We had a smooth flight from Reykjavik to Paris last night. When we arrived, there were signs all over CDG warning that there was limited service on the RER B line and “we invite you to take a different means of transportation”. We took the hint and took a taxi, which brought us to the door of our AirBnB, the same one we’d stayed at in October at the beginning of our adventure. It almost felt like coming home!

This morning, we enjoyed the street scene while we ate breakfast at Taverne de l’Arbre Sec near the apartment.

We’ve been to Paris many times and have seen lots of the “must-see” places, some several times, so we decided to give ourselves the gift of unstructured time in Paris for this leg of the trip. This morning, we wandered over to Galeries Lafayette.

Galeries Lafayette is worth spending some time exploring; it’s 130 years old and glories in its history and beauty. It even provides stunning views of Paris and of its dome…for free (although you do have to reserve a timeslot if you want to stroll the Glasswalk inside the dome).

On the way back to the apartment for lunch, we passed a place that brought back fond memories of my ten weeks in Manhattan in 1980 when I attended the IBM Systems Research Institute. They’ve been gone from Manhattan (well, the entire US) for a long time, but there’s still a Brentano’s in Paris!

We’ve wanted to visit Saint-Chapelle again but couldn’t get tickets the last two times we were here, so I did book ahead and we went there this afternoon. It’s inside the security perimeter of the Palais du Justice, so there were gendarmes with machine guns everywhere! Once we got inside, though, we were back in the Middle Ages, enjoying Louis IX’s work.

The exit took us through the courtyard of the Palais of Justice – I guess we could have gone into the building, but there was no real reason to do so.

Our ticket included admission to the Conciergerie, where the Revolutionary Court sentenced Louis XIV and Marie-Antoinette to death and where Marie-Antoinette spent her final weeks. The building itself is normally pretty empty, but they give you a tablet that shows AR versions of the rooms which depict them at various times in history. Currently, there’s also an exhibition of contemporary art from Benin in the Salle des Gens d’Armes (the huge hall of the soldiers occupying most of the area of the building).

We took a meandering route back to the apartment.

We had an unfashionably early dinner at Crêperie Saint-Honoré, walked around a bit more, and called it a night.

Today was our last day in Reykjavik; it was rainy, but we decided to take a walk anyway. We had no particular destination in mind, so we took the path of least resistance and walked along the shopping streets, looking for interesting sights, like The Heart of Reykjavik — I’m confident its merchandise is safe from intruders!

We walked nearly the length of Laugavegur (Laundry Street) before turning around. 2Guys, which won a “best burger in Reykjavik” award, found an interesting way to show their customers where the toilets are.

We had to go back to the hotel to identify our luggage so it’d be loaded on the right bus going to the airport; along the way, we found the first fire hydrant in Reykjavik.

Once more, we skipped the Penis Museum; the local “free walking tour” company wanted to make sure visitors knew that there were alternative options.

We still had nearly an hour after taking care of the luggage and checking out, so we walked over to Hresso to try Tuborg’s Christmas Beer (it was pretty good, with a little licorice added to the mix).

There had been two buses throughout the trip (Green for National Trust, Orange for Lehigh and USC), and that continued today. Our tour director Rudy made sure we were on the right bus and sent us on our way to the airport.

I think this road sign is a bit misleading – the International Terminal is more than 40km away from the Domestic Terminal!

When we got to Keflavik International Airport, we discovered that our bus was carrying the orange group’s luggage – their bus arrived about 10 minutes later, and we were finally able to check in for our flight.

I stood in line for nearly 30 minutes to get my VAT refund for purchases we’d made – I think I earned minimum wage, but I’m not sure. Getting through security took a while, too, as did the mandatory stroll through the Duty Free store (we left empty-handed); we finally got to the Saga Lounge with about 15 minutes before we had to leave for the gate. I wouldn’t have minded having more time in the lounge – the food and drink were good, and there was plenty of comfortable seating (unlike the lounge in Milan).

We had to take a bus from the gate to the plane (no jetway); I was happy that the stairs leading to the plane were covered, since the rain had resumed in earnest.

And we’re on our way!