I have not blogged in a while because life has been somewhat hectic and my regular routine got interrupted.

I made a quick trip to Washington for my goddaughter’s wedding. I was very happy to go as I would not have missed Arianna’s wedding for anything.

The trip was definitely fun but tiring. I travelled 22 hours for basically 3 days in Washington. The actual trip was good as I am an airplane geek and had flown all but two of the Boeing and Airbus models and got to fill in the last two planes on this trip – the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787. I had always avoided flying an A380 as the plane is huge – most hold around 500 people and I could not imagine boarding and getting off the plane with 500 people. Unusually and luckily for me, on this trip the plane had less than 100 people on the plane. I am not sure why but it made the flight very nice. I had a whole row to myself (I did not fly business class this time) and the food and other services were quick as there were so few people. The plane is definitely huge but it is built so it is manageable.

Flying back was the Boeing 787 – the plane was not as empty as the flight to the U.S. but the plane was not full. I did not have the row to myself but no one is in the middle seat. The 787 is a very nice plane as the windows are large and the ceiling is higher so you can stand easily. Also, there is better air circulation. Not sure if any of this helped but I did sleep fairly easily on the flight which was good as I was fairly tired.

I have always known this but it was confirmed on this trip, non-American carriers services and food is better than United States carriers. I flew Lufthansa over and United back. On the trip over, we were served a cheese and cracker snack before the meal service. We got a nice meal service and the food was reasonably good. At the end of the flight they handed out warmed towels to refresh. On United we did not get anything as nice.

I have had various experiences with the new European Entry and Exit system for customs. I had read stories of nightmare wait times and huge issues with the system. I have used it three times and all have been different. When I arrived in March through Charles DeGaulle in Paris, I do not think it was full implemented as I just scanned my passport, had my picture taken and then had my passport stamped the usual way. When I flew through Munich to the U.S., I had to pre-register and scan my passport, then have a picture taken, and do fingerprints as a kiosk but then was directed to the normal passport where a person reviewed it and stamped it. This took about 20 minutes. I thought once you pre-registered at the kiosk, then you did not have to go it again. When I flew back into Munich, I was required to use the kiosk to register again and then had to go through the standard human immigration process with a stamp. This took longer – about an hour. I will be interested to see what happens when I fly back in 3 weeks to the U.S. for the summer through Charles DeGaulle in Paris. Overall none of the times where a bad experience as I had heard about.

My three days in Washington were packed. My personal Uber driver, Emily, met me at the airport. My arrival in DC was easy as I have the Global Entry App and I had no luggage. As a thank you, I took Emily to the Hotel Heron for a glass of wine. We ended up having a glass and a half as the bartender had poured a glass of wine by mistake and she split it with Emily and myself for free.

The next morning, I got up and went for breakfast at Ben Yay’s as I did not have any food in my apartment. Ben Yay’s has great New Orleans beignets! It is my first breakfast every time I return from my sojourns in Toulouse.

Thursday night, I met Barbara and Lindy at Revel’s for dinner, again so I did not have to buy food as I was only there for 3 days with wedding activities for two of them. Revel is my equivalent of Le Panache in Alexandria. It was fun to be welcomed warmly there. I did find frozen lentil soup in my freezer so I could eat lunch at home.

Friday, I met Emily and Barbara at Eclarions which was fun. Then I decided I need a haircut. Getting my haircut is one thing I have not braved in Toulouse as I am not sure I could explain it in French. After the haircut, I decided to go to the Tanger outlets to look for some new pants. Some of mine are getting old and a little tight so I thought I needed some new ones. I especially wanted a pair of causal linen pants for the summer. I found some and a couple of other pair so I am good for summer.

One thing I have figured out is I really like the simple routine in Toulouse. I basically have seven days of clothes so it is very easy to get dressed every morning. Thursday morning when I was getting dressed I was very stressed as I had too many choices and had to find things that match. In Toulouse, I just have blue, black and gray as options. I need to purge when I get back to Alexandria.

Friday night I had dinner with Jesse and Jen. We had a great dinner and it was good to catch up with them. They are two of my favorite people.

Saturday morning I ran with NOVA Rogue Runners, my running group in Alexandria. They had one of their brunch runs which was great for me. I got to run and have breakfast. We ran at Lake Accotink which is not my favorite courses but it is beautiful.

The rest of the day was dedicated to the wedding. Arianna has asked me if I would be at the church early to make sure there was someone there to deal if any crises came up. As I expected none did. Arianna did crack me up as she texted me to see if everything was going well. I, also, became a purse holder as I was still at the back of the church when Alexandria arrived and she handed me her purse and her mother did the same thing.

Being a Catholic wedding, there was a break between the wedding and the reception. I had set up a meeting for drinks with Carrie and Mike between. We had decided to meet at the Hotel Archer where the reception would be held. Since this was going to happen, I volunteered to drive Alexandria’s grandmother and aunt to the hotel to make it easier on here sisters as they were dealing with husbands and children. Dealing with Nana and Irene is always interesting and a challenge but I am used to it. It was great to see Carrie and Mike.

The reception was great and lots of fun. The grandkids had a great time. William was really into the dancing and Nolan loved the Photo Booth. It was a very fun evening.

I got back to Toulouse on Monday and was somewhat surprised that it really felt like coming home. I guess that I have two homes now. The time in Toulouse has become no longer an adventure but a normal life.

I have gotten back into the life in Toulouse. I ran Tuesday night with Run in Toulouse and saw Elliot which was nice. I had lunch at Terra Tolosa on Thursday. I did not run Thursday night as it was unseasonably cold and raining fairly hard.

Lunch at Terra Tolosa was good as usual. I was charmed as at the table next to me were an older couple. I realized it was Thomas, one of the servers grandparents and it was his grandfather’s birthday. He gave home a cake with candle. I asked Thomas as I was leaving if I was correct and he joked that he liked lots of the customers but he did not kiss them or take pictures with them.

We are at the end of the May holiday season in France. There are three holidays in just two weeks. There is May Day (May 1), VE (Victory in Europe – WWII), May 8th and Ascension Day (May14th). I am not sure how much work gets done during this period as lots of people seem to take of more days than just the holiday – this is especially this year as the first two were on Fridays and Ascension is on a Thursday.

Toulouse is having an Ascension Day festival over Thursday-Saturday with various street events. I ran into two of them walking around yesterday. It is somewhat sad as the weather is not ideal for the festival.

Now that I am back in the routine, I will post more over the last three weeks of this stay.