Au revoir, Bordeaux, et le retour

 On Friday night there was a show at the Bassin des Lumières, a World War II German submarine base whose massive space is used for light projections with music.  These involved Dalí art and Gaudí architecture, something overwhelming to see in a large space.

In the morning, the tour of Bordeaux involved getting from the dock to the city center by tram. The guides distributed tickets to us.  It was a different way of looking around the area where we’d been at the start of the trip.  The Grand Théatre opera house is an emblem of the city.

On our return to the ship and after lunch, we could see interesting streets in the Chartrons area where we were docked.  Here is rue Notre-Dame.

For the morning, we had instructions to leave our bags outside the room at 5.15 for a 6 a.m. bus.  We put the bags out, and the ship had a croissant breakfast available.  We went to the airport in Uniworld's full-sized bus, even though there weren't that many people going at that time.  We got to the airport way early for our 9.15 flight, and were in a grumpy mood while waiting for the counter to open, unclear if the main marked line required us to have our baggage tags printed, and the kiosks for printing them weren't accepting our documents.  Eventually the counter opened and we were checked in.  At this airport it was a short distance to our gate for the short flight to Paris, still not much shorter than the time of the train, which would be preferred if just going to Paris.

It was nice that the short flight included a shortbread cookie.  Anyway, we landed, we had the involved connection at CDG between Terminal 2F and 2E, this time Hall K, which gave a better impression of this airport than I've had before.

On the flight, we weren't able to get the bulkhead seats this time, and were cramped in a row with three on the side.  I'd been feeling congested, had strained breathing, and put on a mask, worrying about the situation, but when we got home I tested negative for COVID and have felt better since then.  On the ship, other passengers had alerted us to severe weather warnings along the East Coast; we did a bit of holding to arrive a few minutes after schedule.  Anyway, on arrival of the flight we had Global Entry, where the kiosks now recognize our faces without our needing to put the passports down, and don't print a receipt; we just flashed our passports to the agent afterwards.  We were just in time for the bus to our home area.

We were home from a good trip.  It was nice to pick up the French scene: fashionable dressing, people out in crowds.  The cruise was enjoyable for the food and drink, giving a mixed impression for being nice to see different places while based in the same room (no need to pack up) while also making for a rushed experience at the stops.