Last Night

My last night, in an airport hotel near the CDG airport.

The end of a vacation is always a downer for me. I can't call it bittersweet, as quite the contrary it is simply a downer, regardless of whether the trip was awesome or less than perfect (as in this case). I truly love travel, virtually any place in the world, and to have to put that dream on hold for a bit till my next trip is unpleasant.

In any case, the Millennium Hotel does, indeed, offer free airport shuttle service rather than shuttle service at the cost of taxi service. Since I could not find the shuttle at the airport going to the hotel, I at least figured I could use it the next morning returning to the airport. In this sense, unlike the German notion of a hotel shuttle that costs as much as a taxi, it is at least the thought that counts.

The Hotel Millennium was but a short, 10 minute ride from CDG (less had the driver actually had a clue), but it actually turned out to be a pleasant surprise. A bit older, with a slight musty smell which you were able to ignore after a few minutes, this is a large hotel, with a formal restaurant and an Irish pub bar. I decided to have one truly nice dinner out, so I had a small split of white wine with a very interesting meat platter appetizer, and a chicken breast with mushroom sauce and green beens. Surprisingly, all of it was very good, though I am not sure what the meat appetite platter really was (three meats, one proscetta, one some unknown spiral half dollar sized meat, and a huge pate block). Regardless of what it actually was, the dinner was very tasty, moderately priced at 40 Euros (a relative bargain given what I perceived the place to be worth). I do, however, need to get my friend to instruct me on how to properly savor a meat platter; being alone in a nearly empty restaurant, I could take certain shortcuts, though I am not sure they would meet with Emily Post approval. Make a note to myself to take her to a nice French restaurant so she can instruct me.

So, as the last night draws to a close, I finished dinner and then had a vodka tonic in the Irish pub on Monday evening, while watching a soccer game between France and the Ukraine. After that, I retired to my room, ordering a bottle of Muscadet while continuing to watch the game. In hindsight, I probably should have gone with my original idea of simply spending the whole 10 nights in Paris, as there is some noise, attitude and liveliness here, something I really have not felt on this trip, save for those last few hours in Milan. Tonight, though, I shall (will) get to bed no later than midnight so I can awaken at 9:00, leave the hotel at 10:00 and catch a 2:15 flight to Keflavik, then on to Seattle.