3,607 miles. That’s the distance I traveled today between Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and Boston Logan International Airport. I don’t think I will ever not be amazed by air travel. In a little over 6 ½ hours, I went clear across the Atlantic Ocean.
Today found me touring a world-renowned museum, sipping one of Paris’ best hot chocolates, wandering streets and alleys in the Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, strolling the Luxembourg gardens, and dining at a restaurant that has just one dinner item on the menu. Read on to learn about the highlights of my last day in Paris.
I am a lover of quotes and I read a quote the other day that said, “Live for the moments you can’t put into words”. I had a whole blog post ready for today, but I deleted the entire thing because the pictures of my day at Monet’s gardens in Giverny say more than my words ever could. There are also a few pictures of the town of Giverny, a walk around Paris, and my sunset cruise on the Seine. Enjoy!
674. That’s the number of steps it takes to get to the second level of the Eiffel Tower via the staircase. Can you guess what I did today??
Today was rather gloomy, which meant I wasn’t all that excited to be out and about. I didn’t leave my hotel until almost 9AM, so it was a bit of a late start for me. My plan for the day was to wander around and explore Montmartre. It turns out everybody else in Paris had the same idea. It was CROWDED.
Sunday in Paris. Day 2 in Paris started with a walk through the Latin Quarter and along the Seine to Le St Régis on Île Saint-Louis. This little café came highly recommended by a friend and it was a perfect spot for breakfast. While there were tables outdoors, it was a little cold so I settled in at a table by the window for a traditional Parisian breakfast: pain au chocolat, orange juice, and chocolat chaud (hot chocolate). The orange juice tasted freshly squeezed and the hot chocolate was rich and indulgent. There were only a few other people in the small café so I took my time before heading out for a walk around Île Saint-Louis and Île de la Cité.
Continue readingParis. Home to croissants, crepes, and macarons. Home to sidewalk cafes and blooming gardens. Home to the Mona Lisa. And for the next week, home to me. I was planning to be here three years ago in April 2020, but obviously the global pandemic changed my plans. So here I finally am, with only a rough plan for how I will spend the next six days in the City of Light.
Duluth, Georgia. Not exactly on my bucket list, but there is a reason for my second visit to this northeast suburb of Atlanta. The Gas South Arena played host to this year’s SEC Gymnastics Championships and it was the perfect place for my March stop in the Year of Travel.
Living a great story, south of the border. February’s stop in the Year of Travel took me to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, some 45 miles south of Cancún on the east coast of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. Why Playa del Carmen? Mostly because I wanted to try something new, and Playa fit the bill. It wasn’t too difficult to get to, I’ve never been to a beach in Mexico (I had only previously been to a few border towns – Nuevo Laredo, Agua Prieta, and Nogales), and it seemed like a good place for a few days of relaxation in the sun. After suffering through one of the worst colds I’ve ever had in the couple of weeks leading up to the trip, the warm temperatures, humidity, and vitamin D were all a welcome respite from the relative cold of New England.
While my vacation in Playa del Carmen, Mexico this week is mainly focused on relaxing in the sun, I also wanted to do something other than just lay around while I’m here. Fortunately, my hotel has a tour desk where you can book half- and full-day tours and it didn’t take long for me to decide that I wanted to do a half-day tour to Tulum. I’m not much of a history buff, but the pictures I had seen looked intriguing and I wanted to see this well-known historical site in person.
Traveling with Laura 