Just one? Seriously? That is SUCH an unfair thing to ask of me! Okay, I’ll pick just one. And since it was around this time of year when we went, I’ll pick here:
Paris, France. February 2007. Pretty cool Valentines’ Day present, huh? Gosh, it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago, but I guess it was!
Kick back in your chair………Here’s the story of this trip. Hubby was going to be leading a group of students on a trip to Europe in a few months……and the company that does said group tours (EF Tours, in case anyone cares) requires all their group leaders to have specific training. And where do they offer said training. Paris. Uhm, okay….twist our arms here! So his trip was free. Flight/hotel and a lot of the meals were taken care of. Oh darn.
Did I want to tag along? Uhm, DUH. It was the cheapest way we’d ever get to Paris, we knew that much for a fact!
All we had to pay for was my flight/food…..since I could just crash in his room for free. We went with a cheaper flight option than how Karl was flying, so we ended up on different airlines. That wasn’t a big deal, as I was traveling with the husband and daughter of the other group leader (who was on the same flight as Karl), so it’s not like I was abandoned and all alone, etc. But wouldn’t ya know it…….weather had to create problems for us.
Karl’s flight was supposed to leave St. Louis and fly to Chicago and then onto Paris. As he’s at the airport waiting, his flight to O’Hare gets cancelled because of weather in Chicago. But his flight from O’Hare to Paris is still on-time. Huh? Apparently there are different rules for canceling domestic vs. international flights…..and Karl’s 2-leg trip unluckily fell into both categories.
Sooooooooo………since he didn’t really want to miss his flight to Paris (next flight wasn’t until the next day), what were his options?
He drove to Chicago. In record time, I might add. He had 5 hours before his flight left for Paris when his flight to Chicago was cancelled. Normally, driving from St. Louis to Chicago easily takes 5 hours. I don’t know how he did it in 4. (for the record, Karl is NOT a leadfoot. That title in this family belongs to moi!) Not only did he and Rosie (the other leader) manage this feat, but they took along some complete stranger who was needing to catch the same flight. I still cringe at her riding in the backseat of our car amongst all the goldfish and kid-debris from under the carseats that nobody’s supposed to see. :P
While they’re dealing with this, I’m boarding my flight to Detroit (which was NOT cancelled). As I turned off my phone for take-off, all I knew was that Karl was somewhere on I-55 between St. Louis and Chicago. Either I’d see him in Paris that night……..or I wouldn’t. Not the best start to the getaway!
Anyhoo…….as Karl neared the airport in Chicago, he called his brothers Keith and Kurt to meet them and take our car since Karl didn’t have time to park it if he was going to make that flight. Karl’s from the Chicago burbs, and all his family still lives there. At this moment in time, it came in quite handy. Gold star for the inlaws!
My flight was great……it was my first trans-Atlantic flight and I was easily amused by the individual TV screens. Woohoo! When we got to Paris and I turned my phone back on, I had a text from Karl that they’d made their flight. Barely. So he was in the air, and that was good enough for me! Christina, Greg, and I did a little happy dance in the middle of Charles de Gaulle knowing that our other halves were on their way!
So when did we finally meet up with each other? LATER that night….MUCH later. Like into the wee hours of the morning.
Not being one to sit idle in a cool city, I wasted no time being all tour guide-y with my traveling companions. I had an itinerary I was sticking to (remember how I told you I like to plan out stuff in great detail. Yep. If you travel with me, you will be micromanaged. Best get used to it!) so we shook off the jet lag, hopped a train and got to our hotel……dropped off our stuff and set off to explore the city.
First up was a walking Da Vinci Code tour.
The movie had come out not too long before that, and I was obsessed with seeing some of the sights described in the book. And Greg/Christina happily played along. Like I gave them a choice. :D Anyhoo……that was a blast to do….we got to walk all over Paris (tiring, but very fun and informative!). It ended at the Louvre, which we didn’t have time to go into at the moment, but we planned to come back the next morning.
I was already passed out for the night when Karl arrived at the hotel. He finally made it to town! His silver lining was that even though he’d been delayed and stressed out (and now we had to deal with a car in Chicago we didn’t plan on being there), they’d been upgraded to business class……so he had to give me grief for being packed into coach while he flew across the atlantic in style. Whatever. I got there first!
The next couple of days were a blur…..karl/Rosie had a few meetings they had to go to, and while they were at those, the rest of us were off exploring.
We walked all over the place……
We went to the Louvre.
See this?
This is the Mona Lisa. You can't see them, but there's 4 burly dudes next to it yelling at people to not take pictures and then chasing them off if they tried.
See this?
This is my running shot of the Mona Lisa......that leather jacket on the right is my traveling buddy, Greg, running offense for me so I wouldn't get busted........bwahahahahahaha! I thumb my nose at your pesky french camera rules, Louvre!
We went to Versailles.
(The Hall of Mirrors. Sadly, I was not impressed)
The Grand Canal
(wish the fountain had been working, but after all, it WAS February)
We went to Notre Dame.
We went to the Red Light District to see the Moulin Rouge. Hehehe. Don’t you hate it when complete strangers step into your photos at the last second? I do. I really really do.
We did more sightseeing of stuff from the Da Vinci Code. And we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower of course (hubby is deathly afraid of heights, so that was an ordeal).
We went shopping for cute French clothes (which I still have and still wear…..oooh la la!) and ate LOTS AND LOTS of amazingly rich and good food. Yum!
So it was a quick trip, but I think we made the most of it for sure. I’d love to go back and have more time to see some things in the city we didn’t get to. Some day perhaps……..but until then, we’ll always have the memories.
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