The Adventures of
David
Elizabeth
and Leif

The day of the ferry flight … the moon is setting as we drive to the Airbus factory.

A brand new plane …

A brand new engine…

Don’t grab this part…

Landing gear isn’t supposed to be this clean!

Ellie sits in the captain’s seat.

Copilot and momma…

An Ellie self-portrait…

More airplane parts in the French sunrise…

I wasn’t supposed to take pictures of this, but those are A380’s — Airbus’s new double-decker that will be the largest commercial airliner in the world.

The Paiges … they flew back with us.

Ellie strapped into the jumpseat as we get ready to go flying…

Me reading the before start checklist…

Yeah, I like my job.

We taxied out and took off … that white on the horizon is the snow-capped Pyrinees.

As we get ready to cross the Atlantic I review the winds I downloaded just prior to takeoff.

Meanwhile, in the back, Scott Paige is presiding over the aft galley that Airbus has generously stocked. I guess when you buy a plane for tens of millions of dollars, they throw in some French bounty…

As we’re passing a hundred miles south of Cork, Ireland, we see a Continental Boing 777 … it was going about 500 mph to the east, we were going about 500 mph to the west.

Here’s the wake from the B-777.

A little later, a B747…

After about 4 hours of seeing the Atlantic through clouds, we discovered the new world.

We landed in Goose Bay, Nova Scotia to buy gas. It was cold.

We picked up a little ice on the approach.

The folks in Goose Bay always provide ice cream for their visitors.

I’m standing right next to this snow drift. Literally, it’s twice my height.

I once dreamed of flying something like this for a career. Imagine taking off and landing on skis in the winter and floats in the summer.

Back in the air, Elizabeth meditatively takes in the view of New York City.

After 10 hours of flying, the kids need to play!

A satisfied ferry pilot almost in Orlando.

Hi Everyone! We’re having a good time relaxing here in Toulouse, France. Tomorrow, we’ll fly a brand new Airbus A320 from the factory in Toulouse to Orlando, FL with a stop in Goose Bay, Nova Scotia. If the winds are bad, we’ll have to stop in Iceland for gas too! (Bjorn, let us know if we should wave to anyone there when we takeoff…) It looks like 10-11 hours of flight time and then we’ll have to get from Orlando back to NYC (another 2+ hour flight) standby. That will be a LONG day!

Our vacation has been good — we’ve gotten a lot of down time. Elizabeth has been gradually beating the chest cold she had and is feeling a little better, although she’s still pretty tired. Thanks for your prayers for her — she has had a tough time, but we’ve had some good time to relax and regroup as a couple after our crazy last two months. We’ve been eating at cafes, walking around town, going to a museum and an old church and just hanging out.

We’ll be back in a couple of days and when I get my equilibrium, I’ll post some pictures!

Outside St Sernin Basilica there was a flea market. You can buy guitar amps, old Mac computers, gas cans, urns, 220V coffee pots …

… cell phone chargers and Atari joysticks …

… and African Idols and masks.

All outside this c. 1100 cathedral.

Inside the cathedral …

The altar

Something about this makes me think of Minas Tirith.

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The passage to the crypt.

On the way down, the last bit of sunlight lit this Madonna.

Inside the vault, many treasures.

Looking up through the grate toward the main altar.

Some saint that was wounded in the leg. I couldn’t find out anything about him.

The organ over the main entrance.

Back outside … the steeple tower.

The bustling streets of Toulouse.

Place du Capitol has a farmers market every morning.

Ellie saw McDonalds sundaes and couldn’t resist … even in France!

I, on the other hand enjoyed a Panini Curry Poulet and a Bavaria beer (incidentally sold like Coca Cola is sold in the US). We took our treasures out to the River Garrone.

Ellie soon got sick of having her picture taken.

I did not.

Back at Place du Capitol, the farmer’s market had cleared out and this guy was juggling.

Yes, juggling while riding a unicycle.

He could get on his unicycle without using his hands…

And pick up his stuff off the ground without a dismount.

This kid seemed to be inspired…

We woke up on our second full day in Toulouse to … rain.

That made it a perfect day for a museum. We went to The Augustins fine art museum. It’s in an old monestary built in the 14th-15th centuries. The first place we saw was the courtyard.

It has a bunch of gargoyles in it. They were singing. Elizabeth decided to join in.

Just before we left for France, Elizabeth had been in a performance in Atlanta. Besides her piece Flypaper Dances, she danced in Gargoyles. Here, she’s performing with actual gargoyles…

I tried to sing, but the gargoyles started to get up and leave.

It was still raining.

We went into the main statue hall and were met by this imposing figure … I wasn’t sure if he was going to smash his cross over our skulls.

After that we went to the hall of capitals — full of about 40 capitals from buildings around the city.

Later we went into the cathedral.

Overall, it was a satisfying experience … and it almost stopped raining in time for our walk back to the hotel.