Europe Got to be Kidding Me! The Final Installment

InCosmetics is rapping up, it's the third and final day of the show (Thursday) and the long days, time change and a general sense of fatigue is starting to set in. At this point, though, I can power through anything, since we are leaving the very next day (Friday)...or so I thought! Someone visiting our booth mentions something about a volcano errupting in Iceland, "Crazy," I think to myself. But, you know I have never much considered myself a weather buff and Lord knows I am not Mother Nature's biggest fan, so I really didn't think anything of it. All this is coupled with the fact that, I was a little out of touch with the world around me due to a lack of digestible news in Paris. Our hotel had no English TV and I had only been able to snag an English newspaper once and that was much earlier in a week. All I can figure is that at the same moment I was informed of Eyjafjallajokull a massive and invisible cloud of ash and particles desended over my head, much like the one that follows Pig-Pen around in Peanuts.

Thursday evening, we pack up from the show, hit up the hotel bar for a much deserved cocktail and learn that our flights on Friday were cancelled. Inconvienced, yes, but who would scoff at a little bit of extra time to take in Paris? Even if was dirty and slightly urined stained, it was Paris! I was rebooked for Saturday, so Jim and I would be going Toyko Joe on Friday.

By end of day Friday, things were not looking good. Our new flights were cancelled and we were basically done with the city. With a little urging from our friends at ROVI Cosmetics (outside Frankfurt) we formulated a plan to rent a car (with a GPS!) and drive to Frankfurt and hole up there with our German buds. We needed a friendly face and to walk a few miles without the fear of stepping in dog poo. Jim and I had a great last night in Paris, we found a place that actually had a semi attentive waiter, a HAPPY HOUR and great people watching. Food, conversations and a bit of drinking ensued and we had a great last night in Paris. What maybe was not so great for me was the next morning. Either it was my "while in Paris" attitude that allowed me to order the cassoulette for dinner or it was the beers but I was feeling green.

Bless Jim's little heart for driving from Paris to Gelnhausen with me, our French speaking GPS and a manual Renault that wouldn't shift into reverse unless you body slammed the gear shift. It was quite an adventure full of classy highlights, like when I ralphed in the parking lot of a McDonalds...and later in the only thing I could grab as we sped down the highway with no place to pull over, which was my 3-1-1 bag for liquids from my purse. (Maybe the 1st time the TSA has come in handy.) It was not one of my finer moments. I would officially like to take this opportunity to thank France for removing all toilet seats from the roadside rest stops on their highways, because that really made it all so much better.

The drive through the French and German countryside was beautiful. The weather couldn't have been nicer. Germany was like a breath of fresh air, it's much more American friendly and just hearing American music on the radio was awesome. Arriving in Gelnhausen we spent the next 5 days at our "American Outpost" at ROVI's office. I have always considered the business associates at ROVI nice people but now I count them as dear friends and life savers. Jim and I couldn't have been treated better. We enjoyed wonderful company in a quaint country setting which at sometimes felt like living in a fairytale. All I can say is that being from the urban sprall of the NW Chicago suburbs, the charm of a stripmall is lost on me!

Taking stock of our little adventure, we spent a week in Paris and 6 days in Germany for a total of 13 days of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. On Thursday, the day I finally got a flight out I cried a little at the airport. I was so (overtired, yes) but so overwhelmed by the touching kindess of our friends at ROVI. I can't wait to visit Europe again soon, but this time with Jon and on my own terms, volcanos be damned!