Our plan had been to go to Lyon and spend our last few days there but once we got established at our hotel in Orange we just couldn’t bring ourselves to pack up and travel more and since we had been finding plenty of things to see and do here we had delayed our departure.  But tomorrow we would be catching our train to the airport from Lyon (we already had our reservations on the TGV) so we were headed off to Lyon for our last night in France.  We said our goodbyes to Miriam and Christine and checked out of the hotel that had been our home for the last five days. 

            The walk to the train station literally seemed to take hours!  I was able to handle all of my luggage just fine, but since Jayné’s suitcase handle had broken she had taken as many of the heavy books and items out of it as she could to alleviate some weight and made a makeshift attaché case from a cardboard box.  It was rather clever on her part, but now she had this to carry as well, in addition to her handleless suitcase, her other carry bag and camera bag, (not to mention heavy coat which did not fit inside the suitcase and needed to be kept handy).  We walked at a very slow pace and stopped every half a block or so for Jayné to rest and shuffle bags around.  Knowing this would be the case we had given ourselves plenty of time to reach the station and we had time to sit and eat an apple and some more cheese before our train came.

            We reached the bustling station at Lyon by mid afternoon and I decided to sit with the bags while Jayné scoped out some of the hotels that Miriam had so kindly made a list of for us.  She wasn’t gone very long when she returned looking somewhat distraught.

            “All the hotels are booked!  They told me there is a really important soccer match going on tonight and every hotel is booked to capacity!”  Well, there was nothing we could do but get back on the train and go somewhere else tonight.

            “Let’s go back to Paris.”  I suggested to Jayné.  “I have a list of hotels in our price range and I know how to find them.  Can’t you see us back in Paris tonight?  We could go to Ladurée on the Champs Élysées and get one of their famous macaroons and sip a café crème.  We can easily catch a train to the airport in the morning.”  My heart began to soar thinking of all the amazing prospects for our last night in France.  Then we looked down at all of Jayné’s bags and reality hit.  Once we got off the train in Paris there would be the Metro to travel through to get to a hotel.  There was no way that she could navigate the many stairs of the Paris Metro with all those bags!  We had been like children skipping along with a bright red balloon floating from a string in our hands and suddenly someone came and stuck a pin in it.  Our trip was effectively over.

            Jayné wanted to head straight to the airport and see if we could catch a flight home today.  And if not, then we would find a nearby hotel with a shuttle and be there for tomorrow’s flight.  We waited in the ticket line and were able to have our reservation on the TGV bumped up and within an hour we were on a TGV hurtling back towards the airport.  Not knowing if we would be on a plane tonight or not we went to the dining car and got one last café crème.  Ironically it was the best tasting one I had on the whole trip!  I sat sipping my café crème as I looked out the window to see France hurtling by.  My, those trains are fast!  I wanted to slow it down somehow.  I wasn’t ready for it all to end but we were at the airport in two hours.

            The American Airlines flight desk was closed since there were no more flights out this day.  It looked like we would have one more night in France after all.  We got a recommendation for a cheap hotel and caught the “free” shuttle to it.  It turns out that you have to pay for the shuttle back to the airport so it really is not free.  After haggling over the price of the room (they tried to charge us more than we were quoted) we decided to go ahead and check in.  What choice did we have!  We were in the expanse of no man’s land that surrounds most airports and where you are entirely dependent on a car or shuttle to get around!  The room was extremely tiny with no charm at all and it had the tiniest bathroom I have ever seen! 

            The neighboring hotel that our hotel was affiliated with had a restaurant, but we were irritated with their deceit and did not want to give them any more of our money.  So we went off on foot in search of a restaurant.  I really did not hold out any hope of us finding one, but lo and behold, there was one not far from our hotel.  Its menu featured classic dishes from all over France (clearly designed for travelers and tourists) and was bustling with mainly business travelers.  We ordered the choucroute that we hadn’t been able to get while in Alsace and some beer.  We enjoyed our meal and ordered crème brûlée for dessert.  It had just been delivered to our table and we were starting to eat it when a woman at a nearby table suddenly vomited.  We saw the whole thing.  I mean I saw it coming out of her mouth!  Now, I don’t get sick easily.  I’m not a squeamish person at all, but there is only one thing in this entire world that will make me gag instantly and that is vomit.  The women at the table left the restaurant instantly and the staff had it cleaned up in a jiffy but the whole time I felt my stomach churning and had to keep my head turned.  I kept my head down and focused on my delicious crème brûlée but the dessert experience had been ruined.

            We walked back to the hotel.  I was so incredibly tired but before I could go to bed I had to re-make the bed since the staff had not opened out the sheets before putting them on the bed and both edges of the mattress were exposed.  Jayné was extremely alert (I think she was delirious) and she was filming our room and me struggling with the bed and complaining.  At last I dropped into bed and went to sleep with Jayné’s camera still stuck in my face.

            AFTERWORD:  The next morning we slept in, watched the end of a silly French movie on TV, took our shuttle back to the airport and checked in for our flight.  The flight home was a blur.  I tried to sleep as much as possible to make the time go by.  In Chicago we were delayed.  It seemed as if we had been traveling for days.  We were delirious and needed sleep but were afraid if we closed our eyes we’d never open them again and we’d miss our flight!  So instead we bought very large Starbuck’s coffees.  I think Jayné’s was 22 ounces!  (Welcome to America)  Our flight finally left bound for Portland with us safely on it.  Ty picked us up at the airport and I crashed at their house.  Jayné and I went out the following morning for a very large breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham and pancakes (another American institution that I was glad for) and then I drove home.   My life in France had ended.