Home Again

Washington DC was a great trip and I loved spending all the time with Martha Jr. and the other girls and moms who went with us. (There were 4 troops in all; most of the girls had parents with them.) I spent a lot of time with the leader who coordinated the trip since I wound up sitting next to her on the bus. (Once the seats were chosen we all stuck with them for the rest of the trip.)

I was worried about holding up with the fibro. I kept up until the last day, but I almost lost it when we were getting to the airport. The wait to check my bags was excruciating, then after check in the suitcases had to be hauled over BY ME to another area for x-ray, then after that another long wait to get through security. I hate that airport!! We had plenty of time but I still felt rushed and shaky, my back had started to hurt, and I was wiped out. Oh, and the suitcase I had to check was broken- a brand new Samsonite, no less. One of the two latches busted and it wouldn't close properly. Luckily my roomie mentioned duct tape, and I actually had some! I had it because of the trip to Europe with The Eldest in 2009. I read a ton of travel blogs prior to that trip and one of them suggested packing duct tape. It went into one of the travel supply bags I pack all the time and never came out until now. It was a small travel size roll, it was super difficult to unroll, and it wasn't enough to go all the way around the suitcase, but it was enough to hold the bag together on the bus ride to the airport. At the check in counter the airline had packing tape they let me use- whew! The suitcase made it back home and everything was inside thanks to the tape, but I returned that suitcase as soon as I could get it back to Costco.

At some point on the last day I noticed my ankles were gone- yep, I had cankles. The last time I had swelling like that I was pregnant. I guess I was as tired as I felt if that was happening. (Cankles- that word tickles me. It should mean something fun and flirty instead of swollen ankles. I walked around all day telling everyone I had cankles just because I like the sound of that silly word.) The swelling was gone after a good night's sleep so no worries. What was bothersome though was my back. I was a mess from half way through the last day and the entire day after we got back, then it felt better the next day so I over did it, and it flared up again today. I couldn't bend over at all; I had to take DH to the grocery with me to get items on the lower shelves. He wound up picking up all sorts of stuff I dropped or bumped off the shelf in the store; I'm such a klutz. He said I was just doing it on purpose but I promise I wasn't!

But back to the end of the trip. I finally calmed down when we got settled at the gate, I ate a snack, (Martha Jr. and I got the last pretzels at the Auntie Anne's) and I took some Tylenol. Then it was a matter of getting all of our stuff on the plane and getting home. I had a center seat which I normally HATE since I get a little claustrophobic on planes, but it was OK. I was in between the troop mom I roomed with and Martha Jr., and we all kept our arm rests up so it was like we were sitting on a couch. Since the troop mom and I are good friends, and I was able to move around a bit since Martha Jr. hardly took up any space at all (she's a little bit of a girl) I was fine. The other mom and I chatted a lot of the way and that kept my mind off things, plus it's not a long flight. Then it was over and DH was picking us up and whisking me off to a good meal (kale and potato soup- one of my favorites) and my bed. I slept like a rock but I was still groggy all the next day, and of course I had the back problems I mentioned earlier. Luckily I have a good heating pad and a tens unit; I think that's why I felt better the second day after getting home. If I had taken it easy instead of trying to return that stupid suitcase and get some other errands done... Well, anyway, it will get better.

All in all, the trip was absolutely grueling but absolutely fun, too. I'm so glad I went and got through everything, and that the fibro didn't flare up and stop me from living my life. Yes, I had a flare up at the end, but I got through all the fun stuff first- take that, fibromyalgia!

I'll blog about the actual trip and post pictures eventually, once DH gets them all on the computer for me. I took a ton of pics- gotta love those digital cameras!!

And As If Camping Weren't Enough...

After we got home from camping I had the rest of the day on Sunday to unpack, then on Monday I went on a marathon Christmas shopping spree, then Monday night and Tuesday I had to pack for DISNEY WORLD (and Universal Studios). Suffice to say we didn't leave until late Tuesday night; we got into our hotel around midnight. We were very impressed with our suite when we got to it. It was a spacious two bedroom with a full kitchen for a very reasonable off season price. Our only complaint was with the dampness, which I don't think is anything anyone could help. A/C units will pull dampness out of the air but it was COLLLLDDD the whole time we were there so we had the heat on. There was a lot of condensation on the windows; anything I left by the window in our bedroom would be wet when I picked it up. Blech.

But on to the fun stuff! We were there to meet with my aunt, uncle, cousins, cousin-in-laws, and the mini-cousins. Two of the minis are close in age to The Wild Child and Martha, Jr., and the mini-est cousin is a little guy at just the right age to.... pull the fire alarm at the restaurant we had brunch at on our last day. Oh, yes, he did! (He's two; they do stuff like that at that age.) His poor dad was mortified; the rest of us veteran parents told him not to sweat it. He'll be laughing about it in a few years! Mini-est was full of it, too. The Wild Child recognized a kindred spirit and had a lot of fun running around with him in spite of the age difference. We went to the Magic Kingdom with everyone on Friday and it was wonderful. I love connecting with my relatives and doing something fun like that together makes it even better. That's one of the advantages of living in Florida- everyone with kids eventually heads to Disney World, and when they do we can meet them there. We've had more family reunions there than you can shake a stick at, and we've loved them all.

We also took a day by ourselves on Thursday to head to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. It was interesting but so crowded, even though it was still technically the off season. That section of the park is so new that it's still packing in the crowds, and BOY, it was crowded. The rest of the park was a lot less densely packed with people so they were all there, like us, to see that one section. I must say they've done a nice job with it. The butter beer was yummy. (I didn't drink an entire glass by myself; I shared with DH.) It was like a root beer topped with a butterscotch flavored whipped cream. There were lines to get in the shops, too, but the kids HAD to have wands so we waited to get into Olivander's. When we actually got in we realized why there was such a wait- they had a little show in the first part of the shop with a guy dressed up as Olivander. It was only a few minutes long but we all got a big kick out of it. Once the show is over they herd you into the larger section of the shop, which is also packed, so you can pick out your wand. That's even a lot of fun since they have several different ones. You can get one like the characters used (The Eldest liked Hermione's) or you can get one based on a date of your choosing. Martha, Jr. chose one based on her birthday. The Wild Child lost his already, of course.

After spending time with my uncle and his family we drove over to see my in-laws for two more days. After all the running around and packing and theme parking and fun and activity it was relaxing to be at their house. We were only going to stay one night but once I got settled in I didn't feel up to rushing again, and we were enjoying their company, so we stayed the extra day. We had to head back home late yesterday though since our kitty is boarding at the vet's and he has to be picked up by today at the latest.

So now we're back home, and I have 3 days to get ready for Christmas. Yipes!!!

Musée de l’Orangerie, part 4 of 13ish

Musée de l’Orangerie, Wednesday, May 13:
This small museum located very close to the Louvre in the Tuileries Gardens contains my favorite work of art from the trip, Monet’s Water Lilies. According to the audio guide the two rooms containing the Water Lilies were designed by Monet himself specifically to hold those pieces. They took my breath away. (The Eldest laughed at me for crying over paintings, but they moved me!) There are other works at the Orangerie; they are all a blur, but I will never forget the Water Lilies.

Musée d’Orsay, part 3 of 13ish

The Eldest looking at the sculptures of the women from every continent.


Me on one of the walkways; there are a lot of stairs to get to the upper rooms, which are located around the sides of the building leaving the center open.


The railroad clock; you can't sense the scale from this picture but it's giganto!


Some of the elaborate architectural detailing. This isn't one of the exhibits, it's part of the ceiling!


The nymph sculpture; I think she's charming.


There were a couple of rooms with home furnishings. (You can see me in the mirror; mostly The Eldest said "move, you're in the picture", but she got me inadvertently this time!)


Musée d’Orsay, Tuesday, May 12:

This was one of our favorite museums; it's so much more manageable than the Louvre since it's much smaller and I like the art from the time periods it covers. When we biked by the outside of the d’Orsay our tour guide told us the d’Orsay picks up where the Louvre leaves off chronologically. When we got there we found that the art starts outside the museum with the native women sculptures, one from each continent. (Pictured above) Inside, we saw a ton of impressionist works including a self portrait by Van Gogh. (I was disappointed that Starry Night wasn’t there since it was on tour; I found out later that it was an earlier version of Starry Night and not the famous one from 1889. I would have liked to have seen it anyway.) We also saw Whistler’s Mother which surprised me because of its size; it’s huge! I really liked it though; I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time studying it but the colors were so crisp, even though he mainly used blacks, grays, and white, and there was such richness and detail, even in the curtains. The museum itself is a converted railway station that was built back in the day when these kinds of things were treated like luxuries. They left many of the railway station trappings such as the large clock, and although there aren’t any train tracks, you can see where they were by the alley like depression that runs through the middle of the bottom floor, which is now full of sculptures. The rooms off to the sides of the main display area, presumably where the rich folks waited for their trains, are full of elaborate architectural detail. This was no government issue, standardized boring train station; this place was ELEGANT. (And still is.)

One of the more unexpected exhibits was the scale model of the Opera District. It’s designed to be viewed from the top and is placed down in a well in the floor with Plexiglas over the top of it so you can walk over it, and it’s huge! It takes up a very large space. There’s also a cross section of the opera house as well that’s fascinating in its intricacy; I was enchanted. I was also enchanted, as so many have been before me, by the Degas sculpture Little Dancer, Age 14 they have on display. She is so small and lovely; I was happy to find a pink T-shirt with her image on it to send home to The Middle Child. I also liked the sculpture of a young girl or nymph pulling her hair back as if she just rose up out of the water; she has such an impish look on her face. (Pictured) I remember so many of the works at this museum; while I enjoyed and appreciated the older works at the National Gallery and the Louvre, for some reason I responded more to the art work from the time period covered at the d’Orsay.

Museums and Europe, part 2 of 13ish, The Louvre

The Eldest by The Pyramid (we don't know the guy being impaled but we chuckle every time we look at this picture)


The Eldest drawing one of the busts


The Eldest coming out of a mock up of an Egyptian chamber (like you might find in a pyramid) being a mummy or zombie, or... something. She says "rarrr".


Me by the fancy doors leading to the room with the crowns and jewels. I was carrying a lot of stuff- the audio guide, my purse, my cane/seat, (which helped me get through the trip since I have really bad feet; I can walk OK but standing kills me), and the bag with my jacket, scarf, and umbrella. It was cold and rainy out on the streets but HOT inside The Louvre!


The model of the medieval castle


Paris:
The Louvre, Monday, May 11 and Wednesday, May 13:

We arrived at the Louvre via the Metro and didn’t enter through I.M. Pei’s Pyramid although we did see the bottom part of it. This is still a pretty cool entrance, though, since I was surprised to find the area between the Metro station and the Louvre is an underground mall called the Carrousel du Louvre. There are shops there like any mall, a kitchen gadgets store, perfume shop, Virgin Mega Store, clothing stores, etc., and Maison du Chocolat, a store we spent hours looking for on our last day in Paris only to realize we’d walked by it twice already. (Argh.) There’s also a food court, and believe it or not I got better paella there than we got in Barcelona. Go figure.

The Louvre is one overwhelming museum; it seems bigger than Disney Land! I would love to go back some day and spend more time there but given our whirlwind itinerary we were not able to do it justice even in two visits. We saw “the big 3” (Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and the Venus de Milo) and then wandered around several other areas. I enjoyed the sculpture rooms where I particularly liked Artemis with a Doe, since we kept finding her in other places kind of like a classical “Where’s Waldo”. She makes one other appearance at the Louvre outside the Mona Lisa room and we also saw her at Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors. I could swear there was another copy of her at Dali’s Teatro-Museo, all altered of course, but The Eldest says no. We also ventured through some of the Egyptian displays and, right before closing, found an area with walls built out of large stone blocks in order to recreate the feel of a medieval fortress. There wasn’t much else in this area, like it’s still under construction, but there was a model of a medieval castle right by the exit. (Pictured above.)

The Louvre is where I figured out about the lighting- it’s terrible there. It glares on many of the paintings and frequently obscures parts of the images so you have to move around like you’re at a tennis match to see everything. I was also disappointed at the way the Mona Lisa is displayed. While I understand the need for security, there’s no crowd control so it’s just a mass of people standing in front of her glass barrier with no way to get a really good view. I can’t imagine that old Leo would be happy with having his masterpiece plopped up on a plain wall, either. He painted it for display in a richer setting, like over a fireplace mantel or in a study. They should do something special for her display, maybe drape some rich fabric behind the frame or paint in a trompe l’oeil room that would have been typical at the time she was created, or something.

As a final note, if you go visiting museums pay for the darn audio guide. We didn’t get one the first time we went to the Louvre but we did the second and the commentary added so much to the experience. It’s fascinating to learn about the history of the art as you are looking at it; there are so many stories.

Museums and Europe, part 1 of 13ish

As an extra credit assignment for my art class I wrote up a “museum report” that gave a brief description of my impressions of the 13 museums The Eldest and I visited in Europe. I’ve been working on expanding that to post here to get more in depth about our trip... finally. I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to write up the trip since there was so much to it, like a giant size sandwich you can’t quite get your mouth around, so I’ve been procrastinating. I posted our calendar earlier with a minimum of details and a few garbled reports from the road; this is more organized and in depth and includes pictures. Since DH and The Eldest will divorce me if I upload too many pictures to the blog at once (it slows up THEIR internet) I’ll break this up into bits, a museum or two at the time, starting with the National Gallery in London.

London:
National Gallery, Wednesday, May 6:

This was the first museum we were able to visit and I was so amazed at the vividness of the colors on the paintings. How could they be so old and yet look so fresh and bright? The lighting was excellent with no glare on the paintings to interfere with what you were seeing, something I came to appreciate in retrospect when we visited other museums. While I remember the museum itself, unfortunately the individual works are all a blur. We ate at the restaurant and it was probably the best “museum meal” we had on the whole trip; I remember dining there more than I do the paintings. This is pretty sad considering the masterpieces we probably saw. (I looked at the website to type this up and I'm kicking myself that I don't remember more!!! There are so many incredible works there that I'm learning about in my art class. Oh well, I'll just have to go back.) ;)

The National Gallery faces Trafalgar Square where we had a blast. There were street artists hanging out everywhere making these elaborate drawings with sidewalk chalk, extending the art out of the gallery right into the square. (I was so busy sight seeing I almost walked right through one painting- chalking? - but The Eldest grabbed my arm and stopped me at the last second- whew!) This was also where we saw the Barca fans, much to our surprise. We found out later that FC Barca (the soccer team from Barcelona) was in town for a play off game with Chelsea. The Barca fans know how to PAR-TEE, let me tell you! They were roaming around in large packs singing the Barca fight song, all decked out in the team colors, then gathered in the square for a huge rally. We watched them while The Eldest climbed around on Lord Nelson’s lions.



On a final note, our cabbie on the way to the train station to leave London made me laugh when he observed that London is the only place where they charge you to get into the churches but the museums are free.

OK, one more final note about the one lonely picture with this post. I was ready to THROW our camera when I realized we only had room for a very limited number of pictures, like 30 or something ridiculous, on the sim card that day. It was the card that came with the camera; I purchased cards with room for a bazillion pictures on them but of course forgot to change to one of those on both the first AND second days in London. (MAJOR ARGH HERE.) That's why the only picture you have from our National Gallery day is the one of the Barca fans with the lions to the right and the gallery in the back on the left. (You can see the sideways banner between the columns if you expand the picture.) We took other pictures that day of The Changing of the Guard and various other sites, but Trafalgar Square, which we so enjoyed, only got the one. And a blurry one of The Eldest on the lions, but you can barely see her so it's not worth posting. ~:-P

PS: FINAL final note- I talked to The Eldest about the paintings and she remembers a couple of them, namely Whistlejacket which stood out because it's HUGE (roughly 9' x 8') and An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, which she remembers because she's seen a parody of it in The Art of Discworld, based a series she loves. All I can say is I was in a jet lagged fog since we went to the National Gallery on the first full day of our trip; I am so frustrated I don't remember every detail of every piece of art we saw on the whole trip. :(

Europe: Favorite Dessert

Ah, the gaufre. Pictured above, this is the dessert that emerged as my favorite while in Europe. I ate them in both Paris and Barcelona and they were delish. There were two stand outs; one is the half eaten picture above (and it was all I could do to stop eating long enough to snap the pic) from the Cafe Musee near the Rodin Museum and the other was from a street vendor we found when we took a wrong turn a few blocks from our hotel, also in Paris (not pictured). The picture of the two together was taken in Barcelona, and while pretty they weren't as good as the ones in Paris; they were a bit heavier and slightly burnt. (I got a bad one and several mediocre ones in Paris, too; the worst was from a vendor outside the D'Orsey Museum; blech.) The best ones were light and crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, served fresh and warm from the waffle iron. The one from the Cafe Musee was topped with powdered sugar and a vanilla ice cream (yes, the yellow stuff is vanilla ice cream) that was to die for; the contrast of the cold ice cream and the warm waffle was heavenly. The toasty warm gaufre from the street vendor was topped simply with powdered sugar and was the perfect dessert to eat on the walk back to our hotel on a cold Parisian night.

I was so excited to have fallen in love with something I thought was so very French, but I've come to learn these are actually a type of Belgian waffle. I've looked for recipes on-line and there are quite a few, but I'm not about to invest in a waffle iron so the gaufre will have to remain the stuff of memory. (And since you can see I ate many, many of them while in Europe, is it any wonder I gained 9 pounds while I was over there!?!)

Trip Calendar

I took a "vacation purse" with me on our trip. My regular purse wasn't roomy enough or secure enough to brave the pickpockets around the tourist traps, thus the need for a special one for the trip. (And we have the pickpockets here around our tourist traps, too, mind you, but I don't go to those places very often.) Anyway, I just cleaned it out and put my regular purse back together...sigh. One thing I pulled out was the calendar I took with me where I noted what we did each day. Here are my entries, with a little bit of elaboration:

Monday, May 4: Leave for London; wind up spending the night in Newark, NJ ~:-P

Tuesday, May 5: Spend the day flying; arrive LATE at night at London Heathrow; take a taxi (a really cool British taxi, mind you) to Pax Lodge with stop at The Sea Shell for fish and chips along the way; wound up with two dinners since the lovely girls at Pax Lodge set aside plates for both of us; (the fish and chips were really heavy since we don't normally eat fried food so we ate about half of each meal)

Wednesday, May 6: Participated in a WAGGGS flag ceremony after breakfast at Pax Lodge; Double Decker Bus hop on/hop off tour, stopping to see the Changing of the Guard; hang out at Trafalgar Square where we watched the Barcelona fans party and the street artists draw on the sidewalks; eat at the National Gallery and go through the museum; finish the bus tour (fell asleep due to jet lag; didn't mean to insult the tour guide!); picked up ham and cheese croissants for dinner from The Euphorium Bakery (We ate a few more times at the bakery, ahem.)

Thursday, May 7: The Eye, tea and shopping at Harrod's, La Cage Au Folles; picked up Chinese take out at the Wing Wah House for dinner

Friday, May 8: Tried to go to St. Paul's before lunch but it was closed to the public due to military services WHICH INVOLVED PRINCE CHARLES AND CAMILA, saw a parade when the military services let out; lunch at The Swan (not my fave); saw first part of Romeo & Juliet at The Globe; had to leave R&J to get to St. Paul's before closing, where we went ALL THE WAY to the top; shopping at the soccer store Lily White's

Saturday, May 9: walked to the post office in Hampstead and fell even more in love with the area; found a farmer's market and bought strawberries fresh from Kent; went to Westminster Abbey where we had a 3 hour wait due to a flower show; while in line we ate the strawberries which were the best I've EVER eaten; went to Camden Market where we ate Indian food for lunch and The Eldest bought stuff and she fell even more in love with the area; left for Paris on the Eurostar; checked into Le Meridien Montparnasse. (Thank you to my friend Lorena who works for the hotel parent company for getting us really good rates!!!)

Sunday, May 10: Took a bike tour of Paris and went up in the Eiffel Tower

Monday, May 11: We went to the Louvre but Abi got sick and we left early; called it a day and holed up in the hotel room where we ordered an extravagant room service dinner

Tuesday, May 12: went to the D'Orsey museum which we both LOVED; went to Notre Dame and went ALL THE WAY to the top; went to Shakespeare and Company book store where The Eldest fell in love all over again; ate at a cafe across the street from Notre Dame; went on a boat tour of the Seine

Wednesday, May 13: Marathon Day!! Went to The Orangerie where I was blown away by Monet's Water Lilies; had a FANTASTIC lunch at the Cafe Musee outside the Rodin Museum; toured the Rodin; went to see Napoleon's tomb at the Dome Church; managed to squeeze in a short nap at the hotel before heading BACK to the Louvre; ate really good paella at the food court in the shopping area next to the museum

Thursday, May 14: Versailles Bike Tour; took the bikes on the train to Versailles where we shopped at the market, then biked to the grounds for a short tour followed by a picnic lunch at the end of the Grand Canal; toured the palace which smelled of cat pee and had lots of gilding and portraits of dead French royalty; ate dinner at Bistrot du 7, which was recommended by the bike tour staff

Friday, May 15: walking tour of Montmartre, ending at Sacre Coeur; went ALL THE WAY up into Sacre Coeur; hung out on the steps where a musician was performing and The Eldest sang during open mic; walked around the tourist area near S.C.

Saturday, May 16: Giverny bike tour, which was similar in set up to Versailles. Rode the train to Vernon, a town near Giverny and picked up the bikes there; went to the market; picnicked on the banks of the Seine; rode to Giverny and toured Monet's gardens and house

Sunday, May 17: went to the Grand Palais to see the Warhol exhibit and a second exhibit about duality in art; (we liked the duality exhibit better than Warhol, especially the Arcimboldo paintings on loan from the Louvre) but it was so darned crowded!); Arc de Triomphe where we went, yep, ALL THE WAY to the top- help, the stairs!!; walked along the Champs Elysses; dinner at a cafe on the Rue Cler

Monday, May 18: HUNTED down La Maison du Chocolat; Pompidou Center; leave Paris on the 8:30 train

Tuesday, May 19: check into Hotel Gotico, eat, nap, freshen up and head out for the Barcelona bike tour

Wednesday, May 20: Walk up part of Las Ramblas to La Boqueria to buy a picnic lunch; took the bus to Gaudi's Parc Guell where we ate our lunch on the bench overlooking the dragon fountain

Thursday, May 21: To Figueres where we toured Fort Castell Sant Ferran, (very cool), the Salvador Dali Teatro-Museo, and The Toy Museum of Catalonia where we bought caganer figures; walked around Figueres before catching the train back to Barcelona

Friday, May 22: shopping; Picasso museum; took a hop on/hop off bus tour where we hopped off to eat lunch and then again to tour Gaudi's Casa Mila; finished the tour; had a snack at Cafe Zurich then walked the entire length of Las Ramblas ending at the Columbus Monument to view the revisionist history; stopped at the internet cafe; did a little shopping across the street from our hotel; saw a classical guitar performance in an amazing old church; ate at a tapas bar we discovered a few days prior

Saturday, May 23: Long taxi ride through Barcelona to the airport, where we finally headed home

Almost Home

We're on the ground on the same side of the Atlantic as HOME!!!! Currently sitting in Newark Liberty airport and we are travel weary. I'm hoping to upgrade to business class because I just can't take another three hours mushed into those claustrophobic seats; I can't take it, I tell you!

I think I'm melting down here.

PS: We were NOT able to upgrade or get even slightly better seats or anything. :( It seems Continental wanted to put butts in the seats so they ran all sorts of special deals recently plus it was the start of Memorial Day weekend and the plane was PACKED. That 2 plus hour portion of the trip dragged on forever; it was harder than the almost 9 hour trans-Atlantic flight, especially after the 6 hour layover. I think the jet lag I'm dealing with is literally JET lag; it's not as much from the vacation and time change but more from the stress of spending so many hours traveling.

Several Posts in One!

I can't believe how much I haven't posted yet! I've been writing the items below on and off for several days. If any of it is repeated my apologies; I'll edit after I get home. (And add pictures!!!)

Paris; Monday; The Louvre

We didn't have any specific plans for today although I was thinking of heading to Montmartre and Sacre Coure. That plan was scratched with one look outside- gray and drizzly and most likely cold. We decided to try for something indoors instead but museums were out because they are usually closed on Mondays. Since museums are about the only indoor things on our list, we double checked and found out The Louvre is open Mondays (closed Tuesdays) so that's where we decided to go. We raced out like a herd of turtles (thank you Lois for that analogy- it's far too accurate and The Eldest and I have been saying it repeatedly on this trip; cracks us up every time) and grabbed breakfast at a little shop on the way to the Metro, which we have all figured out thanks to our chance meeting last night with the couple from London. The Eldest once again navigated successfully to The Louvre. (She told me I have my sudoku puzzles that I enjoy solving; she has subway systems.) We didn't enter through the pyramid since the metro station is a part of an underground mall that's connected to the Louvre entrances. It's quite a set up down there! Food court, shops, Starbucks, you name it. We were directed to an office (set up in a shop-like space) where I purchased a 4 day museum pass for myself; The Eldest gets in free since she's under 26. The guy at the information desk said he thought I would qualify for the free admission too- what a flirt! Guess I can check “flirting with a Frenchman” off my “things to do in Paris” list. ;)

We finally got into the Louvre! Like everyone else, we went into the Denon wing first to catch the Mona Lisa. She is lovely; I'd been warned that she was small so she was actually a little bigger than I had envisioned. Prior to seeing her, though, we saw “Winged Victory” which is placed right at the top of a grand staircase; wowee wow wow, that's one impressive statue, even if it is headless. The third “must see” is the Venus de Milo and we went to where my Louvre guide book said she would be but she wasn't there after all. There was a temporary exhibit in that room so she's either rotated out for now, loaned out, undergoing maintenance, or moved somewhere else. Regardless, we didn't find her, but we spent a good bit of time looking at other statues from the same era. The Eldest even spent a little time sketching one of the busts, something on her Paris “to do” list. It was about this point when we got really hungry but the lines at the cafes inside the museum where a mile long. We wandered back out of the Louvre proper and into the mall area and finally discovered the food court. (I was determined NOT to eat at Starbucks!!) We ate at a Spanish tapas bar, so now we've eaten French croissants in London and Spanish tapas in France. Sheese. Halfway through the meal The Eldest started feeling sick, and then she got worse and worse, so instead of going back into the Louvre as planned we left. I was having a hard time of it anyway since the fibromyalgia was acting up. I would have pressed on (after all, how often do you get to go to the Louvre? I can give in another day) but with The Eldest also feeling ill we left. I would have liked to ask about the Venus and found another painting my dermatologist recommended for us to see, but we were just too wiped out to continue. Home again on the metro, and the end of our Louvre day.

Pax Lodge
I'm back tracking a bit here to write more about our accommodations in London. We stayed at Pax Lodge, a World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) world center. It was absolutely fantastic. The rooms were neat and clean (I think I've written about them already- they are kind of like dorm rooms) and the staff is so warm and friendly. Part of our Girl Scout Law states that we are to be a “Sister to Every Girl Scout” and they certainly made us feel like family. We even found ourselves referring to the Lodge as “home” while we were in London. I so wanted to hug all of the staff members when we left! I asked if we could get a picture with a couple of the girls before leaving and they went ahead and called as many staff members over as they could find. (I'll post the pictures after we get home.) There are a few paid staff members but many of the girls are there working on a volunteer basis. They are from all over the world and have five month shifts. The center pays for room and board and gives them a small allowance. The girls are encouraged to travel during their time off as well so it's a wonderful opportunity and something The Eldest may apply for when she's older. I am really going to encourage the girls in The Middle Child's Brownie troop to start working towards a trip to Pax Lodge when they are old enough; I can't wait to get back there myself!!

Wednesday Morning
Backtracking again here- as I was reading over what I've written already I realized I didn't say much about Hampstead where Pax Lodge is located in London. It's completely charming. The building we so admired next to the lodge was indeed a church, or used to be anyway. Now it's a studio of some sort. When we walk out of the lodge past the studio, then turn the corner heading towards the Belsize Park tube station, we pass a few row homes first then come upon a BP gas station followed by shops and cafes lining both sides of the street. There are so many places to eat! We stopped in at the Euphorium Bakery several times for croissants and pastries both for dinner on our way home and breakfast on our way out. We picked up “take away” from the Weng Wah House since we had to eat Chinese food in London at least once. There was a Kentucky Fried Chicken; we did NOT eat there. It wasn't free standing like the KFCs in the states; it was part of the row of stores. A couple of markets, Daunt Books, a bank or two, a flower store, some artsy stores, and so forth. The tube station fit right in as well and was just another part of the street. I went the other direction on the street once to find the post office to send a package of goodies home and that was even more picturesque, if you can believe it. There were the same shops lining both sides of the street but there were more trees and a few more homes interspersed along the way. While waiting for the post office to open (which was totally weird-I'm never up early enough to worry about things not being open yet!!!) I wandered into a bakery where I bought a baguette. After the post office I bought a pint of fresh Kent strawberries at the farmer's market that was setting up. (We ate the strawberries and baguette in the 3 hour long wait to get into Westminster Abbey, which is another post in itself. They were delicious; probably the best strawberries I've ever eaten and much better than even the freshly picked Florida berries. They had a softer flavor and texture than Florida berries.) This was our last morning in Hampstead and I so hated to leave; I'm totally head over heels in love with London.

Friday Morning in Paris
After playing Hard Core Tourists for a few days, The Eldest and I are sleeping in and taking it easy for the morning. We're joining a walking tour of Montmartre later on, but for now we're resting our weary bones. This tourist stuff is hard work!

Yesterday we took the Fat Tire Bike Tour of Versailles. We started out with a bike ride from the tour offices to the train which was an adventure in itself. Wending our way through Parisian traffic with 20 other bikers- well, we made it safely, thanks to Crystal, our tour guide extraordinaire. Prior to the train she took a minute to turn our handle bars so that the bikes would have a smaller profile so we had to walk them the last little bit. We also had to carry them down a flight of stairs- yipes! The Eldest and I had a little trouble with that one, not because of the weight of the bikes (they are heavy) but because of the awkwardness. We made it most of the way then Crystal gave us a little bit of a hand for the last few steps. After that we “stormed the train”, as Crystal said, in groups of 4 per car and off for the 20 minute trip to Versailles.

Once we arrived our first stop was a food market that's been in continuous operation for a bazillion years. It's the kind of market I've always dreamed of! Fresh everything, bakeries and butchers and produce stands and wine shops (which we didn't visit) and cheese shops; I was in heaven. I went to the bakery Crystal recommended first, of course, and loaded up on pastries and bread. After that a stop at a stand that sold a variety of items where we picked up some filled pastries and cheese, then to a produce stand for some strawberries. After that I bought an umbrella for yes, once again, it was RAINING. We're getting the kind of weather here I expected of London- every day gray, gray, gray, lots of drizzly rain, and cold. (We've decided we're sending Uncle Mark a howler when we get home for telling us to travel this time of year.) On a lucky day the sun might peek out for an hour or so but other than that it's been all gray all the time. :(

We regrouped after shopping and started for Versailles. Crystal gave us a lot of information about the grounds and French history over the course of the tour but my favorite tidbit is the story of the current master gardener for Versailles. It seems he's a bit of a rebel in that he has introduced sustainable gardening techniques to the grounds. He's cut back on pesticides and that alone has brought back the birds, which apparently fled the area for many years when they were using heavy chemicals all the time. I'm so thankful because the sounds of the birds added so much to our visit! The guy caught some flack for it, too, since he also, as Crystal said, decided that if “begonias don't grow here naturally then we're not going to have begonias” and that caused a bit of an uproar. Crystal also talked a bit about the difference between French gardens, which are very manicured because they want to show they can control nature, and English gardens, which are more go with the flow of nature.

We biked through a gilded gateway and entered Versailles. We entered a back gate so we found ourselves in a more natural area where we couldn't see the palace itself. There were large fields with horses and sheep to the left and wooded areas to the right; our path was lined with neat rows of trees on either side. We made our way to the “Hammo”, or hamlet, Louis the XVI built for Marie Antoinette. We were on the back side and couldn't get a good look at it, unfortunately. Our next stop was the...can't remember the name of the place, possibly Grand Trianon, but it was a regal outbuilding for the palace where they would have plays and fancy dinners and so forth. There was a lot of very expensive marble. Next we went to the Petite Trianon, and I think that's where Madame Pompidou's house was. One of the Louiss built it for her (she was his favorite mistress) but she died before it was completed so it became Marie Antoinette's hang out. We pedaled on over to our picnic spot at the end of the Grand Canal with an incredible view of the palace at the other end. The worst of the rain was over but it was still drizzly and wet; we made the best of it and sat on the ponchos we bought at the tour company offices. I have to say that was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. The strawberries were perfection, the cheese was mild, which is how I like it, and the pastries were flaky and delicious. Several of the other folks on the tour bought wine at the market so they were enjoying that as well. (I don't drink.) The word idyllic comes to mind; a picnic by the Grand Canal at Versailles must be the definition of that word in the dictionary. When we finished lunch we hopped back on our bikes to ride through the pathways on the other side of the Grand Canal. Words can not do justice to how wonderful that ride felt. Birds were singing all along the way, the sky cleared and a cool breeze was blowing, the grounds were green and lush, and there was a sense of camaraderie among the tour participants (a few of the others were a little buzzed) that made it so refreshing. I felt so at peace with the world! Psychiatrists should prescribe a bike ride at Versailles to anyone who is feeling blue or angry; it's impossible to feel those feelings in that place, especially on a lovely spring day.

Once we got to the palace itself, Crystal gave us a little French history then turned us loose to explore the palace and gardens. The Eldest and I picked up audio guides and went around the rooms. After the grounds they were somewhat anti-climatic. Lovely, yes, but the whole place smelled of cat pee. There were tons of portraits of dead kings and queens. There were cracks in the ceiling and damage to the wood parquet floors so the place is somewhat run down. The Hall of Mirrors is interesting. There was a sculpture of Diana, Goddess of the Hunt there that was the same as the two at The Louvre; it was fun to say “hey, there's that same statue again”! We went through the palace then stepped out into the gardens for a moment. There was a fountain turned on but it was a bunch of garden hoses all hooked together to make a sort of column. I'm guessing it's someone's idea of “ART”. ;) Oh- speaking of the fountains, I was a little disappointed that the main fountain in front of the palace, the really super famous one, was off. I bet it's stunning when it's on.

The day continued and the tour ended with a train ride back to Paris, where I signed up for the Montmartre walk. This is turning out to be a very physical vacation!!

Friday: Montmartre Walk

After a quick lunch at a touristy (translation: mediocre in this case, poor in others) cafe across the street from the Moulin Rouge, we met up with Jean Paul, our walking tour guide for the next 2 hours. He took us by all the artist's haunts and was full of the latest info. Did you know, for instance, that it was recently discovered that Van Gogh did not cut off his own ear? He was horsing around with Gaughin, a fencer as well as an artist, and Gaughin did it. Van Gogh covered it up so Gaughin wouldn't get in trouble. They found out from some letters where Gaughin thanks him for covering it up, or something like that. All those arty types were hanging out, getting in trouble, and coming to tragic ends in Montmartre; The Eldest was captivated. (I was too, I must admit; Jean Paul made art history interesting.) What wasn't so captivating was the guy who was hitting on The Eldest. I shut him down with a sharp “I don't think so; she's 15” and was rewarded with an agonized “MOTHER” for my trouble. ;) He left us alone for the rest of the tour, though! (She didn't want the guy's attention; he was a little drunk and quite the jerk. She was just embarrassed that I announced her age to the entire group that way.)

At the conclusion we found ourselves at Sacre Coure, a lovely church with over 300 steps to the top; heaven help us. It's smaller than Notre Dame and considerably younger but just as lovely. The view from the top, since Sacre Coure is on a high hill in Paris, is unequaled. You can walk all the way around the dome so you get a panorama of the city. The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the hideous Montparnasse Tower, the hills in the distance, all of it is visible from up there. They even have a few gargoyles, but not many. There are two statues flanking the entrance; one is Joan of Arc and the other is some king who was responsible for getting the Crown of Thorns to Paris.

After visiting the church and dome we hung out for a while on the steps that flow down the hill for a good distance, divided by plazas along the way. There was a singer with a guitar and microphone giving a concert that we sat in on for a bit. He was running an open mic so he would sing for a bit then people from the crowd would jump up and sing while he passed the collection cap and sold CDs. (Yes, we bought one; he was good.) The Eldest got up and sang!!! She did a great job; I have pictures! This is the one time I was wishing for a video cam but the still pics will have to do.

We followed this up with a stroll around a couple of blocks of tourist shops in the area. We were accosted by artists wanting to draw our portraits just about every other step. We ate dinner at a touristy (translation: awful) cafe where the waiter flirted outrageously with me. He told me I look like Meryl Streep, his favorite actress. Sheese. I already checked off flirted with a Frenchman on my list of “Paris Must Dos” so this was totally superfluous.

When we left the shops we had a gauntlet to run going back down the steps in front of the church toward the metro station; it was ridiculous! The Eldest overheard some people on one of our tours talking about a scam where guys with string will come up to you and ask for your hand then they tie string around your wrist and won't let you go until you pay them 10 euros. Sure enough, there were guys with string all over the place. They were aggressive with it, too! The Eldest was a little ahead of me and one of them approached her but she just kept walking; I got pissed and just started saying “NO” in an angry don't mess with my kid voice; it took several nos but they backed off. Jerks. As we walked on we saw one of the guys with a young couple tying colorful strings around the guy's finger, then I guess he was going to do the same to the girl but we didn't stick around to find out. We found the Metro and headed back to the hotel to pass out.

Fellow Travelers:
One of the pleasures of travel, and I know I'm repeating, is meeting fellow tourists on the journey. On the way home from Montmartre on the metro we met 2 sets of fellow travelers. First an older woman with 2 teens in tow asked us in broken English if we knew how to get to Versailles. We tried to help her and a stunning young blond woman overheard and helped out; good thing because we were like the blind leading the blind! It turns out the older woman and teens are from Argentina and the young woman is an au pair living here but from Germany. A little bit later, while we were on the train, I overheard a group of 3 women talking about where they were and where they were trying to go. I recognized the stop they were trying to find as one we had to pass so I struck up a conversation with them. They were here with a writer's group taking a literary themed tour but they were separated from their group and trying to make their way back to their hotel. The Eldest, our navigator, confirmed that they were going in the right direction. We exchanged cards so I hope we'll be able to keep in touch.

Tomorrow we bike in Giverny and see Monet's gardens!

Hard Core Tourists!!!

We went to 3 museums and one monument today; we ARE Hard Core Tourists! At least that's what I kept telling The Eldest whenever she would moan about her poor tired feet. My feet are just kind of...feet? What feet? I can't feel them anymore so I don't have to acknowledge their existence, right?

We started the day at The Orangerie, a lovely museum featuring two rooms with Monet's Water Lilies. I was shocked at how I responded to them- I teared up. I was so overcome with the beauty of them, how perfectly displayed they are in their rooms, the sunlight streaming in through the filtered skylights. They were breathtaking. And very large! The rooms are oval in shape and the paintings take up the entire wall space. We're going to see more Monet on Saturday, which I'm excited about, when we go to Giverny to see his house and gardens.

Our second museum of the day was the Rodin, after a lunch at a very Parisian cafe across the street. We sat outside and watched the world go by, and coughed at the cigarette smoke, and had the best meal since we've been here. We made our way to the Rodin and I was once again blown away. The gardens where many of his sculptures are housed, including The Thinker, were so tranquil and leafy and green, even if his "Gates of Hell" are in one corner. As I was walking around admiring his works, the birds were chirping and the wind was swaying the trees. There are manicured sections of the gardens but my favorite was a more forested area off to one side. An oasis in the middle of Paris.

After The Rodin we walked across to Les Invalides and the Dome Church that houses Napoleon's very elaborate tomb. We explored the church for a while then left to go back to the hotel for a much needed nap.

After our nap we dragged ourselves back out to The Louvre again. We didn't get to see as much as we would have liked the first time we went so I was anxious to go again. We found Venus de Milo this time and she is lovely. We went around one floor of the Denon wing then over to see a small portion of the Sully wing. We never made it over to Richeleu. Dinner at the mall food court outside the Louvre then home.

I'd like to write more but I'm running out of time.

Paris

We got in last night and were feeling very lost and culturally shocked, but we took a guided bike tour that was a BLAST and now we feel so much better!!! Paris may be OK after all. ;) The hotel we're staying in is lovely (thank you to my friend who got us really good rates!!) and the room is fantastic. (I'm actually posting this out of order- I typed some posts into Open Office but haven't had a chance to get on line to copy & paste onto the blog, and now I'm on a public access computer so I can't do it now. I'll get them on later, with more about the room.)

Paris is lovely if you don't look down and have a clogged nose. There are so many trees but not much in the way of grass or ground cover. There are gardens here and there and grass in the parks, of course, but just along the streets there's not much in the way of landscaping except the trees. It's pretty stinky, and yep, lots of trash. I saw one girl just drop a liter bottle on the sidewalk when she wsa done with it; they need our Crying Native American campaign over here! The day started out really cold (to this Floridian, anyway) but warmed up, then got chilly again. We've seen the Eiffel Tower but haven't gone up in it yet. We met the bike tour there and now we're in the tour office; we'll go back and go up in the ET when we're done here if it's still open. I'm hoping we can catch a river tour after that, but I'm not sure. I'm going to ask here if ít's better to take the tours at night or during the day and let that be our guide. I'm kind of nervous about getting around here; there are apparently some rough areas and I don't know where they are or how to avoid them, and we're going to be out at night.

Well my 10 minutes are almost up so I'm signing off now. Lots of love to everyone and we miss you all!!!

Our Luggage Arrived!!!

It's now Thursday and our luggage FINALLY arrived- hooray!!! And when I opened up my suitcase I found everything was wet- so not hooray. I was mentally cursing the TSA folks who opened my bag (the lock was undone and there was a note that they had searched it) for spilling water in there, but I realized it was my own darn fault. I packed a travel iron/steamer and I thought I had never used it, but apparently I have and left water in it, like an idiot. Sigh.

Regardless of the luggage situation, we're having a wonderful time. London is an amazing city. I love Trafalgar Square and Harrod's and the theater and tea and the tube and everything! I have so much to write about but I have to get to sleep so we can get up early and get going tomorrow. Goodnight and mind the gap!!!

London Calling

Tuesday Night
We're here we're here! We FINALLY made it to London although the same can not be said of our luggage. Yes, in addition to causing us to miss our connection, thus losing a day of our vacation, Continental failed to get our luggage on our plane. I've been living in the same shirt for 2 days now, including using it as my night gown. I'm usually pretty good about packing enough in my carry on to get through a couple of days in just such an emergency but I forgot night clothes this time. :( Too tired to type anymore; that's all for now.

Morning in London
It's now Wednesday and our first morning in the UK. I didn't sleep enough but a couple of hours will have to do; we have all of London to explore so there's no time for sleeping! :) Blog entries first though since it is a little early to do anything quite yet. It's just after 5:30 am London time, 12:30 am at home, and I'm exhausted but wide awake. The Eldest is up too. She jumped up and peeked out the window and said “it's so pretty”! I looked out of the window and it is indeed gorgeous. We are facing a large brick building next door that looks like a church or something, although maybe not since I think where we're staying is tucked into a residential area, and beyond that a vista of the city. A Londoner we spoke to on the plane said that where we are is very upscale, actors and so forth live in the area, and I can see why! Our room is cozy and comfortable; it's like a small dorm room and very clean and tidy. The night staff person who checked us in last night was as sweet as she could be and very helpful. It made us feel so much better after all the difficulties we had in getting here.

Lessons Learned
Every time I travel I take notes so I can do it better the next time. I'm not a super experienced traveler by any means, this is my first trip of any consequence, so I'm learning as I go for sure. I am big on my creature comforts, though, so I will take any steps I can to make whatever circumstances I find myself in as comfortable as possible. I've been kind of worried about handling this trip with the fibromyalgia and I've had some problems so far but nothing too unbearable thanks to a lucky break on the London flight, which I'll get to in a moment.

The cramped quarters on the plane from home to Newark made me absolutely miserable, especially my back, but I survived. I think missing our connection may have been a blessing in disguise as far as that was concerned, even if we missed time in London; the forced break in a hotel was a big help since I was able to lay down and rest my back. The plane to London offered just a wee bit more room and what a difference that made, especially since our lucky break meant there was a spare seat between the two of us. That happened in a funny way! I recently read a book about survival stories and the author said he always checks for his life vest when he flies. I checked for mine and it was there. The Eldest checked for hers and it was there but missing the strap to pull it out. We notified the flight attendant and she verified that indeed, there was no strap and no way for The Eldest to pull out said life vest if there was an emergency of any kind. She said The Eldest would have to move since she had to be in a safe seat, especially for take off and landing. The sweetheart of a guy next to us said he would move; he was traveling alone and it didn't matter to him where he sat. He wound up on the aisle seat across from us and I kind of thought he would move back over after take off but he didn't, so that gave us a lot of extra space. I needed it desperately, as it turns out. The ability to shift positions and move around makes a huge difference to me in terms of reducing muscle soreness and back pain so I got through the flight pretty comfortably.

Carry On Baggage
I over packed, of course. Not that I actually have the suitcase with all of the items I over packed with, but I even over packed the carry on items. We're allowed one carry on and one “personal item” such as a purse, so I figured I would put my purse and the other things I wanted on the plane in a giganto duffel bag, in addition to my Zuca carry on. The duffel contained my purse, a hat, a jacket, a travel pillow, a blanket, a folding mini travel foot rest, two blow up travel pillows, my orthotic Birks, (thank heavens I didn't put them in my checked bag), and another smaller bag with my Kindle, my journal, a couple of very compact guide books, and my important travel documents. It doesn't sound like it would be very heavy but the blooming thing weighs a ton and takes up way too much space. I didn't use the foot rest or the two blow up pillows, I didn't look at the guide books, and I didn't need the hat (but I will and it wouldn't go in my suitcase so I had to carry it in the duffel). I didn't use the Birks on the plane but they were essential afterwards. I can ditch a few items for the return trip but not much. I can check a second suitcase on international flights so for our return DH suggested I buy another suitcase in Barcelona. I think that's sounding like a really good idea and I'll put the items I didn't use on the plane in there. I'll be able to check the hat, blow up pillows, foot rest, and guide books, at least. That doesn't seem like a lot but hopefully it will make a difference.

At the Airport
Arriving in a new country was quite the experience. I made a mistake in not rushing off the plane. With all of our carry on luggage I didn't want to fight the crowds getting off so I decided we would just hang out and go last. Big mistake. Since we took our own sweet time getting off the plane everyone else was LONG gone by the time we got into the terminal. That meant we didn't have any crowds to follow so we had to figure out where to go on our own! At least we were able to read the signs, which helped, unlike what we'll have to deal with when we leave Barcelona. Apparently we were one of the last flights in because everything was shutting down as we got to it. There were only two guys left checking passports, for instance, and baggage claim was mostly over and done with. There were still a few employees at baggage claim so we were able to submit our lost luggage claim at least. When we left baggage claim my understanding was we would have to go through customs but we missed it! We walked by one person who just waved us along and that was that, then we were out of the terminal looking for a way to our hotel.

In upcoming posts:

The cab ride and jetlag plus all of our further adventures!

Leap of Faith

I did it- I ordered tickets for Romeo and Juliet at The Globe. I was able to find some seats without an "obstructed view" at the mid-range ticket price so there's a little savings in case we can't go. Once I booked the tickets I noticed a link to The Swan, a restaurant apparently located on the theater grounds, so I'm going to make reservations for lunch there. It should be a lovely day with my daughter!

What To Do, What To Do?

Oh, this is awful! I don't know how to proceed with our vacation plans at this point. I am agonizing over things like buying tickets to a show. We want to see Romeo & Juliet at The Globe so I sent them an e-mail asking if they will give refunds if we can't make it due to travel restrictions. They said NO, and furthermore they anticipate the show will sell out so if we wait to buy tickets at the door we may not get to see it at all. The Eldest especially wants to see a show there, but it's almost $100.00 for tickets that we'll throw away if we can't travel.

A 23 month old Mexican toddler died in a hospital here in the U.S., the first death in our country. It's just so sad.

Will We Be Able To Go???

Or will Swine Flu cancel the vacation I've dreamed of my entire life? Or will we get over there and not be able to do anything because all of the museums, theaters, etc. are shut down? Or will we get over there and have to come back if someone in our family catches it? Or will we get over there and have trouble getting home because of flight cancellations? Or will WE catch it? I'm on tenterhooks (I had to google that phrase) waiting to find out what's going to happen with all of this.

I'm also kicking myself mentally for not scheduling us to leave TODAY, which is one of the dates I looked at. Why? Why did I delay? We'd be on our way already and possibly get this in under the wire of whatever is going to happen with this flu. Who would have thought this would be an issue, anyway? It's April- flu season is supposed to be over already. :(

OK, OK, enough with the whining. I feel terrible for the people who have caught this already, especially for those who have died and their loved ones. I'm also worried for the people who are going to catch it in the future, and for the steps that may have to be taken to control it. We went out to eat yesterday at Sweet Tomatoes and I was looking around wondering how a pandemic would affect restaurants, and then how it would affect our already reeling economy as a whole. Our vacation doesn't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, (plus I bought trip insurance) but if everyone else is canceling vacations too, that's going to have a huge economic impact. Even things like the local P.E. program for homeschoolers my kids go to- that's dependent on the parks being open and people being able to gather, and if that's taken away that's another business that will fail and people on the payroll who will lose their jobs. The implications of this are really scary.

I'm saying my prayers for sure!

Habla Francais?

So I ordered Rosetta Stone French and it arrived a couple of days ago and I'm trying feverishly to absorb as much as I can in the very short number of days before we leave. This is a problem. I took a Spanish course at the local community college a billion years ago and learned that I don't have an aptitude for picking up languages easily. Now I'm trying to do the Rosetta Stone at the same time The Eldest and her Spanish tutor are throwing Spanish at me, and my brain hurts! I can't absorb all of these new words and keep the Spanish sorted out from the French!!! ACK!

I must say I like the Rosetta Stone so far, though. It was really expensive but I figure it's not just for me since I can use it for curriculum for all three of the kids. The price is just part of our homeschool tuition. ;) I like the approach they use- they don't do word for word translations, rather they show you pictures then say the French word or phrase that goes with it and build from there. They use several different variations for the way they show the pictures and have you match the vocabulary so it mixes things up nicely. It's a far cry from the $20.00 French CD I picked up at the bookstore. Why I bothered I don't know; I am NOT an auditory learner so I should have figured the CD wouldn't work.

I should be working on the Rosetta Stone now but I needed a break for a few minutes. I may not post much for a while as we are nearing the finish line for our travel preparations and things are crazy-hectic, but we'll be taking a lap top with us so we're hoping to update on the road. :)

PS: Melinda- I am so flattered by your recent post about moms! Thank you, and I'll give it more attention when things calm down. :)

Paris Itinerary

I'm sure I've mentioned the upcoming trip to Europe my daughter and I will be taking for her 16th birthday a couple of times in previous posts. It's my first trip to Europe, the trip I've dreamed of only my ENTIRE life! I'm so excited about it; I've told everyone who will listen that we're going. I've also discussed the trip with a couple of moms from my younger daughter's Girl Scout troop and wow, did they take me in hand! ;) We originally planned only a few days in Paris but they've both been there and said no, no, no, here's what you are doing and you have to stay longer!! Well, they are both very well traveled women and I fully respect their opinions, so I promptly changed our schedule and now Paris, which was originally an afterthought, will be the highlight of the trip. One of the moms, and I will be eternally grateful, even works for a very nice hotel chain and she got me EMPLOYEE RATES for our stay, can you believe it!!! I'm going to owe them both some really great souvenirs.

Here's what they came up with:

Day 1 Arrive in Paris
Day 2 Arc de Triumph
Day 3 Louvre
Day 4 Rodin & Napoleon’s Tomb
Day 5 Modern Museum
Day 6 Notre Dame/Orsey Museum/Opera
Day 7 Eifel Tower/Trocodero & Museum/Statue of Hibut??/
Petit & Grand Palace
Day 8 Montmartre/Sacre Cour
Day 9 Versailles/leave for Barcelona on a late train

NINE days! Nine days in spring in Paris...yes, that sound you hear is a happy sigh.

It's good to have friends! :)

Tickets

I have one really major thing left to do for my upcoming trip with The Eldest- buy our tickets!! I keep poking around on the travel websites (Expedia, Travelocity, etc.) but I can't make a commitment. I don't have the details I need to make a good decision so it's intimidating! Do I need trip insurance? If so, can I get it if I book on-line? How does it work? How are the airlines rated? Are the planes safe? How old are they? How comfortable will we be? Will we be treated well or just herded around like cattle? Where can I find reviews of the airlines from other travelers? (OK, I can probably google that last one.) I heard you can get the best deals by booking on a Wednesday, which is an opportunity I'm passing up for this week, anyway, in about 40 minutes. Scary stuff, man!

Far less scary, we have to book a place to stay in Barcelona. I'm hoping we'll be able to find a little B&B in a quieter area of Barcelona, or possibly outside the city towards the town where the Salvador Dali museum is located. We'll have more of a hostel experience in London at the Girl Scout World Center, then a fancy hotel (thanks to a friend of mine getting us employee rates- she's so terrific!!) in Paris, so to round out our experience I want something along the lines of a B&B in Barcelona- smaller, more intimate, comfortable. I'm not sure, though; maybe the quieter area or outside of town thing might not work since we'll be relying on public transportation and our own 2 feet to get around.

On the fun side of things, there was an article about the Barcelona soccer ('scuse me, football) team that said you haven't experienced Barcelona until you've been to a game. FC BARCA, FC BARCA!!!! (And I learned today that Barca is pronounced with a rolled RRRR and the C sounds like an S. Which totally twists MY tongue, but I'll practice!) The Eldest is up for it, so I have to see if there's a game while we're in town, then try to score tickets. (DH will be so jealous. We'll buy him a souvenir.)

Wow, there's a lot to do, and a lot of decisions to be made!