On joue au foot.

I was sort of anticipating that this would happen, but I'm going to need to piece together the rest of this trip from a few notes that I have along with pictures that I've been taking. There just hasn't really been a lot of time up until now to get any writing done. The trip has been packed with activity and food and walking. I don't think I've walked less than five miles for a single day in the past two weeks. I'm hoping that will counteract the tons of delicious food, wine, and other drink we've been having, but I will be afraid to get on a scale for at least a week after we get back.

Today, however, we are taking it easy. Our feet and legs are telling us to slow down today after walking about 8 miles yesterday. It's been quite warm here as well in France - mid-eighties - which is unusual for this time of year. And of course it has been much more humid than we are used to. Each day my shirts have ended up with a disgusting salt stain, and I've had to change before dinner. Which reminds me, we need to get some laundry in!

The apartments we've stayed in have been nice, each one in a perfect location. AirBnB is the way to go, and frankly, I don't want to stay in a hotel ever again. I have an entire blog post composed in my head just about AirBnB, but I will save that for now.

There have been so many wonderful moments this trip, it's hard to nail down just any one. Highlights have included the view of Paris from the Notre Dame, making random friends with a group in Montmartre, getting to visit with an old friend and his beautiful family, rooting for random World Cup teams just because, and pretty much every meal we've eaten here in France.

I'll start working on piecing together the rest. At some point I feel like I need to venture back out today to find a French soccer jersey. It's like they've all sold out here in Grenoble or something, but I will need something for the game tomorrow.

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!