On Our Way

We left Grand Rapids hauling 7 50 lb suitcases and 8 carry-on bags/backpacks yesterday at 11:30a.m. and flew to Chicago for a connection to Frankfurt, Germany. Elle looked like a seasoned world-traveller pulling her rolling Tinkerbell carry-on, which matched the purple fairy princess dress she insisted on wearing over her sweat suit.

We were in the air to Germany about 8 hours, during which we crossed time zones into 2011. The flight attendants supplied a mini-bottle of wine for each passenger. Scott didn’t want his. Needless to say, I then had two bottles of wine.  As we flew over Greenland, the pilot announced a ten-second heads up for the New Year and the passengers counted down together. Scott and I reached over the airplane seats for a New Year kiss over Elle sitting between us.

After landing in Frankfurt, we wandered amidst a virtually empty airport (it was before 6a.m. there) attempting to make sense of direction signs written in German. There weren’t any airport workers to ask for help. Scott, Dakota and I have not a clue about the German language so we felt our way up and down lifts, around concourses and through cement hallways. We each pushed a luggage cart in a single file, little Elle pulled her Tinkerbell luggage. She was such a trooper following behind her big brother like a duckling princess as we looked for the luggage storage. We stored 6 large pieces of luggage and one carryon in Frankfurt airport for 7 Euros per day per piece and took only one large suitcase and 7 small carry-ons on to the train ticket desk.

Each of us were assigned bags for which we were responsible. Cody had his backpack and two rollers. Scott had the large roller and the “die-for” backpack, so dubbed because it held our passports, itineraries, reservations, international driver’s license and vaccination certificates and Scott instructed each of that we should be willing to die for that backpack if need be. I carried my backpack and Elle’s backpack and I pushed Elle’s stroller piled under our winter coats. Elle was in charge of the Tinkerbell roller and took her position very seriously. She wouldn’t allow ANYONE to come near it and insisted that only she should pull it no matter how busy our surroundings became.

All of us looked forward to boarding our train to Paris. We knew the trip would be more than a few hours and since only Dakota had gotten much sleep on the flight, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to nap for a few hours. That didn’t happen though. An announcement stating that the train had an unexpected transfer about half way to Paris. We would have to bundle back up in our winter coats and hats, distribute the bags and tramp back through the impossibly narrow train aisles onto an outdoor platform to await an identical train then haul everyone back to their seats, store the bags on the overhead racks and peel off our bulky outerwear for the second half of the trip. Because we were paranoid about missing the transfer, we surely couldn’t sleep the first half of the train ride. During the second leg, Elle curled up in her seat and was out cold. Scott passed out in his seat too. His head lolled back and his mouth fell open. If I had had some popcorn, I would have for sure passed the time shooting into his mouth. Cody played his PSP and I tried my hardest to find a comfortable position in which to nap but to no avail. By the time we reached Paris East train station, I was so exhausted I felt as if I were in a fog.

We couldn’t get to our hotel fast enough. Dakota and Scott each forked over a euro to use the toilette and we found an exit where taxis awaited.  Walking out of the train station into the streets of Paris my breath caught and I felt like we had entered a different world. The enduring old buildings surrounded us.  I felt like we were standing inside of a miniature model of some classical city. The buildings were all the same height and the narrow streets curved around them. The taxi driver maneuvered through the meandering streets at top speed, barely missing crossing pedestrians and other jack-rabbiting cars. I sat in the front seat and I honestly wanted to put on my seatbelt but was literally too afraid to let go of my white knuckled grip on the sides of my seat. Cody whooped and Scott guffawed in the backseat. Elle was silently looking in as many directions as she could.