Day 1 and 2

Day 1 has completely passed us by! We arrive at the Dayton airport in plenty of time, with only one glitch: our driver, Emma, has come down with  tonsillitis! Several texts and phone calls later, our niece Samantha steps into the breech and delivers us. We are now in our 3rd airport, with one more to go before we reach our destination. In Brussels Airport I get my first Belgian stamp in my passport!  Although the clock tells me it's 8:35 am Friday, my body is telling me it's 3:35 am and it wants to sleep. But we will be meeting up with Angela soon,and there will be so much to catch up on that I know I won't be able to sleep until much later. Our flight toToulouse leaves in about an hour, and should take about an hour and a half. Then a bus will hopefully take the 3 of us right to the hotel. So far no complications-a very smooth trip. It is cloudy and drizzly here...about what we expected. As tired as we are, the excitement is building, wondering what assignment we will receive. But that is still a few days in the future.

We are now in Toulouse, France. We do indeed meet up with Angela, and talk non-stop for the entire flight. Hard to believe, I know! A taxi delivers us to our hotel in a quaint but central section of the city, and after lunch in the pizzeria next door, a 4 hour nap and a shower, we are ready to welcome our friends from England and head to dinner.

We meet Denis and Linda in the lobby, and have a lovely stroll around the city before deciding on a French restaurant, just round the corner from the hotel. It has taken us about an hour to get there and about 3 minutes to get home. Delicious food and even more delicious conversations shared with a few friend make a perfect end to two very long days.

Tomorrow we head into Lourdes on the fast train.