Avoir Paris

Avoir Paris.   We had a wonderful visit in Paris.  We decided to extend our stay from 3 to 5 days--still not nearly enough time.  I think I would like to live in Paris for a while.   We stopped by an English language school one afternoon and it looks like it would be very easy to get a job.   Something to ponder….

We seem to spend a lot of our days walking, be it exploring the city or a museum.  I try when I can to talk to the Parisians who, contrary to their reputation, have been exceedingly helpful and gracious.  

On our first day, we caught the last day of the Tour de France.  Unfortunately we missed the bicyclists but we did get a chance to see the yellow shirted children as well as the team mechanics proudly pedal down the Champs-Elysee. 

Amy was still traveling with us when we visited Sacre Coeur and Montematre.  The church is impressive.   At a park behind the church I met some young French-Africans practicing gymnastics and sat with them, while Amy and Mark explored.  Amy found the streets leading to Sacre Coeur reminded her of visits to Queen Anne in Seattle.  I was here as a child and remember having an artist draw a caricature of me.

The following day Amy left to join her GAP Adventure tour group.  She will spend the next 28 days exploring Europe with a group of young people.  Mark and I switched hotels courtesy of a Travelzoo coupon.  We stayed for 2 days at the Hotel Rochester.  The hotel was impressive (particularly the FABULOUS breakfast included with our room) but a less pricey, more backpack friendly hotel like the Hotel Magador is more our style. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the Roden Museum gardens and our trip to the Louvre.  One evening we took a boat ride on the Seine.  We found a lovely French restaurant near Montematre and availed ourselves of Monoprix and Carrefour for snacks and sandwiches.  We even made it to Versailles yesterday. 

Today has been a day of travel as we head to Amsterdam.  I am looking forward to seeing our dear friends Anne and Hans Daniels (I have known them since we were all in school in Boston some 25+ years ago) and hopefully catching up with Amy this evening.

There is no doubt that Europe is lovely, however, the weather reminds us of what we left in Seattle—overcast and cool.  On the other hand, I prefer that, particularly when I am carrying my backpack.  

Almost gone

Hello friends. We are t-minus 36 and the count down begins. We have had a wonderful cross country trip. Amy saw her dear friend Rica and spent the 4th of July in Durango, Colorado while Mark and I celebrated the holiday with my cousin, her children and grandchildren in Crested Butte, Colorado. With a bit of a hiccup when Amy's flight from Durango to Kansas City was delayed due to weather and she missed her connection in Denver, we all met up and continued on to Washington, Illinois to spend a few days with Mark's aunt, uncle and cousins. Ever the game players, Aunt Sharon and Amy gave Uncle Don and Mark a hard earned victory in Aggravation. I hid in the bedroom catching some quiet time reading. From there we had a short but delightful visit with my aunt who at 91 is my model of elegance and style. During our drive to Washington, DC, I received some tragic news.  Jonathan Weiss who was to join us for dinner that night, along with some of my friends from my Washington DC days, passed away the night before.  He died of a massive heart attack while awaiting surgery at the hospital.  Jonathan was 57.  Life is indeed precious and his loss made me once again grateful to have this opportunity to travel.  Barbara graciously hosted us in her lovely Washington co-op.  The following day, Mark and I failed to get our visas for India--the Washington DC office would not take our visa applications because our home state Washington is handled by their San Francisco office.  Sadly this means we will not be going to India on this trip but we are delighted with plan B--a visit to Jordan with a possible stop in Jerusalem.  After our DC visa attempt we drove to Reading, Pennsylvania to spend a few days with my Dad and his wife Dyla.  Dyla has been a Godsend to my Dad.  She and I worked on her garden and Mark worked on the honey-do list my Dad had compiled.  We shopped and visited.  Then it was off to the Jill's house in Bethany Beach, Delaware.  Amy loves Behany Beach and upon arrival dragged her Dad into the ocean.  Mark and I left the following day to attend Jonathan's memorial service while Amy spent the day at the beach with Jill's son Steven.  Mark and I returned to the beach late that night and enjoyed a few more days soaking in the sun, playing in the waves and enjoying Jill's and Steven's company.  Then to Boston via Connecticut where we met Suzanne, her Mom (on her 81st birthday--I should look so great!), and Joan who was such a dear friend to my Mom, for a quick meal.  The highlights in our brief time in the Boston area were reconnecting with friends, Ellen, and her children Clare, Owen and Eric; Elizabeth, Priscilla, John, Josh, Beth and Peter.  Mark and I were delighted to become reacquainted with Alex Min who we knew 20 years ago when he was a midshipman in the ROTC program at MIT and is now a husband, father, Marine Reservist, Textron manager and entrepreneur.  It was good to see that Alex hasn't slowed down!  Lastly we finally purchased our OneWorld pass and have sealed our international travel itinerary.  Our travel plans are below.  Please note that the only fixed date is the first: London to Istanbul on October 6.  However, we will definitely be in Bangkok on 31 Oct since we are meeting Barbara there and travel with her for a month through SE Asia.  Amy is also planning to travel with us for three weeks from around 8-28 Dec.  After that we may alter the dates slightly.  We hope you will join us as we travel either by following this blog or better yet by meeting us somewhere along the way!

LONDON-ISTANBUL  6 Oct
ISTANBUL-AMMAN, JORDAN  24 Oct
AMMAN-BANGKOK  31 Oct
BANGKOK-SINGAPORE  1 Dec
SINGAPORE-PERTH  28 Dec
PERTH-MELBOURNE   2 Jan
MELBOURNE-CAIRNS  9 Jan
CAIRNS-SYDNEY  14 Jan
SYDNEY-AUCKLAND  18 Jan
AUCKLAND-SANTIAGO  8 Feb
SANTIAGO-LIMA  22 Feb
LIMA-QUITO  15 Mar
QUITO-BUENOS AIRES  5 Apr
BUENOS AIRES-LONDON  25 Apr