After an unusual travel period, I find myself musing at how unreliable what I took for granted became.  We travelled to Paris, Prague, Crakow and Dresden, as planned... only the world happened to ignore what was so carefully and so thoughtfully planned!

First, Paris!  Much to my dismay and disappointment, two of the restaurants I had recommended very highly, recently closed their doors: Laurier, at the Galeries Lafayette and Oh!.. Poivrier.  It's not the first time I experience such disappointments, over the years, La Castafiore on Ile Saint-Louis and Tarte Julie with several locations all over France, also closed.  How sad for my tastebuds!

On April 12, we arrived in the late evening, after a long train ride, in Crakow, the former capital of Poland, and today, its cultural and spiritual center.  We had looked forward to several jazz clubs recommended by musicians we know, and we had also planned to attend several classical music performances, especially concerts of Frederic Chopin's music.  As we stepped out to explore, the next morning, we were told that the president of Poland had just died in a plane crash in Russia.  The Polish nation went into mourning and all performances were cancelled for that week.

As we returned to Prague on April 15 to catch the next day's flight back to Paris, we found the airport shut down by the volcanic dust cloud which was drifting across Europe; no flights to anywhere until further notice.  Czech Airlines tried to be helpful and first found us seats on the next days flights, it took 40 minutes waiting for an agent to answer the phone!  The next day, airports were still shut down, so we dashed to the railroad station and got train tickets for Paris, leaving the next day at 3:30am, we even found a hotel downtown, a miracle in itself (the superb, contemporary Yasmin Hotel, at reasonable prices).  It took over 13 hours to reach Paris!  The ride was not uncomfortable, just incredibly long -- the flight would have taken less than two hours.

Back in Paris, our airline (AA) expected our April 21 evening flight to  New York to leave as planned, and confirmed that on the 20th when I called.  Happily, we set off to Roissy airport.  The flight had been cancelled after all!  Panicked, we went to the desk and the attendant offered seats on the same flight on April 28!!!  As it was uncacceptable, we asserted ourselves and refused it; the attendant looked further and found us Premium Class seats on an Air France flight, some 90 minutes later, at no  aditional cost.  How that was possible, I have no idea... the two airlines are not part of the same system.  I suppose that when you make courteous demands with a smile, you get what you want or need.

By the time we got back home, we needed a vacation to rest from our vacation!