So much to celebrate and no better place to celebrate it than the City of Lights.
You should know by now that I lived in Paris unless you somehow landed directly on this blog post. If you read my book you got a peek into some of my most memorable moments there. My whole family loves Paris. My mother studied French in high school and college. Growing up she would speak a little French at home which made me become interested in the language. So I took after her and studied French in high school and college as well. Later in life my mother and I had the opportunity to make our first trip to Paris together like we always said we would. It was love at first sight. I instantly fell in love with the city and the people–so much so that I decided to move there. My oldest sister visited me during my sojourn but my niece had never been and neither had her father, my sister’s husband.
Paris is always a good idea. -Audrey Hepburn
The fall of 2017 was a milestone year for my mom, my sister, my niece and me. My mom was turning 70, my sister was turning 50 and my niece was turning 30. Plus, I was celebrating being a 10 year breast cancer survivor. We wanted to have a big celebration. We called it the 10-30-50-70 celebration and we decided to go to Paris!
Deja Vu
For the first time in my life I wasn’t all that excited about visiting Paris. I had just gone the previous year to have a reunion with the friends I met in school when I was there. I couldn’t think of anything better to do but I felt like spending money on another trip to Paris wasn’t money well spent. However, in the end, I had the best time there with my family. Yes, it was rough at first because my niece and my brother-in-law had never been to Paris and the food can take a little getting used to. They wanted to eat at the burger joint near our hotel just about every chance they could get. LOL Once we got past that hurdle we had a wonderful time.
We stayed near the Eiffel Tower in a lovely boutique hotel. We had a wine and food pairing experience at a cooking school, visited the Yves Saint Laurent museum that had recently opened which was right around the corner from where I had lived. We also visited the Christian Dior exhibit at the Museum of Fashion and Textiles. I was able to meet with my contact at the American Library in Paris and see my book, Dig in Your Heels, on the shelf. When I had visited the previous year and donated the book, the library was under construction so it was closed to the public.
My family and I did all of the usual spots– Champs Elysees, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, and ended our trip with an epic dinner cruise on the Seine River. My favorite tour (and the only tour I will do) in Paris is the Bateaux Mouches boat cruise on the Seine River. I just love it! It’s such a great way to view the city. I had never done the dinner cruises. I had figured they were overpriced and the food might not be all that great. But I saw some good reviews for a couple of the cruises and decided it would be a great end to our trip and it did not disappoint. They don’t call Paris the City of Light for nothing. Seeing it at night is a must. Having a lovely meal with great company viewing all of the beautiful architecture including the Eiffel Tower illuminated and twinkling at the top of the hour really was a great way to say “A la prochaine fois Paris.” (Until the next time Paris.)
I’m not sure what made this trip so special and so fun. I’ve been to Paris many times and shared my time there with many people but this trip was my all time favorite.
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