours since our original wake up time it was an early return after dinner to bed.

We landed in Newark and our biggest challenges were 1. Brooks trying to make it off the plane past some guy who was just standing in the aisle with all his stuff strewn around and 2. finding Cami once we had made it through customs.

Global entry made it a breeze going through with almost no wait. That is the best money spent for anyone who goes abroad.

After we found Cami Greg went with them to buy their train tickets to the city. Their plan is to head to Times Square for a few hours and to grab lunch at Shake Shack before flying home. I still had my phone put away from Customs so I failed to get a pic of Cami but Logan did me a solid and found an older couple who looked like they wouldn’t steal their phones and asked them to take their pic.

Back at Newark we had a while to wait before we took the train to catch our other train that would take us to DC. We grabbed Starbucks and a table when Greg remembered he really wanted a Diet Coke. After finishing his latte he went to buy one and was so excited until he realized it had a paper straw. Those things just don’t hold up.

We headed for the tram that would take us to the train station.

Uh it’s hot here! After three weeks away our bodies are not liking this heat so we stayed inside as long as possible.

We arrived at Newark Penn Station and had about 20 mins to wait before our train came. I suggested we wait in the waiting room thinking it would be cooler.

We decided to walk downstairs and it was marginally better. It didn’t smell but also wasn’t cool. I decided to channel my inner Norwegian to cool off.

There were some sketchy people who kept moving closer so we decided to have a seat in a different area. I’m not sure it was any better but it was prettier.

It’s finally time to head up to the track. There was a train boarding when we got there that wasn’t ours. Thankfully our train was waiting behind it.

We have just under three hours to DC where Jake’s parents will pick us up and we will have dinner together. I mean what better time to meet them than after trying with the family in close quarters for three weeks followed by however many hours of travel. Seriously hope they have low expectations regarding my appearance because I’m pretty sure I can’t do anything about it at this point!

Ok back to my quiet car ride. Guess I’m going to continue watching Clarkson’s Farm. I have a whole new respect for farmers after watching this show.

We left for the airport right on time with no clear plan.

We thought we needed to buy tickets to the subway but they told Greg tickets weren’t needed for the tram which is free. Logan went on the hunt for the tram.

Maddie’s purse got stopped for additional screening because of her perfume and Greg’s computer was also stopped to be swabbed. The good news is that the cheese made it through without any incident!! That’s a win right there. Logan headed on up towards the gate while we waited for the things and sent a text saying it was basically like Rodeo Drive upstairs. He wasn’t wrong. I could have done some damage with some time and money.

The Paris airport feels like it’s had a major renovation since the last time we were here. Guessing maybe for the Olympics.

After some weird interaction with a gate agent trying to tell me where to walk and not walk we were cleared to board.

I swear I’ve got more blankets and pillows in this seat than in my airbnbs on this trip.

Greg told Jake he could put the divider up if he wanted to.

Greg got a text while we were in flight that our train to DC has been cancelled. Real freaking cool Amtrak.

After some scrambling we were able to rebook on a different Amtrak train that gets us in a little later. We thought we were going to have to book United tickets but this is a better (free) option.

We had decided on a meeting time of 8:15 in the lobby to head to the airport. We weren’t entirely sure how to get from the hotel to the airport so I spent some time looking at the window at potential options. It was a beautiful morning with lots of plane activity.

Since there is a free breakfast and Greg and I were ready to go by 7:45 we decided to go check out the breakfast options. To be clear, I decided I wanted to go and Greg went with me.

The breakfast buffet had so many cool options. Like a fancy pancake maker, a yogurt and topping dispenser, full baguettes and more. But unfortunately it was lackluster. The eggs were blah, the bacon basically had no taste and was way over cooked. The highlights were the latte and the croissant with honey from the yogurt toppings.

Time to head to the airport!

We arrived at the hotel around 8:30pm and checked into our three rooms. Logan and Brooks wanted to make sure they had a room with two beds after Logan accidentally nailed Brooks in the face the night they shared a bed. Despite being assured the room had two beds it wasn’t exactly what they had in mind.

This hotel is decked out for the Olympics despite being miles away from any of the venues. Or at least the venues that I’m aware of. I definitely haven’t done a full analysis on the games this year but rather just loose research using the subway signs.

We all are supposed to have runway views. The kids came up to our room (floor 8 vs floor 3) and have all said their views are better and their rooms are bigger. Bro (channeling my inner Pia with what her response would likely be.)

We did have a view and could see some planes coming in.

After a long exhausting day almost everyone napped at least a little bit on the train back (I did not, not sure about Jake), we returned to the train station with what felt like one million of our closest friends all running for trains.

Some of us needed a pit stop before rushing to the subway. The cost for the bathroom was one euro. Greg took his card to pay. I waited patiently for the rest of the group.

I’m not sure exactly what happened but Greg swiped his card and the turnstile seemed to work for everyone but Brooks. It somehow rotated backwards on Brooks so he decided to step over it and into the bathroom.

The workers were not at all pleased with this decision and chased after him saying no!no!no!

Logan had two receipts in his hand showing they both had paid but the worker would not listen and was yelling you yes! Him no!

Meanwhile Brooks apparently was taking care of business while the man continued to have a fit. Feels like an appropriate ending to our day.

We began making our way to our subway train in the middle of rush hour. We managed to somehow hit rush hour leaving this morning and returning so what felt like a packed subway car earlier was nothing compared to how it was on this trip. The doors of the train closed in Greg violently until he somehow found the space to squeeze in more.

At the next stop when we were sure no one could possibly squeeze on a woman managed to somehow snake her way past me and somewhat into the middle.

Thankfully we only have to endure this for two stops.

Once off the train we find our bearings on which way we need to go to find the sketchy store to collect our things. Luckily Jake was able to see the location of his iPad which not only helped guide us in the right direction but also give us hope they were still there. We had dropped them in such a panic earlier we didn’t exactly have the location down. (Logan did have a record in his bounce app so we weren’t in danger of not knowing where they were, we just couldn’t walk directly there.)

Now to decide on dinner before heading out to our hotel at the airport. Greg wanted something fast and easy. There was a five guys nearby that he suggested.

Logan has been craving a creme brûlée since we have arrived but had yet to actually get one for whatever reason. We were basically back at Pizza Wawa where we ate two days ago and they had one on their dessert menu.

So, Pizza Wawa it is. Basically a repeat of everything except Maddie went next door to get an Açaí bowl rather than pizza.

Logan took the time at dinner to write a very long review of the bike rental shop titled “Is maintained not a thing in France?”

The area was absolutely bustling with people. Nonstop foot and bike traffic.

We had been debating about whether to Uber or take the subway out to the hotel. When Greg looked earlier the subway was the quickest route due to traffic. Upon checking after dinner, Uber was our quicker option plus they would pick us up directly from Pizza Wawa and deliver us straight to the hotel. If the wait hadn’t been longer on the motorcycle I might have picked that option. 🙂

Until next time Paris!

Our last day in Paris was supposed to be super chill. Greg even promised Jake lots of sitting today.

The plans for the day consisted of taking the train to Giverny to visit Monet’s Gardens. We have such fond memories of our last trip when Logan had a kids bike with a Timothy license plate from California and we had the best lunch near Monet’s house at an outdoor cafe.

We had planned to leave the apartment at 9:15 to make a short walk to where we had planned to store our luggage.

First, Greg, Brooks and I decided to take a quick morning walk. First to Starbucks and then just around the city since it’s our last chance.

We left our apartment to find our neighbor’s apartment (rented through the same property management company) wide open. This isn’t the first time this has happened. It’s really strange.

We made it to Starbucks and grabbed our lattes. Their cups are so flimsy over here it’s crazy. I mean definitely more environmentally friendly but not sturdy.

It was a beautiful day with the sun shining.

I’d been looking for a patisserie to stop in to grab some choices for breakfast and the only ones I saw had giant lines. We ran into a Carrefour grocery store for some baked goods.

We made it back to the apartment with just enough time to grab our Norvega cheese, finish our last minute packing and head to drop our bags. We had a very small cushion built in between bag drop, subway catching and the eventual train departure of 10:11am.

And we ran into our first issue of the day. When Greg booked our bags via the Bounce app the location showed as open. The Bounce app lies.

Logan sprang into action and found another location in the Bounce app that looked to be in the subway station.

Once we made it in the terminal we realized the store wasn’t in the terminal. Back up we went and Logan made his way to the tiniest grocery store ever to store our bags. Maddie is not convinced they will still be there when we return tonight but Logan assures us we have 10k coverage via Bounce.

After a mad dash to buy subway tickets and a super fast walk borderline run we made it on the train in the nick of time. We tightly packed so thankfully it’s only a few stops.

We made it to the train station and again borderline ran to find the correct platform.

This additional time afforded Greg to run to the restroom and Maddie, Jake and Logan a trip to McDonalds despite me stopping for breakfast at Carrefour. Apparently they didn’t have time to eat much and I didn’t bring the food with me. It was left in our bags at the sketchy store.

I seriously thought that they were going to have to leave the food they paid for. It was taking so long and Brooks and Greg had boarded the train. Greg called and said we’d better run.

Somehow Maddie got hers and Logan’s food (Jake already had his) and we ran to the train. Which at the time felt like such a relief.

We made the 51 min trip to Vernon-Giverny where we departed the train and looked for the bike rental place. Money’s garden is 3km from the station. Many people were getting on a jam packed bus. We chose bikes.

At first we headed the wrong direction off the platform (my bad) until Logan took the map and realized we needed to go down and cross over.

As we were waiting in line we began to discuss the various bike options. Maddie wanted an ebike and was willing to pay the difference. Greg offered to get Jake and Maddie a tandem bike and Jake said he wasn’t interested in riding a tandem bike with Maddie. So, regular bikes for all was the end result.

First stop was back to the train station for a quick bathroom break.

The ride there was fairly uneventful aside from not making it onto the bike path where we were supposed to enter. We had a backtrack a tiny bit to access it.

The ride really is a pretty one along the path and into Giverny with only a few small hills.

After 30 mins or so we arrived at Hotel Baudy our long anticipated lunch spot.

What we didn’t recall about Hotel Baudy was how weird the menu was. It makes me want to go back to see what we ordered.

Jake and Brooks opted for salads.

Maddie and Jake went exploring to find a warm spot in the sun after they ate as well as maybe a restroom. They uncovered the prettiest gardens behind Hotel Baudy where the restrooms were.

Logan took Greg’s credit card to pay the bill and swapped it with his when our waiter came to close out our check. So lucky to be treated to lunch here by Logan.

Now to make the short ride to Monet’s Garden.

We found the bike racks and began to lock up our bikes with the lock and keys that came with the bikes in the basket. Maddie shared that her lock didn’t have a key with it. Greg said he tried his key in her lock and it worked so he locked her bike to Jake’s bike with the helmets intertwined.

Ignorance is bliss and we had no clue how crazy the day was going to get so we peacefully made our way down the narrow path to the opening of the gardens.

We had bought our tickets in advance on the train and was able to skip the giant line outside of people waiting to buy their tickets. We felt so lucky to have the garden’s with not a ton of people despite our entry time being 1:30 on a gorgeous day.

We sat on a bench taking in the view. Well most of us did. Brooks and Logan stood because Logan didn’t like the bench. Jake was probably questioning why he said yes to this trip. If not at this point then definitely later.

Back across the street we went (via tunnel) to the gardens behind his house. The smells were unbelievable. And the flowers were all gorgeous.

Time to tour the house.

So this is where it all goes to shit. We get back to the bikes to find out…guess what…that we don’t have a key that will unlock Maddie’s lock from Jake’s bike. After trying every single key we have including one we found on the ground the decision was made that the boys would ride back to town to try to get a master key and I would stay with Jake and Maddie. They had decided to try and walk the bikes.

So we began walking our bikes….

And then I decided to ride slowly because I now have shin splints from all the walking we have done in Paris.

It didn’t take long for them to decide they would try to ride.

Greg called to say Logan was headed back on an e-bike with a key they thought would work. For us to stay on the path and he would find us. He also said that they had their chains come off multiple times on the way back, once causing him to crash in the middle of the street which caused a glass water bottle from his basket to shatter on the road. He fell in front of a police officer who stopped to see if he was ok. (He was minus maybe a pulled groin muscle.)

I kept thinking we would see Logan but we didn’t. I decided to ride ahead on my bike in hopes I’d find him. When I got to the end of the path without seeing him I got nervous. I called Greg thinking he would have given Logan one of his phones. He. Did. Not.

I started riding back to find Maddie and Jake to see if they had seen him. They had made it almost all the way back too and hadn’t. I told them to keep walking and I was going to ride toward Giverny to find him.

All of this was happening while we were trying to catch a train that left at 3:41pm. Also, a complicating factor was that there was an ambulance near the path with police blocking off part of a road. Logan was unable to access the path and had no idea that they had even gotten their bikes to move much less was riding them so he thought there was no way he’d miss us. In his hurry to get to us with what turned out to be a crappy e-bike this chain also broke which caused him to be thrown off his bike. The result was a scraped knee and road rash on his back along with holes in his shorts and cuts on his arm.

He ended up turning on his cellular and called me in not so good of a mood asking where we were. Logan and I rode until we met each other. He offered me the e-bike but I declined. Once we got to the city center where the slight hills were he insisted that I take the e-bike. We traded and he rode a bit until his chain fell off. In a huff he fixed it. (His hands were black.) We rode a bit more and his came off basically immediately for a second time. At this point I said let me run with it (pushing it.) He said he would run. As he ran, the helmet in his basket popped up and fell to the ground. A lady walking picked it up for me. Greg and Brooks were searching for us and walked up to us about this time.

Jake and Maddie had made it back to the bike shop with their bikes still chained together. Logan and Greg had both fallen. The chain came off the bikes at least 11 times on the way back on Greg, Brooks and Logan.

Once we got all the bikes back Greg tried the key Logan had in Maddie’s lock and it didn’t unlock it. All of that for seriously nothing.

We went to the train station and basically bought junk to drown our feelings while we waited for a later train. We had definitely missed the early train.

Jake also realized his AirPods had fallen out while we were at the train station the first time. The location showed they were there but he couldn’t find them. That nice man who was there earlier helping people was all but gone. Jake asked a lady who said no one had turned them in. Maddie asked at lost and found too and they didn’t have them.

As we were waiting with about 20 mins to spare Maddie realized she had gotten something on her pants. She asked if I could try to find a store with her to get a new pair so she didn’t have to walk around with a stain. We literally ran to a store in town, bought a pair of pants so fast and ran back with minutes to spare.

Finally the train pulled into the station not a minute too soon. We are ready for this chill, mostly sitting day to be done.

It’s our last night in the city center. Tomorrow we will head out towards the airport to stay since we have a somewhat early flight out Friday morning.

We had done a virtual reality escape type game a few years ago in Brussels that Greg had missed due to needing to leave early for a work meeting. There was a franchise in Paris so we decided to take Jake and Greg to experience it.

There is a max of four people per game so we split into two teams of three. Greg, Logan and Brooks were one team and I was on a team with Maddie and Jake.

There are four different games to pick from. We had done two before so we had two options we hadn’t done. One was zombies described as scary with a 20% completion rate over all. The other one was an arcade type game where you are inside the game trying to fight off things to escape the game. Or something like that. A few wanted to do the arcade one so it seemed like an easy choice.

I’m not sure why but I didn’t love it as much this time. I’m not sure if it was the game or the fact that I was the absolute worst. But still, a fun evening.

We walked back in the direction of our apartment in search of dinner.

We stopped at an outdoor cafe that was close to our apartment. Jake treated us all to a lovely meal.

Maddie and I got crepes for dessert. We were so excited to find lemon crepés. They were just ok. I’d rather have Greg’s to be honest.

Greg and I strolled back toward the apartment using a different route. We thought it might take us near the Pompidou Center but it was farther than we thought so we aborted that plan.

Instead we walked through an outdoor/indoor mall area.

I saw something about this store months ago and it just so happens that we are staying a short walk away from it so I knew I had to check it out.

After much debate about who would go, Greg and I were the only ones who made the walk. Greg assured me I had no room in my luggage to bring anything home. I was not so convinced.

Opened in 1820, it’s a family business that inspired Williams Sonoma. Julia Child was said to have shopped here.

From the shelving, to the ladders to the upper shelves, to the way they did pricing it was like stepping way back in time. Also the variety of sizes of things they had from super tiny to giant was mind blowing. I could seriously outfit my kitchen from here. As Greg predicted, I left empty handed. Mostly because carrying on much of this wasn’t an option.

Someday l will be back to buy. 🙂