roadquill1

Dear family and friends,

On our last day in Paris, the rain let up, and Sandy and I continued what had become our daily pastime…walking for hours! We found an off-the-tourist-path attraction that was really enjoyable – a pathway on top of an old raised railway that sat on an aqueduct. This pathway had beautiful planters, trees and gardens all along it, and from it, you could look out over the city streets and structures, but best of all…it was quiet, and very few people were on it – just a few joggers and dog-walkers. This path took us past the rail station, and beyond that, we got off the path, and crossed over the Seine to the Island where the massive “Bibliotech” resides. This library consists of four tall towers – and a raised promenade deck that, again, overlooked the city streets.

Our walk back along the Seine brought us through a movie set, where no one directed us to get off, so we strolled right through the middle of a filming of some motorcycle event. We have no idea what the filming was about, but there were quite a lot of folks standing around waiting for their turn to participate.

We concluded our long day with a wonderful meal at mid-eastern restaurant, which turned out delicious falafel and kefta pitas. On Wednesday morning, we had our daily coffees and pastries while we waited for the shuttle to the airport.

Our trip home was mostly uneventful, but one interesting piece was that after a two hour layover at Heathrow in London, the British Airways flight flew over Scotland on the flight home. We were able to see the northern coast of Scotland (quite forbidding looking place from 30,000 feet up), and for the next 8 hours the sun never set! Our flight kept up with the setting sun, and as we passed over Greenland, we observed a beautiful scene of white mountains, glaciers, and ice floes in the glow of the setting sun. Fantastic!!

We managed to grab seats on an earlier flight to Nanaimo airport, and a taxi delivered us home by 9:30 on Wednesday evening. Thus ended our last day of the wonderful European adventure. We are glad to be home, and except for minor colds that we picked up somewhere, we are both well. The Lindsay family arrived from Langley on Friday to welcome us home, and to join in a belated celebration of Eileen’s birthday. We are now getting back into our daily routines at home. What an adventure! We hope that we won’t be held responsible for the change in weather that arrived the day we arrived home!

Love and best wishes to all!

The Quill (Tony) and the Quilter