Our European Vacation

At last! We've been home from Europe for a month, and I'm finally finding time to tell you about it.

We arrived in Paris the morning of May 13 and were greeted at the gate by my dear friend Alexia. She and I met in high school through an exchange program and had stayed friends ever since. We've both visited each other's homes several times, and the last time David and I had seen her was at our wedding five years ago. The last time I had seen her family was in 1998, the last time I was in Paris. So it was a delight to go out to lunch with Alexia and her mother at a very nice restaurant just down the street from Alexia's parents' apartment.

Later in the afternoon Alexia gave us a walking tour of her neighborhood, Republique, and the surrounding neighborhoods. We walked through the Place de Volges, where we saw Victor Hugo's house and listened to a string quintet playing on the street. We stopped for an espresso at a cafe next to the Pompidou Centre and saw the World's Fattest Pigeon (the photo doesn't really do it justice, but if you look closely you can see David standing at its feet).

That evening we dined with Alexia's mother, brother Laurent and sister-in-law Augustina (pictured at left) at one of the oldest restaurants in Paris: Procop. It features museum-quality decor, such as Voltaire's writing desk (conveniently positioned right outside the kitchen door so waiters can stack dirty dishes there); china from the Revolution; and Napoleon's hat. One of the featured dishes was Braised Calf's Head - just like grandmere used to make in the 1600s - but none of us was brave enough to order it. The meal lasted about three and a half hours, and Alexia's family was great company. Her father, unfortunately, was away on a business trip, but we did end up getting to see him later in the week.

Afterward David and I got to enjoy one of the greatest benefits of having your own personal French tour guides - a driving tour of Paris at night. Alexia sped around the city of lights from one major landmark to another while her mother, a history buff, explained the history of each. I enjoyed it, but David must have been in HEAVEN. We saw Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Opera House, to name a few. The most impressive, however, was the Eiffel Tower. I don't mean to sound cliche - in fact I've seen the Eiffel Tower in person many times. But since my last trip to Paris they added a new feature. For the first 15 minutes at the top of each hour after dark, the tower SPARKLES (some of you already know how I LOVE sparkly things). It was pretty amazing. Like pixie dust!

Needless to say we were exhausted when we got back to Alexia's apartment sometime after midnight. We fell asleep, and David and I slept until 2 p.m. the next day.

To be continued...