And we're off!

The bags are packed (with practically nothing!),  the rabbit and the cat are under the care of our wonderful friends, and we made it to the airport with oodles of time to spare this morning.

We definitely won some funny looks from the airport people as we struggled to shlep 2 bike boxes,  a bike trailer,  and a Bob bag through the doors between just the 2 of us but overall we did it pretty well and all the gear was checked without a hassle. In the words of the security guy, "your bikes are safe now"-- which I hope will not turn out to be a ironic statement.

The extra time gave us a chance to eat breakfast at Stella's,  one of our favourite places. I had the Mexican breakfast and Penguin had a hash. Unfortunately,  Penguin spilled a piece of hash on his shirt and despite rapid application of a Tide pen,  it appears to have stained.  This was a bigger blow than expected since this is the only non-cycling jersey shirt Penguin brought. Please promise not to mention it in all future photos,  OK?

After arriving in Toronto, we exited the airport to meet Scarlet,  who drove up from Niagara just to meet us (which was incredible). The last time we saw Scarlet was at our wedding almost a year ago when she was very,  very pregnant at the time.  So it was with great excitement that we got to meet The Kid at long last.

The Kid is pretty darn awesome. It's like 2 of my favorite people took the best parts of themselves,  concentrated them,  and then made a kid out of them. His momma is pretty awesome,  too and however brief our rendezvous was it was just so good to see Scarlet again.

Now we're back inside security,  waiting for our flight to board to Paris. The plan is that once we're there,  we'll unpack the bikes in the airport itself and then ride into the heart of the city to find our hotel.  We have just under 48hrs in Paris after that to see as much as possible before cycling to Versailles on May 5. Currently,  our biggest sightseeing goals are the Eiffel tower,  Note Dame,  and the Louvre. Scarlet also told us about a chocolatier that is older than Canada itself (the store, not the chef),  which we have decided to make a concerted effort to find.

With those lofty goals in mind,  it's time to take a nap before take off!

Next post will be from Paris! Bon soir!
Saroja