Interlude

We leave for Las Vegas tomorrow morning. EARLY tomorrow morning. I spent last night feeling very under the weather. I think I had some bad chicken. The good news is that I last somewhere between 5 and 10 pounds practically overnight. Not exactly the way I wanted to slim down to get ready for bathing suit season. I was at Rockmount yesterday. Rockmount is a purveyor of the best western shirts made, the inventor of the pearl snap buttons, and a place where I could drop a small fortune. I had a snap come off, and they fixed it free of charge. While the guy was fixing that, I had a look around.

They had some awesome shirts. The one I really liked had skulls and dice and playing cards, perfect for Vegas. Well, there WAS one that was gaudy orange and yellow flames, that might have been perfect for Vegas, and nowhere else. I'd love to get that skulls shirt, but the vintage western shirts are heavy and very warm, too warm for an April day in Vegas. They would be good at night, though. Also, the skulls shirt is black, and I already have a black Rockmount shirt. And the shirts aren't cheap; you can expect to pay about $100 for one. So I didn't pull the trigger on it. I'll kick myself if they don't have it next year and I have money in my pocket again, but for now...

Besides, I had just bought a point and shoot camera. My last one bounced out of the B-Cycle I was riding last fall and was run over by not one, but two cars. Boo. My phone takes decent pictures when there is enough light. It's terrible in low light. So I needed a camera much more than a new western shirt.


I think we are all packed now. I'm SURE we'll forget something, but it is just a long weekend. Besides, how much does one really need for Vegas?

La Campagne

Paris is only the first part of our trip. After Paris we will take the TGV (Train a Grand Vitesse!) down to Grenoble, the city where I spent about eight months as a junior in high school. It has been almost 25 years since then (Am I REALLY that old?), so I'm sure a lot has changed. I'll be discovering the city all over again.

Paris is unlike the rest of France in the same way that New York City is unlike the rest of the United States. Each city is like an island unto itself apart from the rest of the country. In fact the region where Paris sits is called Ile de France, or Isle of France. It's interesting that much of New York City is also on islands. Yet each city is also like a concentrated dose of their respective countries. So it is nice to get away from Paris to truly experience France.

What you'll find getting away from Paris is that the food and wine as still (almost) as good, prices are cheaper, the landscape is more picturesque, and the people are friendlier. Parisians are in a hurry much like their American counterparts in NY. They haven't time to be friendly. (This is a stereotype just as we Americans hold our stereotype of those on the East Coast. It doesn't often hold true perhaps, but behind any stereotype lies a hint of truth.) They are also probably tired of American tourists acting like pigs. We Americans are loud, fat, and demanding. Okay, it's yet another stereotype that doesn't often hold true, but when you witness a loud, fat, demanding family being disrespectful in a French museum, you begin to understand why Parisians might be rude.

I say the food is almost as good because you probably won't find a lot of Michelin star restaurants in the French countryside. What you will find are the little mom and pop places where there are about four tables and the family lives upstairs and will offer to rent you a room if you wish to stay. Mom will serve a cassoulet that is out of this world. Pop will offer a couple wines that come from the next village over and make you try the herbal-infused digestif he has been making. There are regional dishes that you will find are better here than in Paris. The gratin they make in the region around Grenoble is simply incredible.

The scenery of Paris is great, but it is all because of the architecture. The landscape is relatively plain. (Though I do like the hilly Montmartre.) The landscape of the French countryside is beautiful. Watch the Tour de France this summer and you will see what I mean. Whatever day you watch, in whatever area of the country, you will see some stunning views. I was lucky enough to live in perhaps the prettiest part of France at the foot of the Alps. I was lucky to do some travelling around and see some other areas, mostly around the Vercors Mountains and Alps, but also in the Champagne region. I'd love to see the Loire valley, Normandy, the Cote D'Azur, Alsace.... The list is long but it will probably have to wait for another trip, sometime after I get this one paid off.

Un saut d'une falaise

So the tickets to France are booked. Well, the tickets for Jen and Chase are booked, so they are going anyway. I am hoping to finalize my tickets today. I just need to book to go to Belgrade as well, so that adds complexity. It's a lot of money to put out there all at once, but it is also been ten years in the making. Not that I've SAVED the money for this over the past ten years, just that I've paid off enough debt that I can still afford to make the credit card payments after all this is said and done.

Okay... in the time between these paragraphs I have now booked my ticket as well. Turns out it is $25 cheaper for me to fly Denver-Belgrade-Paris-Denver than to fly Denver-Belgrade and back. So really I'm saving the company money by taking this sojourn to Paris.

You'll probably have noticed by now that we didn't get a ticket for Cannon. And you may be thinking, Wow! What did Cannon do that they are leaving him behind? Actually, he didn't do anything. Just doesn't want to go. We aren't going to force him to, nor are we going to beg him. He'll regret it, and we've advised him of that. Really, I suppose what else can you do for kids, especially after they're grown? You give them advice and hope they take it to heart.

It's exciting to have reached this precipice... and then plunge right over. There is no turning back. Come hell or high water we will be in Paris in June!

Hydrophobic

Last night we had our tickets draft for the Rockies season tickets we share. I have to admit it was sort of exciting having a full two weeks crossed off my calendar in June for our trip to France (along with me being in Serbia). It's exciting to actually have a vacation planned.

The hub of our plans has been the for-rent-by-owner site Air BnB. We heard about it from our friends who are using it for their honeymoon. If there is only one tidbit of value you get from this site I believe it would be this: check out Air BnB for accommodations for your next vacation. For the price of a hotel room you can rent an entire flat or even a house. I know there have been other types of sites like this, but I've been reluctant to use them, and I think the owners have been wary of using them. But this site must be as easy for the owners to use as it is for those looking to rent because it is loaded with good owner-provided information including maps, pictures, and up-to-date scheduling. Also, the reviews system of the site is very good. It makes the reviews very helpful in choosing where to book your stay.

Jen did a ton of scouting (she is very good at perusing web sites for hours if needed), first for which neighborhood we wanted to stay in and then for a place to rent there. We decided on a nice place in Montmartre, which is on the north side of the city. You may recognize a couple landmarks that are hallmarks of Montmartre: Sacre Couer and the Moulin Rouge. Montmartre is a rather bohemian artistic place that was home for some time to Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso among many others. It also served as the primary setting for the movie Amelie.

Our host was immediately responsive to the questions that Jen had for him, recommending how to get from the airport and restaurants and businesses in the area to check out (as well as a restaurant to avoid!) complete with a custom Google Map. With that, our hub for visiting Paris has been set.