Dear Reader,
Have I mentioned that I’m going to Paris in two weeks?
The trip has been eclipsed by the family health drama and my grandmother’s condition. My mother and I realized Thursday that, holy cow, we were leaving in two weeks – and had nothing ready!
I’ve been looking forward to this trip since my mother bought the plane tickets. I hadn’t allowed myself to get too excited because honestly, the whole trip could fall through at any time. It’s a trip so that my mother can participate in Paris-Brest-Paris, the longest running organized cycling ride in the world. Something like 6,000 people participate in it ever four years. It’s a big deal in the cycling community. Everyone’s seen how the people turn out for the Tour de France, the same crowd – if not bigger – lines the roads for PBP. And we’re going!
This trip will be unlike any other foreign trip I’ve taken. I’ve always been responsible for others, going to do humanitarian things with the church or a non-profit but never. Not this time! I’m only responsible for my mother – and she’s not the type to throw a temper tantrum in the middle of a crowded airport. Yes, it’s happened before to me. I also will be alone for four or five days – meaning – I can do whatever I want to do. If I want to go sight seeing, I can go! If I want to hang out at a cafe and write, I can! I get to be a real tourist for two weeks.
So in preparation I’m looking at places to see, things I want to do and starting to worry about luggage. My mother is taking her bicycle case and a back pack *eye roll*. She thinks she’s going to get all of her clothes and stuff into a back pack. I have no illusion of packing light. I’m taking a body bag and I’m fine with it!
One of the things we plan on doing that I’m super jazzed about is taking the bullet across to London and strolling around over there for a day, catching a show at the Globe Theater, over-nighting it there and going back to Paris the next day.
The one thing my mom wants to do is go walk Normandy Beach. We’ve been warned that there isn’t anything to see except – a beach – but we’re going anyways. I think a nice picnik by the ocean with freshly baked French bread would be very cool.
So are you envious yet? I’m jealous of myself!
