So, we did indeed make it to France.  I haven’t made a blog post in a few days, because I’ve been too busy being in France.  By the way, did you know that I am in France?  Why yes, I am in France.  Since my last blog post, I have traveled to France.  Ok, ok, I’ll shut up about being in France.  Because France is so boring.  It’s terrible.

Whatever you do, don’t ever come to Paris.  Paris is a terrible place to be with its savory food, its delicious wine, its wonderful architecture, its beautiful art…  In fact, it is so terrible that I have simply been too busy to stop and make a blog post.  However, I have recently found myself in the midst of a lazy afternoon with time to stop and reflect on things.

We arrived here a week ago after a long but uneventful flight.  We left Atlanta at 11:20 pm on Saturday night and landed at 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.  I’ve discovered that this is the ideal schedule for traveling to Europe, folks!  First of all, you get on the plane, eat a little something, and then fall asleep.  If you’re lucky, you get a few hours of half-sleep.  The best part, however, is that you land early afternoon and can go immediately to your apartment (or hotel).  Almost every other time I’ve come to Europe I’ve landed at 6 or 7 am and have had to kill a few hours wandering the streets with my luggage before I could ditch my bags and freshen up.  This schedule also means that, if you didn’t sleep on the plane, you’re even closer to the local bedtime.

That first afternoon in Paris, we checked into our apartment, spent some time in the cafe downstairs for some wine and snacks (of course), and then went for a long walk through central Paris.  We’re staying in Le Marais neighborhood which is centrally located, and our walk took us past La Mairie (city hall), over the river Seine to Notre Dame cathedral, and then back towards home past the Centre Pompidou.

Chad and Michele in front of the Mairie

There’s a bridge behind Notre Dame where people have locked padlocks onto the railings.  Each padlock has 2 names and a date written in permanent ink and declaring either 1) undying love or 2) undying best-friend-ness.  I don’t remember this from other visits to Paris.  I’m wondering if this is a new tourist trend in the city center.

We’ve seen a couple of bridges in Paris where couples or BFFs have noted their devotion to each other. Reminds me of that one part of the Cinque Terre path.

Late afternoon we popped into a small bistro for some more wine, escargots, and huitres.  “Escargots” is French for “snails served in delicious sauce,” and “huitres” are oysters which are in season right now.  We’ve seen then on the daily specials menu in a few restaurants.  We finished the day with a nice dinner at a crowded restaurant in our neighborhood called Les Philosophes.  I ordered Boeuf Bourgignon (stewed beef and vegetables) and I don’t even remember what Chad and Michele ordered because as soon as my food arrived, all I heard was “blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah.”  Comfort food + full belly + jet lag = sleep.

Since last Sunday, Chad, Michele and I have been busy playing tourist.  On Monday, we visited the Musee d’Orsay which was a former train station converted into a museum in the 1980s.

Juli and Chad at the upper terrace of Musee d’Orsay

The museum features art of the 19th century, and there is a great exhibit of van Gogh.  Remember that van Gogh “Starry Night” poster you had in your college dorm room?  Saw it in person.  Remember that van Gogh “Self Portrait” that is so famous?  Saw it in person.  (Well, turns out there are 2 that are famous and saw them both.)  Since our last visit to Paris in 2009, the museum has declared photos to be “interdites” (forbidden) so we weren’t able to take photos.  However, if you want to check out the museum’s amazing collection, you can reference this link from our visit in 2009 when I was able to take photos of some of my favorite pieces:

http://chadzilla.com/site/travelog/article/musee_dorsay

The day we visited the Musee d’Orsay was also the day we started taking the metro.   There’s only so far that excitement can take you when you’re on foot.  You quickly reach a point where you say, “Well, I can walk the 3.4 kilometers (2 miles) back home and continue to admire Paris, or I can take the metro and be sitting in a cafe near my apartment drinking wine and eating snacks (hopefully snails) lickedy-split.”  And metro tickets are way cheap.

Stay tuned for the next “catch up” blog post.  It’s been an eventful week…

I spent my junior year of college in southern France.  While there, I perfected my skills at traveling with minimal stuff.  I had arrived in France with a backpacking-size backpack and a duffle bag, and that’s what I had for 9 months.  I lived with a French family and was allowed to do one load of laundry a week.  I quickly fell into a pattern of wearing only white and light-colored clothes for an entire week so I could wash a full load of lights, and then wearing only dark-colored clothes for a whole week so I could do a full load of darks.  Boy howdy, was I sick of those clothes at the end of my year abroad, but I made it all work.

While studying abroad, I did a lot of traveling on weekend and school breaks.  Back then, you could buy a Eurail pass  that allowed 30 days of travel within 3 months, and you could take trains all over Europe.  I explored France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Greece…  That was a blast.  Sometimes my friends and I had a plan, and sometimes we would go to the train station and see when the next train was leaving and where it was going and then hop on.  Today, I’m so uptight about planning and scheduling that I can’t even imagine how I was that spontaneous when I was younger, but I digress.

Whether traveling for a weekend or a week, I quickly learned that I was packing too much stuff in my bag.  Not only was I packing clothes and shoes that I never wore, that stuff was heavy and I was carrying it around on my back.  I learned to pare down.  I developed the art of wearing the same shirt 3 days in a row.  That sounds disgusting, doesn’t it?  Well, get over it.  It’s Europe.  As long as the shirt doesn’t look dirty, it’s fine.  And even if it smells a little teensy bit used, it’s still fine.  Let’s just say that body odor is not as offensive in certain European countries as it is in the US.  That’s also why France invented perfume.

Ever since that experience, I’ve traveled lightly.  Weekend getaway?  High school book-bag as a suitcase.   Week-long trip?  A small rollerbag.  Two-week trip?  Well, I have to make a wee little confession.  When I went to Bangalore for work in 2011,  I went for 2 weeks and (gasp!) checked my luggage.  The only reason for doing this, though, was because I packed 4 liters of water to take with me.  Americans are not supposed to drink the tap water in India.  In fact, I was told that I shouldn’t even brush my teeth with it.  No, no, no!  And not knowing if there would be a place to buy water near my hotel and what the whole situation would be, I brought water with me.  It turns out that the hotel provided bottled water for international guests, so my checked luggage was all for naught.  And for those of you who are curious about what else I packed for Bangalore – 3 shirts, 3 skirts, 2 pairs of shoes.  Booyah!

So, this post is a very long-winded way of saying what I’m taking to Europe on this trip.  Here’s my luggage:

Inside this backpack are 6 short-sleeve shirts, 4 long-sleeve undershirts and 2 cardigans/wraps for layering when it gets cold, 2 skirts, 1 pants, 1 jeans, 1 dress for fancy restaurants, and 3 pairs shoes.  Of course, there are also the requisite toiletries and socks, camera, Nalgene water bottle, Kindle, small notebook, European hairdryer (bought it on our last trip, hate having wet hair when it’s cold and rainy outside)…  And I have 5 more hours to decide if I bring the France guidebook.  I might leave the guidebook at home because, as Chad put it, France does have internet access.

I have a rule that I must leave the country at least once a year.

Last year, we went to Panama City, Panama for Thanksgiving.  In 2011, I spent 2 weeks in Bangalore, India in June for work.  2010 was Thanksgiving in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  2009 was our glorious sabbatical where we spent 7 months traveling Spain, Portugal, France and Italy.  2008 was another Thanksgiving week abroad, this time in Oaxaca, Mexico.  You get the drift.

I have another rule.  Don’t be afraid to take time off from work.

When Chad and I were dating, his former college roommate invited us to his wedding in Japan.  I told Chad I couldn’t go with him because I had a major project deadline at the same time.  Big mistake.  Of course, that project deadline got pushed back, and I missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Japan with native hosts, a traditional wedding, and other unique experiences that I will never be able to recreate.

Rule #3 – When I go to Europe, I’m there for at least 3 weeks.

Last spring, Chad expressed interest in attending a business conference in Milan in October.  This became a great excuse to begin planning our 2013 trip abroad.  After much discussion on where we wanted to vacation in Europe prior to the conference, we settled on Paris.  We had spent 9 days in Paris in 2009 and had a great time.  There is so much to do and see and eat and drink in Paris; we decided we could go back and spend 3 weeks there.  Then Chad would head to Milan, and I would head back to Atlanta.  As we continued to plan, however, things evolved, and we’ll both be in Europe for 5 weeks.

Enough with the rules.  Here’s the plan for the trip.

Saturday, September 28, we fly to Paris with Chad’s sister Michele.  We’ll spend that first week doing all things touristy in Paris, eating great food, and drinking good wine.  Michele will return to Atlanta on Sunday, October 6.  Chad and I will spend another 2+ weeks in Paris, probably at a slower pace.  On Tuesday, October 22, we’ll fly to Milan.  Honestly, I wasn’t planning to go to Milan until I saw the apartment that Chad had rented, and then I decided the balcony was too cool to pass up.  We’ll goof around for a day or so, and then Chad’s conference is on Thursday and Friday.  On Saturday, October 26, we’ll take the train to the Cinque Terre and stay there for 4 days because, well, it’s the Cinque Terre and it’s our favorite place on earth.  Then back to Paris for a final 3 days before flying back home.  Sounds terrible, doesn’t it?  :)

Check back on Saturday for my next post.  We’re going to Europe with carry-on luggage only, no checked baggage…  We’ve been told we’re crazy; I would argue that we’re crazy-smart…