Day 2

I managed to stay awake until 8:30, which was very difficult. I kept feeling like I was going to drop off when we were riding the Metro. We survived though.

I didn't get up until 7:30, which is amazing for me. I really needed the sleep. Amanda got up shortly thereafter. We got cleaned up and then hit the town. We started with a walk to Luxembourg Gardens. On the way we found a boulangerie where Amanda got a chocolate croissant and I got some pastry called "pepito." I thought it had poppy seeds in it, but it was instead some kind of cheesy filling with chocolate chips. Both were really good. We enjoyed these in the park and then walked around a while. We saw the classic fountain where kids still race sailboats. It was pretty amazing to take in this garden that you see in movies.

After that we walked to the Palace des Invalides, which was something built for wounded veterans in the 17th century. We decided not to get in the queue to see the chapel, though I'm sure it was amazing. Amanda didn't have much interest in seeing the French Army museum either (insert French military in the last century joke here).

We walked over to the Champs Elysees where Amanda found herself a scarf. Turns out that many Parisians wear them, straight men included. We got back to the hotel, gathered our bags, and then took the Metro to pick up our shuttle to the Beauvais Airport where we got our flight to Scotland. Flying Ryanair is a lot like flying Southwest in the States, with the addition of many opportunities to buy things in-flight including scratch-off lottery tickets.

We got our car at the Edinburgh airport and hit the road. Driving was not trivial here, as you might imagine. My biggest problem was getting used to how narrow the lanes are. I kept clipping the curb on the left side of the car. Fortunately, Amanda was a pretty mellow passenger. A more nervous passenger would have really unnerved me. The constant rain didn't help matters either.

We pulled in to our B&B at about 9:00 PM and were delighted with the hospitality of the owner. We love our room too. The most difficult part of the journey is successfully behind us.