This is a travel blog. Generally it deals with my travel. But for the next two weeks I’ll be trying something different.

Jan booked a river cruise on the Rhine, from Basel to Amsterdam, with her aunt. At least that was the plan, before drought resulted in very low water levels on the Rhine. Fortunately they are still going on a cruise, rather than being bussed everywhere, but we aren’t sure about the details. I’m looking forward to seeing how this works.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First they need to get to Europe, starting with Paris.

Low water on a river cruise is not a good omen. And then I gave them passes for the lounge in Ottawa, but after they checked in and cleared security …

Fortunately they knew that the lounge in Montreal was open, and recently renovated. Unfortunately lots of other people had the same idea.

The 90-minute wait meant they would have got to the lounge about ten minutes after their plane departed. This calls for extreme measures.

Fortunately, the really important things (I’m talking about the plane) worked out, and after a six your flight with perhaps an hour of sleep, they arrived at CDG, cleared customs and headed for the hotel. It was still early, and their room wasn’t available (of course it wasn’t) so they wandered around Paris for a few hours and grabbed a baguette sandwich and cappuccino. Other than being tired, that doesn’t sound bad at all. Things are looking up.

They also enjoyed some of the many small parks in Paris.

Doesn’t appear to be too crowded at all. Another good sign.

The hotel was ready before the official 2:00 pm check in time and they decided that a little quiet time would be a good idea, no matter what the conventional wisdom says. After their rest, they did a little more touring as they headed over to the Vedettes de Pont Neuf for a late afternoon cruise on the Seine.

It’s nice to see a city that encourages bio diversity.

And then it was time for the cruise, with a little bubbly to help with the jet lag.

Then it was a leisurely stroll back to the hotel, stopping for dinner along the way (salade chèvre chaud for Jan and soupe au l’onion for Sharon). Now they are hoping for a good night’s sleep so they will be ready for their 11:00 am tickets to the musee d’art moderne tomorrow. Stay tuned.