In NoVA with "Miss Julia" (11.19.07)

I spent last night in Falls Church, Virginia, with my sister, her husband, and their 7-month old girl, Julia. As I have been saying, it was a very underwhelming homecoming for me as there was no one with flowers or a banner waiting for me at the airport. Instead I collected my bags, bought a Washington Flyer bus ticket to the Falls Church Metro Station, and then walked about 20 minutes from the Metro to my sisters house and let myself in. Since I had spent my entire flight from Paris to Dulles watching movies (No Reservations, Die Hard IV, and Waitress), by the time everyone over here starting arriving back from work and daycare I was ready for bed and I am sure did not make very charming company.

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I started my evening on the floor of Julia's room, since 8 oclock EST felt like 3 am to me. She was up and down during the night almost as much as I was, but didn't have the crazy circadian clock at 2 am telling her body, "Wake Up. It's 9 am Paris time!" I padded around the house from 2-5 am before falling asleep again on the couch. It is a little surreal to be back at home under such mundane circumstances. When I arrived back at Dulles and was passing out of customs, my heart caught TO BE CONTINUED

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The above are photos of my niece, Julia, who will knows me as "Aunt Sylly" (if she knows me at all).

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It has been really interesting to see her and to compare her with the other infant in my life, Mr. Ian Russell Griffin Barnhart. Julia is about 7 weeks ahead of Ian in age, but seems like she comes from an entirely different planet.

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First of all, she is HUGE! 95% percentile in length and weight with the head circumference of an adult and the grip of a pro-wrestler. She is already 18 lbs+ and has a very nice little pot belly that I think she puts to good use as a sitting aid. I watched her guzzle ~7 ounces of formula in one sitting last night before bed, and that was AFTER her dinner of mashed green beans.

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Secondly, she is quiet and reserved. Unlike Ian who REALLY likes to be attached to someone, either physically or socially, Julia seems quite content to entertain herself on her mat or in her bed. Even when you are holding her, she stares out at you with big unblinking eyes as if she is sizing up whether to let you in to her inner sanctum or not.

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I am very lucky to have both babies in my life, particularly since I don't think I want one of my own. My favorite, of course, is playing dress up with them. Oh, wait till their mom's see the presents I got the babes from Dubai! ;-)))

Not "home" yet, but getting closer! (11.19.07)

This is a quick placeholder to say that I am back on American soil and very much looking forward to a nap and a shower. I missed my flight out of Marseille yesterday and had a very unfortunate, very expensive, and very unwelcome stay in Paris before flying out this morning. As much as it was nice to see Rick and his European world, I think France is a country that I am going to stay out of from now on! They aren't a very hospitable bunch...
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Anyway, here I am. Stay tuned for more updates after I have recovered from jet lag a little bit. There is still more to come before I actually make it back to my own bed sometime next weekend!

I don't like France...the trials and tribulations of returning to the US

Why am I smiling???

I just paid Air France another $200 as a change fee because I missed my flight from Marseille to Paris!My broom closet-sized room at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport

Bottom line - I f***ed around and missed my flight out of Marseille. The un-supportive staff at Air France at the Marseille airport weren't all that much help, but with Rick's help, a few white lies about my tardiness being due to the railroad strike, and a some patience on the part of the ticketing guy, I managed to get rebooked to Paris-Orly for Sunday afternoon. So now the only problem was that my new flight was out of Paris-Charles de Gaulle on Monday morning.

I have a lot of comments about the experience, but none of them are particularly flattering to the French staff. hmmm...g

Sightseeing sans Bebe (11.17.07)

4 hours in the car for 2 hours in Nimes (11.16.07)

Sunset while Amanda tried to soothe an inconsolable Ian

On Friday we visited Rick's "French Family."

6 hours in Marseille (11.15.07)

Our charming French breakfast

On the streets
Palais Longchamp
Plans for upscale McDonald's
Charming Restaurant
French lady and her shopping basket

Ian selecting our lunch
The "Village"
My new jeans
Ian & my new jaunty cap

I say only 6 hours because despite arriving fairly early last night, we didn't actually leave Rick's flat this morning until about noon. It was cold and windy all day as we wandered along the old boulevards and in and out of a few upscale stores down near the marina. By the time we finished lunch and wandered back outside at around 4:15 pm, the wind had turned to a very unpleasant drizzle and we scrapped our plan to take the city bus out to see some of the coastline. We attempted some mall shopping, but even that fizzled out pretty early because of technical (and infantal) difficulties, so we were all back the cozy apartment by 6:00.

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I am regretting not doing more shopping in Athens since the exchange rate continues to tank and I think Athens prices were better for higher quality clothing. So perhaps I will scrap my plans to try and look like a European while I am here. I did splurge and get my first pair of $100+ jeans after being so impressed with Rick's. He took me to Diesel and I came out much poorer, but hopefully much more bootilicious. I was then told that tomorrow we are going to Nims, which is the birthplace of denim. It was originally used for sailor's uniforms and was produced "du Nims." The other thing I purchased was a jaunty hat, seen above modeled by Mr. Ian.

Third Strike for Acropolis - and we're out of Greece!

Goodbye to Hotel Amazon in Athens
Unknown protest on Mitropolitous
Harry Potter in Greek
Ian with his travel documents
Alitalia's special seatbelt for Ian
Over France
Marseille from plane
Catching bus to Marseille
Marseille sunset
With Rocky Bilboa-our cabbie's dog in Marseille
Rick & Ian

The original plan was to be up by 7:30 and out the door by 8:30 to finally see the Acropolis before leaving town. The reality was that the funny tasting cheese from last night was probably bad and I woke up around 5:00 am with very unpleasant cramps and abdominal contractions. Thus, I wasn't going anywhere any time soon lest my body take an inopportune moment to purge itself of the toxins. It turns out that Amanda and Ian were happy to sleep until 9 am as well. The bottom line was that there was no Acropolis this morning. We were doing well to get to the airport 45 minutes before out flight.

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I just have to mention two notable events that occured just prior to leaving the hotel. First, Ian and I wandered into some sort of protest march on the edge of Syntagma Square as we were out hunting for an ATM machine. I asked someone what the protest was about, but as they were tourists as well they didn't have an answer. So I took a photo and will have to find someone who can read Greek to translate. The other incident was actually somewhat traumatic. As Ian and I were trying to get my 20 kg backpack into the tiny elevator, one of the straps of the backpack got closed into the doors. As the elevator started to move, I began frantically pushing buttons to stop the elevator, but it was too late. I stepped backwards into the elevator (with Ian strapped to my chest) and watched the 50 lbs of luggage rise to the ceiling of the elevator and then come crashing back down when the strap finally broke off. I shreiked, Ian cried as a result, and all-in-all it was a high stress elevator ride.

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Our flights to Marseille were fine, with the exception of me leaving my purse/camera bag on the plane from Athens when we transferred in Milan. Thus there was no lunch during our 45 minute layover. The no lunch part ended up being not a problem once we finally made it into Marseille. We grabbed a bus from the airport to the bus terminal in downtown Marseille where Rick met us with a pre-arranged taxi. Even the taxi was a treat for me, since I got to sit in the front seat with "Rocky Balboa," the cabbie's permanent canine co-pilot. We arrived at Rick's place around 6, he made us a wonderful big dinner of pasta & salad, and we spend the next few hours doing mundane things like laundry and emailing. It is nice to be in a home again, though it will be even nicer to be in my own!