After a day and full night of thunderstorms, the lake awakes to a pleasant sunrise.

It's good to be home again after chasing across Europe last weekend, trying to get out from under the ash cloud. I went over for a 12 day journey on April 12, starting with a couple of days in Geneva, then a day trip to London, which was meant to be followed by a weekend in Geneva and a trip to Lisbon the next week. However, upon arrival in London, the Iceland volcano went off, so I was not able to leave London. I had no clothes or anything with me, as I thought it was just a day trip and left my suitcase in Geneva (where it still sits awaiting my return!). By Saturday I was desperate and popped into the first store I saw across from the hotel we were at and got some clothes.



I got more than a few comments about my outfit and shoulder bag, and upon reflection realized that the store I went into may have been more for the light-on-their-feet fellas! Anyway, that Saturday morning, we called Delta and asked "where are you still flying out of Europe to the USA?' There were four of us all trying to get back. We looked at www.flightradar24.com to find the answer ourselves and booked tickets out of Madird on the first available flight, which was Tuesday morning. The next challenge was to get from London to Madird by Tuesday morning. We got on a train to Paris on Sunday night and rented a car with Avis for Monday morning. Everything went well until Monday night about 8 hours into the 12 hour drive from Paris to Madrid, when we hit a rock in the road. I was coincidentally filming with my flip cam at the time, so you can see the rock incident!



The result was both left tires blown and unrepairable. After an hour or so on the road-side trying to get someone in Avis Spain to deal with an Avis France car issue (yes, this was a big deal), we left the car with the tow truck and took a taxi to San Sebastien, the nearest village, 20 minutes away. Through the incredible help from my assistant, Danielle, we got a hotel booked before we arrived to the village and a commuter flight booked out for the next morning in time for us to get to Madrid for our Delta flight to Atlanta.

We got into San Sebastien late, but still found a nice seafood place in the old town that would serve us, where we enjoyed some good Rioja and Sea Bass. In the end, we made it to Madrid and home to Atlanta. The next day, they started operating flights again in Europe, so I am not sure it was all worth it. Though it may have been several more days before we would have gotten a seat. Anyway, it was quite an adventure.