We Have Arrived!

The good news is that the first flight On Wednesday, June 5th, was a domestic flight. Because we got to SFO barely an hour prior to the flight, with bags to check and LuLu to be certified for the flight!  Many thanks are in order to the Lyft driver who kept his calm when we needed to go back to the house to check on ONE MORE THING!

The flights went smoothly and LuLu was a champion passenger! After boarding SAS in Chicago and right after take-off she came out of the carrier and stayed on Donna’s lap the entire flight. 

SAS is Donna’s new favorite airline and Premium Economy is her new favorite seating level. She would be willing to give up food for several weeks in order to afford Premium Economy. What a luxury! (You note she is not asking for business or first class. Her wants are modest!)

Glitch number one – Donna left a portfolio of documents at a store in SFO! The woman who runs the store reached us in Chicago to let us know and said she would hold it until someone picked it up. Thanks to Peter, a former colleague of Sam’s from the SFO Arch Department, it was picked up that day and arrangements were made to have FedEx pick it up and send it to us in Beaune. It took a week for FedEx to get their act together, but when they FINALLY did – it came overnight! Christine – division receptionist – handled the logistics from her desk and we thank her mightily also!

Glitch number two – No one answered the phone at the car rental agency the night we arrived. So we went the the hotel and crashed in a heap! Not before having a dinner – Dinner In The Hotel mind you! A panna cotta de tomates avec une granita de raifort (tomato panna cotta with a horse radish granita). Really quite worthy of Chez Panisse, Boulevard, Aqua – you name the Three Star restaurant. Just mind-bogglingly delicious! I repeat: In The Hotel!

So – here we are in Beaune, decompressing. Wandering around this beautiful little town, eating wonderful meals, tempted by every boulangerie and patisserie (succumbing ever so few times), drinking fabulous wine (Donna), sniffing new sniffies (LuLu, undoubtedly a descendant of Mr. Sniff of Pickle Family Circus renown) (and perhaps hoping someone will throw her a beaune), exploring shops and the supermarket and taking care of bureaucratic business required by the move (Sam). Next stop is the tiny village of Chateau, near Cluny, to visit our friends Don & Libby who own a farmhouse there. Then on to Italy, Croatia, North Macedonia and Greece! 

We are hoping the technology curve on starting a blog is not too much of a challenge!  Also, the photography should improve as we learn to connect our devices to download photos. Please bear with us! We will see if this is actually accessible! We will send a link so you can follow along!  Our French phone number 06-83-13-18-29. I think you have to dial 33 6 83 13 18 29, but please check it to make sure.

Love to you all!

Donna, Sam & LuLu

11 juin 2019