On our last day in Paris we continued our ride on the Hop On Hop Off bus.  We got off at the Gallerie Lafayette, which is a very large fabulous department store and went shopping.  I finally found a curling iron.  Susan bought her cologne and Barbara bought a few items.  Lola looked at shoes.  Then we rode the bus to the Eiffel Tower and took a boat ride on the Seine River.   I took lots of pictures.  We had a late lunch at Lorie’s and we all ordered French Onion Soup which was excellent.  Of course we had wine too.  Our waiter was a very nice young man named Florian (Flo).  He told us about a site on Facebook that he supports.  They are called The Motoring Monks and they participate in a fund raiser called the Mongol Ralley 2013.  They raise money for children cancer research.  Then we visiting three cathedrals and went home to dress for our final dinner at Aux Charpentiers.  By the way, the food pictures are for Barbara’s granddaughter Kendall.  Lola is still fighting with Yahoo to get her email on my computer.  Casey, her daughter, is helping her and finally Lola got on Yahoo and they asked her a security question.  And the question was to name the place she first met her husband and that is the same question she couldn’t answer correctly the first time. 

In the morning we got up and picked up our car from a rude French clerk at Eurocar.  The car rental place, Kemwell, did a fabulous job but the staff at Eurocar leaves a lot to be desired.  Susan went to get our car and she asked a clerk a question and he rudely said “Go find you car.”  The three of us were waiting in the parking garage freezing but finally Susan arrived with the car and we loaded up for the next leg of our trip.  I want to mention David, the very nice young man who picked us up from the airport and took us to pick up our car.  He was very couteous and very, very nice.  We all hugged him went he left.  It is very nice to meet a courteous young man.

Today we finally reached Verizon and my phone now works.  Why is it that almost everything is so difficult?  Lola couldn’t give the correct answer for one of her secret questions to Yahoo so she couldn’t read her email on my computer.   You know those questions they ask you for security, like, what’s your father’s middle name or who is your favority personality.  Lola couldn’t remember the correct answer to where she met her husband.

Today we road the Hop On and Hop Off bus all over Paris and saw many wonderful sights.  We had a great lunch at a sidewalk cafe and Susan picked the restaurant.

We had a wonderful flight and arrived an half hour early.  We got our bags and went to the exit and there was our private van to take us to our apartment.  Our driver was named David and after a few minutes with us he said, “I love Americans.  They always smile and are happy.”  We got to our apartment and a apartment manager met us and showed us all the quirks of the apartment.  One of the quirks is the elevator.  Barbara and Lola know the quirks of the elevator well because they have been stuck in it twice and Susan had to come to the rescue.  Our apartment has awesome views of the heart of Paris.

I want to let everyone know we arrived safely and our apartment is totally fabulous.  More to follow.  Also, for some reason my phone is not working yet.  We will try to get it working as soon as possible.

We arrived in San Francisco in gale force winds.  The ramp was put in place to descend, the door was opened.  We heard a thump and then the captain appeared and looked out the open door, and said, “Oh, shit.”  A man behind me said, “It is never good when the captain of an airplane says, ‘Oh, shit.'” As it turns out the wind was blowing so strong that it had blown the ramp into the propeller.

We checked into our motel and joined Casey (Lola’s daughter) and Henry (Susan’s former music student) for dinner at the Elephant Bar in Millbrae.  Tomorrow we leave for Paris.

Four old broads in Millbrae.