Paris: The 20th
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. We flew back to Newark.
Dark and early in the morning, our ride came to pick us up and take us back to CDG. We wound through the tiny cobblestone streets that had been so familiar to our feet the last few days and soon found ourselves merging on to the freeway beyond the wall boundary of Paris.
As we cruised northward we could see the inbound Sprinter vans, trucks, and taxis all headed in for a busy day within the city. Arriving at the airport, our driver helped us get our baggage out and we checked in for our flight. Several hours later, we landed two clock-hours later in New Jersey midday. I spent the flight reading Bennett Sims’ A Questionable Shape, watching the Scorsese movie “After Hours,” and hitting some of the highlights of “In the Heights.”
Unfortunately, Lauren, due to lack of hydration opportunities, fell sick with a migraine and had a rather fraught trip back to Manhattan. After a shower and some medicine and a nap we both felt better (she, considerably more so) and began the process of returning from an exceptional escape from regularity.
The day after, we picked Byron up from his drop-off point in Manhattan. He had spent the week at Eva’s Play Pups dog camp in Pennsylvania. Riding in the subway back home, Byron started to whimper and we took that to mean he was either motion sick or needed to go to the bathroom. We bailed and wound up at Columbus Circle. It was a beautiful and sunny day so we decided to walk the rest of the way home. Walking back through his Central Park was an important step for the little guy to feel like he was home again. Back home, dirty and stinky, we put him in the tub, gave him a bath and drying and he was ready for a long nap at home. We joined him.
Dirty and, frankly, stinky, we got him home, in a tub. While we’ll dream of going back to la France soon, for the moment it’s nice to be back home.
