Mainz and Paris

"Great eaters and great sleepers are incapable of anything else great." Henry IV Of France

Esteemed Readers,

I had great plans of taking my long pleasant walk along the Rhine River that I always take when we layover in Mainz, Germany. I had, in fact, promised my FO that I would show him the route as he is a great walker too.

This did not happen.

After we left Rosi's Schinderhannes, we went back to the hotel to sleep. At this point, we had been awake and doing 'stuff' for over 24 hours, had just had a nice but heavy meal and several Bitburger, Pilz. While we agreed that we would get up around noon and go for a walk - the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak.

I remember waking up around 10 am, seeing the time and rolling over. I also vaguely remember seeing the clock read 1 pm and 3 pm and repeated the rollover manuever. I finally became conscious of the world around 4 pm. We were going to be alerted to fly down to Paris around 6 pm. Normally, guys are taking an afternoon nap before flying, so while I thought about calling my FO I decided he had probably gotten disgusted with me not calling and was probably napping and I didn't want to wake him.

So, instead of my long 3 mile hike, I just walked the short distance over to the Rhine and back to the hotel. I got back just in time to pack and get alerted.

When we met in the lobby, the first thing the FO said was: "Hey, sorry, I didn't get up until a couple of hours ago and I didn't want to call that late." So I laughed and told him the same and we both agreed that we aren't as young as we used to be.

I did get these nice pictures on my short walk.

The first is of the Gutenberg Museum and the blossoming trees that are planted outside. One of these days, I really need to go into the museum, but it didn't happen this time. I would tell you what kind of tree this is, but my well known agronomy challenge prevents me from doing that. Maybe one of you esteemed readers can fill this void?

There was a nice, little carnival setup right on the banks of the Rhine. I tried to get a picture of it but the geometry of the thing couple with its placement on the bank prevented me from capturing the scene. The only picture that came close was this one taken up through the same blossoming trees at the Ferris Wheel.

That night we flew the short leg down to Paris and got into the hotel around 1 am. We found a nice little cafe and had a pleasant meal. Then we repeated the previous day's sleep patterns and didn't get up until late afternoon. So, my intentions to walk along the Champs Elysees and the Seine were for naught.

We flew and 'out and back' to Frankfurt and back to Paris that night. Got into the hotel in the early am and repeated the sleep cycle. Boring is as boring does.

The lobby of the hotel had one of those cute egg shaped chairs and I had to get a picture.

With that scene of pathos searing your retina, I bid you 'avoir'.

I remain,

Dad / Geoff