Thursday, May 27 We get up, pack, and head down for breakfast where the girls are already waiting.  After some hemming and hawing, I decide to make the quick trip to Luxembourg Gardens before leaving for the airport.  Bill decides to join me.  We leave the girls at the hotel, who are going to do some market-type shopping on Rue Cler, just a few streets away.  I figured the trip to Luxembourg gardens would take about 15 minutes on the metro.

Wrong!  After riding for 45 minutes, making 2 connections each involving 5 minutes walking or so, we get to the stop for Luxembourg gardens but no longer have time to get off.  As it is, we arrive back at the hotel 15 minutes late (the girls are wondering what happened to us), and all we did for more than an hour was ride the metro.  What a waste.  I would have been much better off just leisurely strolling around Rue Cler.  We head for the metro to begin the journey back to CDG airport.  Fortunately (because we're running a bit late) the trip goes quickly, at least until the train arrives at the airport and we have to catch a bus to Terminal 2.  That takes a little while.  But that's nothing compared to the wait for checking in our luggage.  An airline employee is taking her job way too seriously and we are forced to wait an eternity for her to check in a few passengers in front of us, and then us.  There is a long, slow-moving line through security, complete with an aggressive queue-cutter, but we eventually get through.  We do some ultra-fast duty-free shopping, and get on the airplane, a bit haggard from the ordeal.

The airplane flight home goes smoothly and quickly, and we luck out by getting in by far the fastest line to get through US Customs at O'Hare.  We quickly make our way out to remote parking, where we wait a short time and catch the commuter line up to Antioch.  All in all, the trip from our hotel in Paris to Antioch went surprisingly fast and worry-free.  It's rare when travel experiences turn out exactly as planned, but our trip home was exactly that.  It was a fantastic week in Paris, and I can't wait to return. No pictures because I didn't have any spare time today!
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