Have Merci
Monday, March 22, 2010 at 04:49PM (ME) So do you have anything planned for our 10th wedding anniversary?
(HIM) Well, no, but I was thinking we should talk about that...
(ME) Well, start talking, mister, because our anniversary is only a month away...
And thus began our whirlwind journey to London and Paris to celebrate a decade of love and not strangling each other.
It was a quick trip, three nights in London and two in Paris, that we booked only three weeks before our departure. It's easy to organize a vacation online - who needs a travel agent! - after you sit at your desk for three hours at a stretch, only to give up, cursing like a Green Beret, after you cannot find the key web page with the Eurorail information and then your computer freezes, which is just as well because your back feels like you just climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and then resume the trip-planning process the next evening, eventually putting in the equivalent of a full working day to easily design a voyage that is "only a click away."
To sum it up, we had a fabulous time. London was a blast (go see BILLY ELLIOTT - it had it all: singing, acting, story, props - a true winner) and Paris was the most beautiful city I have ever seen in my life. Now I know why they write songs, novels and plays about the City of Light, an embarrassment of architectural riches, smartly-dressed women and men who can wear violet woolen scarves around their neck and still look daringly dashing.
Were we the Ugly Americans while we were abroad? Let's just say that we were the slightly homely citizens of the United States. In London, we valiantly tried to keep up while the massive crowds zipped through the tube stations (keep to the right on those escalators, people, or you'll bloody get run over). In Paris, we were starstruck and bumbling as only two people who never learned a word of French in high school could be (he, German; me, Spanish and Latin). When I greeted the clerk in the Eiffel Tower gift shop with "Merci" (thank you) instead of "Bonjour! (hello), she grumbled something that I think translated into "This moron just may win the 'Stupid American' of the week award - what a complete idiot!"
Despite our floundering, we were thrilled to finally use our passports and to get out of snow-filled Dodge for a spell. We saw more works of art (The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, the National Portrait Gallery, etc., etc.), ate more goodies and walked more miles than a middle-aged, middle-class twosome could ask for.
So I'd like to extend a huge "thank you, Europe"...or is to "hello?"...oh, well, you know what I'm trying to say: Everyday, ordinary life might sometimes prove to be tough, but I am true-dat grateful that we'll always have London and Paris.
Reader Comments (1)
Im glad to see your blog was updated.I understand you were peeved at me for mentioning you blog was a little outdated.
Since youtook in London and Paris in 5 days have you given any thought to another book "Around the world in 5 days".Just curious.Glad to see your blog is up and running again.