Meeting Up In Paris?

I'll have a look at what's possible as well as look at the strikes, etc.

I hope you can make it Nigel.

That would be fantastic Nigel! It would be great to see you (and Carol?) again!! Please come when both Susan and I are there.

I suggest you put this message in the Travel Partners area. I have found messages there that led to great get togethers.

We could also plan a meet-up in Frankfurt too, if anyone is going to be there middle of June?

Andrea,
This is a great idea! I was just in Paris 4/19 - 4/23 and wish I had done this. Another poster on the forum arranged a meet-up in Haarlem, Holland - I was staying there after Paris and had a lovely conversation with them in a Brewpub in Haarlem. I will remember this next trip to Europe!

Judy B, Mona is a friend of ours, I’ll bet it was fun. Sorry to miss you.

Great idea Ms. Jo. I'll start a thread for Frankfurt.

Judy B, I enjoy meeting other people from the forum. I'm sure your time with Mona and Dave was nice. They are wonderful people. We are all part of the Sacramento Travel Group that meets monthly.

Oh I'm just going to miss it! I will be in the city on June 14 and then again from July 13(ish) - Aug. 8. Rats! I have enjoyed getting together with a few forum contributors here in L.A. and would love to meet with some in Europe sometime.

I'll be in Paris at the end of my trip on June 16, 17 and 18 (flying home on the 19th). I'd be happy to meet for coffee or a glass of wine. My undergrad was at CSU, Sacramento, I was a student lobbyist in the legislature (from San Diego).

PM me before May 31. I fly to Paris then and don't look at RS when I'm on the road.

Brad, that would be great! My train arrives early in the afternoon on the 16th. By the time I drop my suitcase off it will probably be around 3:00ish, and there is nothing specific on the agenda for the rest of that day. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I say oui to wine. What do you think Susan?

The 16th sounds fine to me. I’m a coffee, not wine, drinker but any café will have both. I have 2 favorite cafés to suggest, one on Ile St Louis and one at Place des Vosges... but anywhere is good with me.

If the 16th works for both of you, plan on it. My train, from Bordeaux, is in around 2 on the 16th. I scheduled around scheduled strike days so it should be reliable.

I also scheduled around strike days. It sounds like the 16th it is! Brad, I sent you an email with a photo of Susan and myself so you will be able to identify us.

Oh dear god, not one of our selfies... 😂

Susan, never that! 😂 It's a picture taken at your April travel meeting.

You’re an angel... 😇

I haven't gone away but I'm still up in the air. Neither the Paris or Frankfurt a.M. dates work very well for us due to my darling brother (and his daughter) visiting in the middle of my holiday but there is a chance that if we are in Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Luxembourg or Lille we could shoot over to Paris for the day on the 16th.

Day or night? If late we would have to stay over the night. If early probably in the way of sightseeing (not us, you).

Where? Coffee is better for us as we don't drink the demon rum. Anywhere that works well for both?

That would be wonderful Nigel if you can make it on the 16th. Brad gets in around 2:00, Andrea gets in around 3:00. So maybe 4:00 would be good?
I’d suggest Café Carette at Place des Vosges... quiet and lots of seating outside. And near our apartment... : )

Cafés are good because you can get coffee, tea, wine, food...

Nigel, my train from Frankfurt arrives at Gare de l'Est at 12:38 on the 16th. Then I just need to hop on the metro to go drop my luggage off. I'm hoping I have a metro ticket stuffed in my passport with my euros. Otherwise I'll have to buy a carnet. Realistically I should be able to drop off my luggage by 1:30 at the latest. I really hope you can come see us.

I agree with Susan's choice of meeting place. It has something for everyone.

I don’t know yet how much before 3-4 I can meet. Friends from England coming to visit and leaving on the 16th. I will find out.

Susan, did you find out when your friends are leaving on the 16th?

I can meet anytime... : )

Place des Voges. If I don't hear anything different, I'll be there at 4 on the 16th. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Brad

That’s great Brad, we’ll see you at Café Carette at Place des Vosges at 4:00 on the 16th!

It's on my calendar. Brad, did I give you my phone number in case you need to reach me?

Nigel, any chance you can make it?

still working on it - so much easier a few days later

Nigel, we will be in Trier the night of the 14th if that works for you.

Good point Ms. Jo. Nigel, now that we have a firm date for Trier, either Trier or Paris would work for me. Of course either Susan or Ms. Jo would miss out depending on what you can manage. I will have my phone with me, so you can always call or FaceTime me. Do you still have my phone number? I have yours.

Hi Nigel, both Andrea and I will be in Paris together until the 25th, so anytime that works for you is good, doesn’t have to be on the 16th.
So maybe Trier and Paris? 😊

you guys are so goood......

Now I can get down to some serious planning.

Less than 2 weeks to retirement and we are now back from the Lake District (word to the wise - go) I can get out the calendars and money belt and try to work this thing out - either in Germany or Paris.... gimme a coupla days....

BTW - did I mention how fabulous a time we had in the Lake District?

Congratulations Nigel. Still a few years for me. Andrea, yes I have your number and email. You have my email. I won't know my number until I buy a local SIM card. I'm not sure if I can reuse the Orange holiday card I got last time? Unless I can use it for more than 14 days, however, I don't think I'll use it this time anyway.

Congratulations Nigel! Retirement! That is so exciting!! I retired early and I haven't regretted it a single day. We are hoping that Jim will retire late this year or early next year. Then we will finally have some freedom. Well, I already have it. That's why I'm traveling without him on this trip. ;-)

Nigel, you'd better make time. They're going to stalk and harass you until you agree to a time and place!

Lol! Karen, you're probably right.

We are going after Karen next, after we get Nigel.

Ms. Jo, that sounds like a plan!

Congratulations Nigel!
Well done.
Now you have plenty of time for Paris... 😊

Only in Europe / Great Britain can someone come back from a vacation and retire 2 wks later... 😂

I am packed and ready to be kidnapped and taken to Paris.

Sorry Karen, I think we have you scheduled to be kidnapped and taken to Frankfurt, not Paris.

Karen, if you come to Sac/SF we’ll be happy to kidnap you.

Karen, you can be kidnapped and taken to Frankfurt, then transported with me to Paris. The best of both worlds. I'm predicting that Eileen will insist you then be taken to Sacramento. That's a lot of traveling for you. On your dime of course. ;-)

Only in Europe / Great Britain can someone come back from a vacation and retire 2 wks later

Not exactly. It was just a 5 day weekend.

Now after this week and the next at work on fewer days I will have 3 weeks' holiday (with an interruption for relatives things) and then my retirement begins... confusing?

A little confusing but CONGRATULATIONS Nigel!!!

“5 day weekend”... wish we had those!

it is the railways. I work 4 days a week with two days off together which move down the week. So this week M,T off; next week W,Th off; the following F, Sa, etc. So every third weekend it is the Friday and Saturday off for this week and the Monday and Tuesday off for next week and Sunday is not part of the working week unless I want overtime for Sunday working, so F,Sa,Su,M,Tu = 5 days off.

Simples.

Don't you wish you worked 4x 9 hour days a week?

Now, Nigel, why would you want to retire from a sweet deal like that? Just to meet up with people in Paris?

Andrea- how about you pay my flight and I'll do elder escort for your uncle? No, not that kind of escort! Get your mind out of the gutter. I'll get him from KC to Germany, and then he's all yours while I meet up with Jo and Susan?

Karen--you're supposed to be herding your family around Nice. Maybe everyone should go down to Nice.

lol Karen...

Nigel, “Don't you wish you worked 4x 9 hour days a week?” Yes please! And 5 day weekends! I work 14 hr days, 5-7 days a week. Maybe that’s why I need Paris... : )

Bets, wish you could join us in Paris.

Karen, he can pay for your flight to "escort" him. If he goes. He should have received his passport by today. I'll call him tomorrow to see if he has purchased an airline ticket. I will be in Hannover with the family for a week. Then I'm off to Frankfurt and Paris.

Nigel, your schedule is similar to Jim's. He works a 48 hour shift, then is off for 4 days. His days off shift each week. I loved my 4/10 schedule. I worked 10 hours per day for 4 days and had Friday-Sunday off. Of course I love my retirement schedule more!

Bets, it would be great if you could make it to Paris!

Oh! I so wish I could be there for the meet-up!

I do too Darcy!!
When will you be out here to visit again?

Darcy, I wish you could meet up with us in Paris too. Although maybe a little less interesting than when we met up in Paris last time. No bomb threats at Gare du Nord delaying my train, etc. At least when we met up in Venice & Siena in 2016 we didn't have that kind of excitement! And yes, when are you going to come back to Sacramento to visit? Inquiring minds want to know.

Wellll, at this point the plan is to have family come here this year instead of us going to Sacramento, I'm sorry to say! They don't have their flights yet so there is a possibility that we might have to do the traveling. I'll let you know the second I find out because I'd sure like to see you again and attend the Sac Travel Group!

Should we pick up Bets the same time we get Karen?

Darcy, just let me know. After Jim retires we plan on doing a PNW road trip to visit friends and relatives. I'm hoping to time it so we can be out your way and attend your meeting. If we can't work it into that trip, we want to do an RV trip to Yellowstone and other places in the vicinity. That would be another potential trip to your area.

Ms. Jo, good plan.

Nigel,

Mine is done per two week period. I do 8 - 9 hour days and one 8 hour day for a total of 80 hours (of course I do a little more than that). I work from home one Friday and get the alternate Friday off, so three day weekends every couple of weeks.

I retired from the Air National Guard in 2015. Here it's a part-time job (a weekend a month plus 14 more days somewhere during the year). It's nice only having one job now.

I looked at my retirement options recently and determined that the most reasonable is to retire some time in 2021, probably before summer.

Brad

OK. At the moment I have 2 nights (changeable and refundable on points) in Arras opposite the station. Gare du Nord in Paris. I can get to Paris mid-day and hang out until you slow pokes roll up. Back to Arras in the evening.

I love Place du Vosges. Don't know the café.

Nigel, I should be available around 1:30 if you'd like to meet up early. Susan's friends will be leaving before my arrival, so she may be available earlier than the 4:00 meeting time too. I haven't made any plans for that day. I may have to go to the store to pick up a little food, but that won't take long.

Fantastic Nigel. I’m available when Andrea is.

Brad, 2021 is not far away...

Café Carette
25 Place des Vosges

That café looks very nice. Easy for us from the Gare du Nord (one bus likely) or one Métro (less likely)). It isn't fattening is it?

Assuming decent weather, shall we be outside or in? Shall we put the blue book on the table, a la Panera?

I hope we recognise each other after all these years, and of course I have yet to meet Susan and Brad. Is there anybody else?

Sorry, Jo, we can't get to Trier on the 14th. My brother will still be here. Perhaps a bit later closer to your home? Maybe Speyer as we pass through?

Um, still waiting for my kidnapping... Bets and I will meet in Indianapolis so you just have to make the one stop.

Would love to meet up with you in Speyer Nigel and show you around. When?

Nigel, unless you and Carol have changed a lot in the last 4 years I'm pretty sure I'll recognize you. Maybe we can FaceTime at some point before we meet up and I'll email you a recent photo of me and Susan. I have two emails for you. Should I use the one with your full name or your nickname? I've already sent one to Brad. As far as inside or outside, my preference is always outside.

Karen, that's so considerate. 😊

Andrea would you like to borrow my blue spotted dog scarf so Nigel can "spot" you better?

see, the thing is, Andrea is a whole lot younger than Carol and me, and her memory will be much better.

(my nickname)

I've just thought that we should leave home earlier and have Friday and Saturday night in Arras instead of Saturday and Sunday... I'd better see.

Facetime soon today?

Nigel, it was good to see your face when we FaceTimed and I definitely would have recognized you. I will email a photo with Susan in it. Brad has emailed me a photo as well.

I'm ready!

Checking the packing list, setting up everything, firing up Citymapper, finding the SNCF Boutique... ready to rock and roll.

Everybody still in?

Anybody else like to join us?

Sorry to miss it!! Do have fun!!

OK, because I have the memory of a fig, an old and shriveled up one, what time of day is the gathering?

I'm hoping to bump into Andrea and/or Susan earlier in the day - we will probably have a relatively early departure from Lille to GduN and if the weather is decent a really big goal is walking some or half of la Promenade Plantée (La Coulée Verte) and checking out the artisans in the arches below. Anybody want to join?

Nigel, my train arrives at 12:38. Realistically I can get to the apartment around 1:00 - 1:30ish. We could meet there if you like. I'd love to do the walk with you. I'll need to stretch my legs after the train from Hannover. We will see if Susan chimes in...

hope you are good getting up in the middle of the night....

we'll stay in touch

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday. We wish you could join us Kim.

You should all wear a red carnation.

Or maybe you should do what we do for Travel Group meetings -- carry a blue-and-gold Rick Steves book. Happy meet-up!

Lauri, it is obvious that you know exactly what needs to be done. I don’t have a red carnation, but I do have a RS Paris book. It will be prominently displayed on the table.