Today we are to arrive at a B&B about an hour from the Paris airport. I wanted a place where the dogs could relax and get ready for their flight to LAX. I found this place really by accident about a year before our trip; the owners had stopped taking visitors because of health issues. I found them on an old website. But Lisa was very kind and attentive to our needs (she understood how difficult it was to find a dog-friendly place) and said that we would be welcome.
We arrived about 4pm and were greeted by husband, Jack, and their 2 dogs. Jack, a Scotsman, was incredibly welcoming and right away we saw that their garden was perfect for the dogs.
Halley, their black miniature poodle, reminded me of our long-gone Leo. That was a hard thing to remember but also a wonderful thing to remember. She is a beautiful and sweet dog–just like Leo. They also have a white Japanese spitz. The spitz spends her day humping poor Halley. (!) Our dogs seem to get along OK but, as usual, Lucien wants to be top dog.
The Quinn’s house was filled with an unbelievable amount of collectibles and memorabilia. We settled into the top floor suite which was comfortable and lovely with a very nice bathroom. We did need to negotiate the circular staircase and had to carry all the dogs up and down but we all got used to that. The garden was secure and beautiful. Toby took off as soon as we arrived and was not seen for a long time; he LOVED the garden. The Quinns have chickens and all sorts of fruit trees and home-grown vegetables. The garden flowers were beautiful!
We had arranged for dinners each of the 2 nights we were there. We had really delicious meals! There was roast chicken the first night and veal paupiettes the second night. The breakfasts were perfect.
Jack is a really lovely man. He bonded with our little dog, Lucky, and had the sweetest “conversations” with him: “You’re such a wee little lad with a wee little face…” I swear we would have kidnapped Jack if we could. We appreciated his friendliness and warm personality.
The dogs were well rested and ready to go when we were scheduled to fly out of Paris to LAX. Our drive to the airport was not bad at all. Turning in our car was easy. Truly all our concerns about getting the dogs boarded on the flight were silly–it was a cinch!
We arrived at LAX and our Global Entry designations got us through immigration and customs in record time!! We highly recommend that system if you are an international traveler. It costs $100 for 5 years. For us, $100 was worth this one entry back to the US. I was able to get the dogs through customs in no time at all.
Our wonderful neighbor, Wendy, picked us up at LAX. She was a trooper! There were so many vehicles at the pickup area, it was only due to patience and perseverance that she found us.