Alpes-Maritimes - September 16, 2000

We caught a bus from our hotel to the Menton station where we took the airport bus – I hadn't enough francs so the driver took my Visa right on the bus. It was an interesting ride to the airport through Monte Carlo – seeing the casino – and Monaco. As we got off the bus, the woman sitting across from us appeared at the doorway with the wallet that held our tickets and passports which had slipped out of my shorts. A very lucky break and so nice of her, though we hadn't even had time to panic as the crisis was averted before it was discovered. At the airport after a quick lunch, we boarded and took off for Paris with an air traffic delay which looked like it might make us late for our connection. When we arrived at Charles de Gaulle, Air France rushed us through immigration only to find that our plane was delayed for cleaning! We talked to a nice man in the line who had taken a walking tour around Mont Blanc but had not reached to a higher altitude than we had!

When we arrived in Chicago we took the parking tram with our packs to the CTA which we took back Oak Park. We walked home arriving with backpacks a little before 8:00 p.m. to the greetings of a very lonely cat.