Catching up...

Donna's blog is so good - such great reading - I have been remiss in keeping mine up to date but I am on a train from the airport for a half hour... so, here goes

Eugene and Claudia's Sunday morning arrival was delayed to Monday morning because a storm in Canada closed the Toronto airport where they were to make a connection.  Then, on Monday, their plane arrived late and Claudia's bag did not arrive at all!  From Monday morning through Tuesday afternoon we regularly checked in - finally to find out that Air Canada had left her bag in Toronto, found it an hour after the Tuesday arrival flight had left and - rather than sending it on the next available flight - held it for Wednesday's 9:45a arrival flight.  Here's where it really got screwy - as explained by AC's India customer service desk.  Once the bag arrived, the delivery service would be notified "as soon as possible, and within 24 hours".  Then the delivery company would call us at our apartment "as soon as possible, and within 24 hours" to arrange delivery which would be (yep, you got it) "within 24 hours".  We could be stuck in our apartment  for 3 days as a result of AC's incompetence! So, I put on my best lawyer outfit (so as not to be stopped by gatekeepers as one young security guard tried to do), told Donna I would be back in 2 hours or in jail, and headed out to get the bag. Of course my train broke down, but the truly excellent French train service had a replacement on site in 5 minutes. I am now returning home - with the bag!

In the meantime I am having a wonderful time with my dear friends. Yesterday we took the train to Pere Lachaisse cemetery, walked around with a great guide, then caught a bus that meandered through the narrowest streets of Paris, missing parked cars by literally an inch or two. We ended up at the Tour d'Eiffel then had another awesome lunch at 4:30p on the left bank at Odeon. We returned in time for a superb roast lamb dinner prepared by the Seifers. It's impossible to get out of sorts with the baggage mess: I'm in Paris with my wife and my friends. It does not get better than this!  The Seifers and Millers are off to Versailles while Donna and I have our weekly day off.