Christmas came early for me this year. In the form of a plane ticket . . . to Paris. In France. It all started a few months ago when my DC friends Alisha and Amy decided to plan a trip to Paris. They asked if I wanted in, and I did. So Mark gave me the trip for Christmas. And to sweeten the deal, Mark donated enough points for us to have a free hotel room at the Hilton. Don't let him fool you . . .he really is a sweetheart!
The only week that worked for everyone was the 2nd week of December, which is really inconvenient time of year given all of the holiday parties, school parties, birthdays oh and that little thing called Christmas! But since there is no good time to go anywhere, we all went for it, and what a trip it was! Seriously, we all had a wonderful time. It was the perfect mix of sightseeing and vacationing, with lots of cheese, chocolate, girl talk and wine mixed in.
I'll give you the Reader's Digest version of the trip (because I more than make up for it in the volume of pictures!). We took a night flight from DC and got to Paris around 11 am the next morning. There is a 6 hour time difference and no one got much sleep. But, since it was Paris, we chugged some coffee, took showers and powered through. We covered lots of ground that first day . . . the champs elysees, Notre Dame cathedral, the Seine River, Musee d Orsay--all on foot. We crashed that night and slept a solid 14 hours and woke up on Paris time. We cruised the city, hitting some shops, cafes and Opera House. On day 3, we ventured out on the train to see the Palace of Versailles and then back to the Eiffel Tower. Day 4 brought more shopping, eating, the famed macaroon boutique Lauderee, the sneaking into the Ritz, crepes, the Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur, Montmarte, Moulin Rouge and probably a lot of stuff I am leaving out.
We ate at fabulous restaurants, some where no English was spoken (we have some mad charade skills), with no "mom jeans" in sight. Seriously, that was a stipulation of being allowed to come on the trip--you had to dress the part. No mom jeans, slippers, running shoes (I came close to breaking that one), makeup and jewelry were suggested! I am grateful to Mark for sending me on this trip, to my in-laws and sister-in-law for taking such good care of Finn (that I didn't call once!) and for Alisha and Amy for being such good traveling compadres. I am so thankful for their friendship and came away from this trip with a greater appreciation and respect for them than before. Cheers ladies! Here's to Italy, Greece and Croatia!!
Without further adieu . . .our pictures. All taken with the iPhone camera because we were all too lazy to lug around our big girl cameras. Feel free to skip some or all.
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