And... we're off!

Charlie and I set off for France on April 22 at 11:10AM, just a tad bit behind schedule, on United flight 990 to Charles de Gaul airport in France.

Charlie really loved it--the novelty of just going somewhere, a place where he'd never been. Also, plane travel can be quite charming, especially if you have only been as far as Vegas or Portland before. I realized on the flight that this was his first time out of the country, even. (We have to travel more.)

He even liked the food... but he really enjoyed the in-flight entertainment, which had about 100 movies on demand. I liked the movies but also the constantly updating map of where we were on our route. The clouds over Hudson Bay were spectacular.

We each slept about 3 hours, but very well, and going through Passport Control and getting our luggage was easy enough. We had a little trouble finding the rental car (the floors were color-coded, but I didn't know which color we were supposed to be looking for), but once we found it, we were fine.

We went to Chantilly, which was beautiful, but it was mostly to have something to do to fill up the time until bed, for blessed sleep.

Charlie in front of the main gate.

Me & Charlie with my friend Venus de Milo.

Side view of Chantilly, from the expansive gardens. I had hoped this one would capture the cross at the top, which Charlie pointed out would be good to climb on.

Then we were off to La Chappelle en Serval and an AirBnB-rented apartment for some blissful sleep! (which really was blissful)