We got up at 6:00am, had breakfast, and got ready to leave. Catherine went down with us, and we found the taxi waiting. Then a 10-minute argument ensued between Catherine and the taxi driver, as the taxi company had not mentioned the extra charge for luggage (a few Euros). She felt it was a point of principle and after talking to three people on the phone at the taxi company, they finally agreed to the original price and off we went. Catherine is a brilliant and persistent person, and she was not going to give up with that taxi driver!
It was seriously foggy and traffic was slow, but we had left extra early, so once we arrived we checked in and went to the gate. There we saw a cute little robot that had recycling and trash containers and moved around the seating area.
I got some chocolates for colleagues at the office, and we boarded our flight. Even though the fog delayed our departure, everything went smoothly and we arrived on time in Chicago. We went quickly through customs (thank you Global Access card!), and while waiting for our bags, some beagles came by to sniff our carryons for food and other items. They were cute but also very serious. We had a long trek to the domestic terminal and we arrived just as our flight to SFO was boarding. This was an older plane, with only first-class and economy, so we were feeling pretty squeezed after flying business class to Paris and premium economy from Paris to Chicago. Luckily we had slept on the earlier flight, and we watched a movie together.
We got our bags and headed to BART, feeling pretty tired, and got on the train. As we settled in and turned on our phones again, there was a message from Madeleine asking where we were. Slightly alarmed, we texted back, "on BART headed home." She said she was on her way to the airport to pick us up - a lovely surprise - so we got off at the next station, turned around and went back on another train, and met her in the parking lot. So nice to have a ride home with her and get to share updates. She had been staying at our home and taking care of Marley these past two weeks, and after all the travel, we were indeed glad to get home.
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