Jet lag

Jeff and I got home last night after a spending a week in Paris. It was an absolutely wonderful trip. I am still processing the experience, and my brain is fuzzy and travel-tired. Flying to a time zone NINE HOURS ahead and only staying for one week has its various nefarious challenges. During some dark sleepless hours one morning in Paris, I got out of bed and started writing a Shakespeare-inspired faux-ode (fauxd? f'ode?) to my most constant travel companion, the indomitable Mr. Jet Lag.

Jet lag, thy name is...

HUNGER: striking with sudden severity, unexpectedly.

Boredom: 3am is black and boring all alone.

Lonesome: lying awake in the dark for hours, staying quiet for the lucky sleeper.

 

Jealousy: of Jeff's restful, even, deep-sleep breathing.

Tired: why can't I just sleep if I'm this tired?

Creativity: ideas flood my brain but I can't keep up with my own thoughts because I'm too tired.

Confusion: I woke up between 3am and 3:45am like clockwork every night in Paris but two. 3am in Paris is 6pm back home! WHY AM I AWAKE??

Wasteful: I could be OUT and about right now, doing, exploring, and seeing! But it's the middle of the night and the things that are happening in the city right now are not exactly what I want to see. And I'm too tired to move. But awake.

Paranoia: what was that noise? I heard a noise in the wall. Does this hotel have rats? Jeff said that rats are a general problem in Paris. OHMYGOODNESS, what if there's a rat in our wall?? Oh, ok, that was the people upstairs flushing. But RATS! It totally could've been rats. 

Uncertainty: when should I wake Jeff up? We have Things to Do and Places to See after all, and it's 5:59am.

Impatience: wake up already, Husband! 

Desperation: I'm going crazy! I'm going to be SO tired later!

Worthwhile: A WEEK IN PARIS!

[end faux ode]

Clearly my ability to be poetic is significantly muted by jet lag, aka, tiredness. In spite of the fatigue, our week in Paris was absolutely dreamy. We collected gallons of juicy stories, thoughts, discoveries, sights, memories, and pictures! (I have over 200 favorite pictures from our five day stay in Paris.) Our trip simultaneously satiated and stoked my wanderlust. Of course travel has its ups and downs, but the overall picture of our trip was everything I hoped for: 

• Glittering city lights by night, satisfying sights by day. 
• Lots of husband-hand-holding. 
• Fantastic French language practice and progress for my budding linguistic abilities (I can say the guttural "re" sound in the back of my throat nearly 50% of the time now! Baby steps.)
• Copious cobbled streets
• Delicious food [that never crossed my lips (either direction) during my nauseous pregnancies]
• Visits to old favorites and then discovering new gems.
• A change of pace.

I could go on, and I will! Later. Tired now. Write more later.

P.S. There's so much more to Paris than the Eiffel Tower, but man it looks good in pictures.