Diddakoi W W
Take me home...France 2001France 2001 Part OneFrance 2001 Part Two


 FRANCE 2001 - Part Two

Friday, 14 September, 2001 - Cannes
It was raining when we got up, so we dodged the raindrops on our way to the cafe for breakfast. We did our crossword puzzles for a while, then headed back to the hotel. Maura went back to her room for a while and I waited for the skies to clear and walked around the city.

Cannes - La Croisette

Palm Tree

Cannes - La Croisette

Beach Umbrellas

Telephone Booth - Cannes

We met back at the hotel and went to the beach restaurant for lunch, after which we walked down the beach to the center of town. All of the American flags in town were at half-staff, as were those of many other nations. We walked up to the top of old town and found a museum that looked interesting, but was unfortunately closed.

Flags

Cannes Beach

Cannes Harbor

Up the Hill

There were some beautiful panoramas from the top of the hill....as well as my favorite French sign. Too bad none of the French pay attention to it!

Cannes Harbor

Coast

Le Chien

We went back to the hotel and went up to the pool and read and napped. I checked in with the office and found that there was to be a company-wide conference call that evening to give us a status update after the WTC attacks. We also heard that international flights were being allowed into the US again, so that was encouraging for our travel plans the next day.

Maura and I went to dinner at a restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. We had country pate to start and tarragon chicken for the entree. It was very nice and we got back to the hotel in time for my conference call. Unfortunately, the dial-in number didn't work, so I set my alarm for 3:30 a.m. to hear the taped playback.

Our president, Sal Zaffino, gave his remarks and answered questions from the employees afterwards. In total, 295 of the 1,900 MMC employees in the World Trade Center are missing. All 702 Guy Carpenter employees in 2 WTC are safe and accounted for. Sixteen of our 35 employees in 1 WTC are missing. Our parent, MMC, is arranging for temporary office space in various locations and we have not made a decision corporately where the new home office location will be.

Saturday, 15 September, 2001 - Cannes - London
We had breakfast at the hotel, checked out, and drove back to Nice for our flight to Heathrow. When we checked in, they wouldn't let me take my zippered carryon, so I only had my purse with me. Other people were allowed more bags, so I will make a fuss next time.

We arrived in Heathrow and transferred to Terminal 4 for our outbound flights. We had good news and bad news: my flight was on time, but Maura's was cancelled. We tried to get her on my flight (or ANY flight to the East Coast) but there was nothing available. We waited for an hour and a half for standby, but she couldn't get on. We waitlisted on the BA flights the next day, checked into the Heathrow Hilton, and called our travel agents.

In about ten minutes, Maura's agent had her booked on the Virgin Atlantic flight to Dulles the next morning. Our emergency travel service (American Express) told me they couldn't get me anything to the East Coast until Wednesday. I called them back and gave them the number of Maura's flight and they still said there was nothing available.

So we walked over to Virgin's desk at the airport, got Maura's tickets straightened out and when I asked if they had anything else available, they said, "Of course." They arranged everything, gave us some free shuttle vouchers to/from the hotel, and offered us free car service at the other end to our homes. I asked about Philadelphia - it is out of their radius - but they said they would check on a supplemental fee and let me know when I landed. The agent suggested we arrive FIVE HOURS before our flight to check in - but he said we could probably get away with four. We went back to the hotel and had dinner at an Asian restaurant there - dim sum, very nice.

Sunday, 16 September, 2001 - London - Washington - Philadelphia
We got to the airport at 7:30, and it took us about an hour to check in at the counter. The gentleman who helped us the night before was back at work at the ticket counter and he came over to shake our hands and wish us a good flight. We got through security quickly and went to the Virgin Clubhouse, the airline's lounge. They have a beauty salon, shoe shine, computers, and a full kitchen with meals cooked to order. Quite impressive.

They called our flight and we went to the gate. We were sitting up "in the bubble" of the 747, and the seat and cabin layout was very nice. The seats recline fully, and the food is served a la carte off the menu, whenever you want to eat. The on-board masseuse came around to schedule head and neck massages during the flight. The only bad thing was that the entertainment system wasn't working correctly.

The flight left an hour late, but they made up some of the time in the air. The food was good and I read and slept most of the way. We flew past Logan Airport in Boston, then past Manhattan, where we could see the smoke from the WTC ruins. All of the passengers and flight attendants were pressed against the windows watching.

We landed in Dulles and the Virgin car service reps met us. They said that Virgin had decided they were taking me to Philadelphia - no extra charge - as they were concerned that I would be stranded in Washington without another flight or a train. So the guy drove me 2 1/2 hours up to Philly, with a huge stack of newspapers for me to read to catch up on all of the events in NY, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The Alien was glad to see me, the fish were indifferent, but my orchid was blooming. It felt really good to be home.

Flags