Bill and Nancy are still in Africa for a couple of days. They were to leave Bushbuck lodge on Thursday.
Tamara and Melissa traveled back via Nairobi, Paris, and Toronto. Tamara's Facebook says she is home.
Doug went through Johannesburg, and Paris. Johannesburg airport is quite nice and modern. It even has a Haagen Das ice cream shop. No troubles on the flight, and I got an aisle seat, so I had shoulder room and could get up to stretch whenever needed. It was about 10 hours to Paris, and we arrived around 6 a.m. I had about 8 hours to wait and had made plans to go downtown and see Notre Dame cathedral. Walking through the airport to get to the exit & customs seemed to go on for a long time. Walking, walking, walking, just following the signs for exit with no end in sight. Finally a shuttle train to take people to the next terminal. Since the exit sign said to get on the train, I did. Finally out and through customs, which was also just a rubber stamp. More walking to find the 'trains to Paris' signs. Quickly purchased a return ticket and was off, arriving downtown about an hour later, just before 8:00 a.m. The St Michael/Notre Dame station is pretty big, and I came out at the wrong exit. Quickly found a tourist map (vous etes ici) and headed the couple of blocks to the cathedral. Not too many people around at 8:00. I expected more, but perhaps there aren't many businesses there, just tourists. The cathedral is impressive, though I'm not sure it is more or less so than others I have seen in the UK, France and Germany. The arched colonnades are high and impressive. The stained glass windows large (10 metres across for the rose windows) and impressive. Lots of stone carvings, side chapels, plaques, burial tombs for bishops, and lots of tourists. I walked around the outside of the building, and it is in some ways more impressive. The line up for going up the tower was long, stretching down the street at 10 a.m. I had tea and croissant at a nearby cafe, and browsed the tourist shops. The train back was no problem, and the return journey to the departure lounges didn't seem quite as long. A visit to the duty free shop and then settled in at the gate to wait for boarding. Melissa and Tamara arrived about an hour before boarding, and they had made there way to see the Eifel Tower, though didn't go up, and had some coffee in a shop as well. We all were feeling a bit worn down and not looking forward to the 8 hour flight ahead. There was some issue and our departure was delayed by 2 hours. We did get aisle seats adjacent to each other, but I resisted the temptation to kick Tamara's seat in front of me the whole way back. Eventually we made it to Toronto and said our goodbyes, the girls heading home and me to visit friends, heading home on Sunday.
This brings the 2015 team adventure to an end. I will add some photos when I get back to Thunder Bay and can access my own computer. Thanks for watching, good night. :)
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