Europe and the adventures of life - Paris to Copenhagen

Some months ago, Barbara found out about a conference which covered Constellation Therapy - which is a therapeutic process, where you use stand ins to represent players, feelings, obstacles  etc, and you arrange them in a constellation.  The conference was called "Connecting Fields" and was to be held in Copenhagen.  Since it's been a long time since we did a Big Trip, and since we'd never traveled to Europe with Delilah, we decided to make an adventure of it.

So, we planned - we talked with her teachers to figure if it would be better to take the week before or the week after off, we researched the Eurail Pass, got airline tickets into Paris, and out of Helsinki, contacted relatives in Finland, got a homework packet for Delilah, and dialed in the myriad of details to make it happen. We made arrangement for the critters, decided to let a friend stay in the house, visited dad and tried to explain to him that I'd be gone two weeks.  We packed, compressed, removed, repacked, and finally it was time.

John drove us to the airport in San Diego.  TSA greats us with open arms. Ok, technically, they had US open OUR arms, and they patted us down, but at least they smiled.  Passports, check. Tickets, check. Water bottles empty. Liquid stuff in tidy quart bags. Yeah, yeah... Kindle and iPad fully charged. First leg was to Chicago. My two best memories of Chicago were of good Pizza in the airport, and two people - a guy with striped black and white socks, sitting behind a gal with striped black and white sweater. I thought I found a plug to charge things, and realized the reason no-one was using it, was it was dead. Then, we were off to Paris.

Flight in to CDG. Delilah is a trooper - she's amused by the movies, the food, the tea (she's taken to tea). At the airport, we are trying to buy tickets on the intercity train but it doesn't take our new "Eurocard" credit card with a chip, nor does it take bills. Oh, there's a change machine, but it's broken. C'est la vie. So, we wait in our first line. Long, but efficient.  Then, need to activate our Eurail, and our egress from Paris - our second line. We take a shortcut since Barbara's legs are aching, but end up behind some confused English speaking person that takes an inordinate amount of time, and keeps changing his mind about things. The ticket lady is remarkably pleasant to him, despite it being Paris, and all... Reservations for overnight train from Paris to Copenhagen - 2nd class (sleeps 6), $150, or 1st class (sleeps 4), $275.  Hum, well if it's just a few more bunkmates, seems like we'll save the money... More on that later

Off to Isle de la Cite - we did an Airbnb thing where we rented a gals apartment, so we picked up the key from a shop keeper, and wandered down the streets to find it. Old place, double gates to keep out the revolutionaries et al, the place is on the 3rd floor. Bit of a huff to get up the stairs with all of the gear, but it's a cute place.  Unfortunately, the WiFi doesn't work and after several calls to the gal, we give up.  Bed is like a futon, but with a thin hard mattress. Yeah, like that. Jet lag, cold, haven't figured out the heater.

The first day was a blur, but we did make it to Notre Dame (the next island over), which Delilah was very impressed by. Little cafe, with real hot chocolate, and a light supper, including a re-calibration to European Finances.

We spent several days in Paris, cruised on the Seine on the tour boats, walked some of the old paths, went up the Eiffle Tour. Then, we traveled to the outskirts of Paris and met up with one of Barbara's  College Friends and wandered around a lovely park there called called Parc de Sceaux. Wonderful day - almost exclusively locals there. All sorts of interesting people watching, great cherry blossoms, and of course French Architecture. After wandering around, we spent some time with one of the families that she tutors in English - had tea and a lovely chat. Looks like they may be interested in swapping houses some time for a couple weeks :)

Then, it was time to leave Paris.  I'm proud of Barbara for not crying too much this time :) Getting on the train, we met our travel companions for the next 12 hours (which ended up being more like 14 with delays). A friendly Turkish fellow, living in Germany, and a pair of Austrian film makers. They plugged in a power strip in order to charge all their stuff (I counted 8 cords), but alas there was no juice. Early bed for all, but a long night of at least 3 people in the cabin snoring, machine noises, too hot, too cold, waiting for trains to pass, just nodding off and then going in to a tunnel and having your ears clog on you and waking...  By the morning, the 1st class upgrade was looking really good for next time - peeking in, they were certainly more roomy, would have been just the three of us, are better insulated, and certainly would have had power. All said, it was a good adventure.

After a train change, a bus hop around some complication and another train change, we were on the last leg, into Denmark towards Copenhagen on a train that actually had internet access. I log in and start checking my e-mail, and find a message from my brother - "Emergency, call me ASAP". I immediately assume that my dad died. He's been at the door for a while. In fact, it would figure that he would die while I'm in Europe. Ok, so I'll need to deal with that. We get to Copenhagen, figure out where to go for our second AirBnB place. To out delight, it's a very comfy apartment only a few blocks from where Barbara is having her conference. They have laundry, have told us we can pretty much eat whatever (way cheaper than eating out), and they have WiFi that works.  So, I set up my phone for VOIP over WiFi, call my brother.

Of course it had to be dad that died. We were prepared for that. But that wasn't the news. Dad was fine. It was wrong. There was some mistake. Instead, it was my brother in law - my sisters husband Brian. 52 years old, massive heart attack, no family history, no health issues - had been working in the yard, and went in for a shower of something.  My sister found him dead on the floor perhaps 15 minutes later... Two kids, 11 and 13... My sister a widower. Do they even use that word any more? Funeral is in a couple days, but the memorial service is in a week and a half in Eugene. My brother's wife Jan has already flown up to be with Suzie. Suzie lives in a Christian Community - great, supportive people. So much love. They are all mourning, all in shock. At least they have each other...

So, we call the airlines, which takes forever. Try to change our ticket, and then figure out that it will cost more to change our ticket, then to just cancel it, and get a new one... Sigh. Leaving a day early from Finland, and getting in to Eugene for the service the following Saturday, and another set of tickets home on Sunday. Need to be there for my sister. What else can we do? Really, not much, not much...

The strange mood permeated into our lives to varying depths on and off, but we were able to mostly have a good rest of our trip. It made us realize that we had made the right decision - that taking the trip, even if we had to pay it off, was the good life thing to do. To have these moments together, create these memories, etc. Ultimately, it will be the Europe trip, and the memorial service that we will remember, not the months of work or school or whatever in between more interesting events.