December 17, 2023 – January 21, 2024

These may seem like an odd combination of places to visit, but there is an explanation.

While Heather comes back almost every year to Canada, it’s been too long since we visited her in Europe. The last time we were there she lived in Geneva, had not finished her PhD, and was not married. Since then, we attended by zoom both her wedding in Zurich and her PhD defense in Geneva, and we have never met her German parents-in-law. COVID travel restrictions hampered everything, so we have some catching up to do!

We definitely wanted to visit Heather and Hannes at their home in Zurich for Christmas. Since we have a family connection with WestJet, and WestJet currently only flies to Paris , London and Barcelona, we decided to go Paris, take the train to spend Christmas in Zurich with Heather & Hannes, join them on their holiday in the Canary Islands, and then return home via London. We’ll fly to Barcelona another day. However, midway through the trip, I was asked to visit a client in Dakar, Senegal. So Sarah returned home from London and I went to Dakar.

We have been to Paris a number of times, but the last time was over 20 years ago on the RTW trip with the kids. Central Paris looks identical, only the fashion and cars have changed. And bikes: It struck me how many more bicycles were now on the road and bike paths. Last time I don’t recall noticing that every street and every building had small shops on the main floor. Of course they were there but I just don’t remember them: Boulangerie, patisserie, cafe’s, restaurants, and shops that would only survive in a city like Paris. For example, just down from our hotel was a clarinet repair shop filled with clarinets of various condition hanging in the shop. And we saw an Ikea that was probably 20′ x 20′. (6m x 6m). It did mail-order pickup and returns only. The streets and restaurants were packed in the evenings with locals

Notre Dame is still under major reconstruction after the 2018 fire. They hope to reopen it for visitors in December 2024. Even if it is open, I suspect exterior work will continue for sometime afterwards.

And Paris is hosting the Olympics in summer 2024.

Still in draft. More text coming… & pictures