Today we got up at the crack of dawn to take the metro and then the train to Charles de Gaulle Airport. We had a direct flight from Paris to Los Angeles with a stop in Chicago to go through customs. We arrived at the Charles de Gaulle with plenty of time to spare and boarded the plane without incident.
Upon arriving in Chicago, we were supposed to be issued priority passes, enabling us to get through customs and back onto the same exact plane that we had just been on so that we could finish our flight to LAX. As luck would have it and as is usual with United Airlines, we were not given our passes due to lack of organization on United's part. This shortcoming caused us and several other passengers to be delayed, thus resulting in all of us missing our flight back to LAX. We ended up on the next flight out two hours later. Considering the number of planes, trains, and buses that we took this month, having only one missed connection was pretty remarkable.
Here is the final tally of our trip.
• Airplane Flights: 4
• Trains: 8
• Tour Bus: 3
• Tours: 10
• Hotels: 9
• Beer/bratwurst meals: 3
• Castles: 5
• Churches/Cathedrals: 9
• Museums: 6
• Funicular Rides: 2
• Souvenirs: 7 (3 sweaters, 1 purse, 1 Christmas ornament, 2 refrigerator magnets)
• Luggage: 2 carry-ons per person, there and back. YEESS!
• Pictures: 10 gigabytes
• Gelatos: Countless
In closing, we hope that you had as much fun reading about this adventure as we had living it.
Until next time, Ciao!
