The longest we had ever left our kids before this trip was three consecutive nights (when we went on the youth pioneer trek), and we had only ever left them overnight at all four times total. So this trip was NEW and different and amazing. Thank goodness for FaceTime, though! We called our kids most days. Prolonged alone time together in our favorite city was a complete dream. Last time we went to Europe we didn't have kids, so we couldn't truly appreciate the value of 100% us-time. That contrast alone was a large source of enjoyment on our trip. My mom came to our house to stay with the kids while we were away, and they loved having Grama Meri because she is so much fun. When I got home, Jay said "I really missed you while you were gone, but I also had lots of fun." I told him I understood completely.
I can't face doing an all-in-one post about our time in Paris, so I'll write the chronology of what we did there now and then post stories and pictures whenever inspiration and quiet time coincide. The only reason I'm even writing out a timeline for this trip is for my own reference. I really like being able to look back and remember what we did on a specific day, especially on trips and vacations. So it may be boring, but it's helpful.
On this trip, our basic plan was to keep groceries in our hotel room for breakfast and one other meal, then go out to eat for the third meal each day (lunch or dinner). Our hotel had a kitchenette which made that easy. We immediately found our beloved Yop (runny yummy Yoplait yogurt) and Extra (toasted hazelnut chocolate chunk granola) that we fell in love with 9 years ago in Europe. Breakfast: covered. Our second meal was invariably baguette with various stinky cheeses and a pastry. Heaven.
Our other plan was NOT to plan. We woke up in the morning and decided on the spot what we felt like doing that day. We wandered. We explored. We stayed away from museums. We did not climb the Eiffel Tower. We walked and looked and ran and basked. After ten years together, we know more about how we like to explore: quality over quantity. It was perfect.
As part of this trip, I squeezed in a quick weekend visit to Lauren Snow (aka Laurs), my best friend of all time and former college roommate, who recently moved with her husband and 3 kids from Virginia to Nottingham, UK. We hadn't gotten together in nearly 3 years and this was the closest I was going to be to her for the foreseeable future, so we made it work. It was GOOD.
The bones of the trip:
Wednesday, January 11
10am--Grama Meri arrives at our house
11am--drive 3.5-ish hours from Grandview to the Seattle airport, check-in, and wait.
6:15pm--fly from Seattle Tacoma to London Heathrow [9h30min]
goodbye, kids!
Thursday, January 12
11:45am local time--arrive at London Heathrow airport
12:55pm--fly from London Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle [1h20min]
3:10pm local time--land in Paris!!
4pm--Customs, passport stamps, find the train, and buy tickets
4pm-6pm--get confused on the trains and eventually find the right stop
6pm--walk 3/4 mile to our hotel in a daze of city lights and 20 hours without sleep
6:30ish pm--check-in to hotel, dump luggage, and walk to the grocery store for food
7:30ish pm--dine in style perched on the end of our bed: baguettes and stinky cheese.
a dinner of baguettes and cheese
Friday, January 13
6am--leave hotel room to catch a train back to the airport
7am--part ways: Jeff back to Paris, Shaina on to the airport
9:50am--Shaina fly from Paris to Birmingham, UK [1h25min]
10:15am local time--arrive at Birmingham International airport, catch a train, then connect to another train to Nottingham
1pm-ish--arrive at Nottingham, meet my old college roomie Lauren Snow and go to her house.
The rest of Friday: hang out and talk with my best friend on the planet for the first time in three years!
Saturday, January 14
Hang out with the Snow family all day! Run 4 miles with Laurs in the morning. Walk around downtown Nottingham, eat fish and chips and mushy peas for dinner, watch a movie and talk.
Sunday, January 15
10am--Attend church with the Snows in Nottingham
2pm--catch a train to London [2h5min]
6:30pm--Chunnel train from London St. Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord [2h16min]
9:47pm local time--arrive at Paris Gare du Nord, meet Jeff, and catch a train back to our hotel
best friends
Monday, January 16
morning--visit Sacre Coeur cathedral to enjoy the city views and walk around Montmartre
lunchtime--run from our hotel to the Eiffel Tower together: six miles along the Seine River. Glorious!
afternoon--eat kebabs, shower, laundry, rest
evening--visit the Eiffel Tower and take a long long walk
best date ever!
Tuesday, January 17
morning--leisurely; Jeff prepped a Google classroom lesson to post for his class, I read and figured out where to visit next
late morning--metro to Notre Dame Cathedral, admire the sunlit stained glass for hours
late lunch--calamari and creamy pasta at an Italian restaurant with a goofy multilingual proprietor in the Latin Quarter.
afternoon--back up Montmartre hill to watch the sun set over Paris, listened to nuns singing in Sacre Coeur basilica
evening--walk around Ile de St. Louis, then back to the hotel for dinner (baguette, cheese, and eclairs)
Notre Dame
Wednesday, January 18
morning--took a train to Versailles [just over an hour train ride] Peeked at the almost-done LDS temple nearby. Went on a run together around the vast grounds of Versailles. Ate divine croissants and eclairs. Train back to our hotel.
evening--dinner at another tasty restaurant in the Latin Quarter--escargot, French onion soup, tender meat, creme brulee, and chocolate mousse. Laaaa!
back to the hotel to pack and relax
running at Versailles
Thursday, January 19
8am--leave the hotel and catch a train to the airport
Return journey: fly from Paris to London, then London to Seattle
4:40pm--arrive in Seattle, retrieve car, drive home the long way (5 hours instead of the usual 3 hours) through White Pass since Snoqualmie Pass was closed due to snowy avalanches
11:15pm--arrive HOME sweet home, after 25 hours of travel with zero hours of sleep in the mix
France from the air
Stay tuned for more pictures and stories!
1 comment:
wow, sounds so great! I want to gooo!! I told Tim we need a vacation for our mental health. Haha, we'll see. My favorite part of your story was the fact that you two know each other and yourselves so well that you felt like you could do Paris the way you wanted and didn't feel at all like you had to see all the touristy stuff. Also, I am so glad I could imagine all the divine bread and chocolate you ate. Why does it taste so much better there?
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