Paris: The word, the place, always evokes particular emotions like love, adventure, romance. We think of the Eiffel Tower and croissants, fashion and fancy. A visit to Paris is probably on the bucket lists of most people, especially women. It was on my bucket list until last month when I checked Paris off my list, having been blessed with the opportunity to finally visit there.
Paris was an adventure indeed. I learned much about the place itself and even a little about myself. In David Letterman fashion, I’m presenting my Paris Top 10: What I learned there and what I loved. Continue Reading
Pack lightly…because baggage gets heavier with each step.
When I traveled recently, I did my very best to pack lightly and be reasonable in my choices of clothing and accessories. I wanted to be sure I had what I needed. After all, we were traveling across the world and it was unlikely there would be a Walmart I could run out to if I’d forgotten a necessity. I definitely wanted to include the necessary toiletries, and medications and I comfortably had the room in my luggage for them.
Overall, I felt pretty proud of myself that I’d managed to carefully select appropriate outfits I would need, wisely planning to interchange tops and pants, creating more ensembles out of few items. Travel tip side note: A handy tipster enlightened me that Parisians often wear outfits two days in a row, so mixing and matching would certainly suffice. But even as sparingly as I had managed to pack, the day we left I threw in extra pants and dress boots “just in case.” For eight days and two countries, I felt I had done nicely packing one decent-sized suitcase, a carry on, and a messenger bag that I would carry everywhere with the super essentials like Passport, Euros, ID, debit card, camera, and phone. Continue Reading
The sweetness of doing nothing…isn’t that phrase in and of itself a sweet sound to the ears? For me, and I’m sure for many, it’s a puzzling concept. Doing nothing? And it’s sweet? But when you unpack the words, they become even more lovely. I find it nearly impossible to do nothing. Even when I’m semi-relaxing by watching TV or reading a book, I have to feel as though I’m accomplishing something at the same time. I may turn on a movie, but I need to have the dishwasher or washing machine going or I’m folding a load of laundry, sometimes doing all three.
When in Rome, I noticed a marked ease about their lifestyle. There wasn’t the hurried pace we often feel here in our lives. Many people could be seen relaxing with friends over a meal…in the middle of the day. Some stores closed down entirely for the lunch hour, not something I’ve often seen happen here. The casual feeling, I’ll admit, was quite appealing. The lovely Romans seem to savor more: Food. Drink. The present company. Time. Continue Reading
