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Two femmes d'un certain age and their daughters take on Paris

Two femmes d'un certain age and their daughters take on Paris

Old Jul 26th, 2013, 12:07 PM
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I'm really enjoying your trip report. And, I will put myself (and my travel companion mom) in the same modern art "category" as you. We've uttered several of the same comments you did at the Pompidou.
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Old Jul 26th, 2013, 04:32 PM
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First, I love your niece and I have past the age where I can drink a coke, but pain au chocolat and a Diet Coke...heaven! Just not a coffee drinker. And, I love a good madeleine and sadly, have had few in Paris. May need to seek out Bonne Maman for an apt snack when we visit in December.

Totally with you on most modern art, dance, anything....we were at MoMa last year and scratched our heads a lot! We went to a modern ballet in Paris a few years back at gorgeous Opera Garnier and left after two acts...the were some jungle type cries and calls out of nowhere and we almost burst out laughing. i know, so immature of us and so very unsophisticated but it was just goofy!
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Old Jul 26th, 2013, 05:00 PM
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fun report. gorgeous apt.
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Old Jul 26th, 2013, 05:11 PM
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Denise, I'm with you on no coffee (just hate the taste!) and would drink diet coke if I had my "druthers".

Count me among the jerks" one spots in a modern art gallery.

Delejhunt, thanks for sharing your trip. I am fascinated and laughing.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 07:19 AM
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Days 7 and 8 in France: Party All The Time

Day 7: I'd wanted to spend my birthday in Paris for a long time and the day was finally here. And I woke up and, so what, it's just another day...well, another day in Paris...and then we arrived at the Palais Garnier to see the ballet La Sylphide and I was indeed having the best birthday of my life, sitting in the gilded theatre, watching athletic and graceful dancers, and listening to the music of the talented Opera orchestra (I love classical music so the combination of live orchestra and dance was a double whammy of pleasure for me). At the intermission sister-in-law treated to glasses of champagne - what else to drink here? - and my niece added the snack of Pringles and champagne to her repertoire of interesting food combinations (I never, ever imagined that I would place the order of “trois coupes de champagne et un Pringles” in France).

After the ballet we headed home for naps and then out to dinner later that evening to Le Florimond on avenue de la Motte Piquet, my favorite restaurant in the neighborhood. The owner, Laurent, greeted daughter and me with bises because we are long-time customers (I've been eating here for ten years!); sister-in-law and niece got them, too. Dinner was fabulous, of course. Daughter had her favorite lobster ravioli as a starter, I had a cold tomato and watermelon soup and then a langoustine risotto that was to die for. Pink champagne to drink, bien sûr. The girls shared the mile-high mille feuille for dessert and amused the French couple sitting next to us as they tried to determine how to tackle the dessert; niece finally solved the problem with a push on the tower of puff pastry and vanilla crème chantilly which knocked it on its side. We walked home through the cool and quiet streets of our quartier, back to our Parisian home sweet home; I think that Paris is indeed a great place to spend a birthday.

Day 8: We celebrated another birthday today, the official birthday of the French republic; known as the Quatorze of Juillet here and Bastille Day in the U.S. It was a beautiful day; sunny and warm but not too hot. We got up early to head towards the big parade on the Champs Elysées, but sadly not early enough; the parade route was jam-packed and we could not see a thing, so after viewing the (top of the head of) French president François Hollande drive down the street (as he was loudly booed by much of the crowd) we decided to head back to our ‘hood for lunch. On the way we crossed paths with the mounted French Garde Républicain (an elite unit of the French national guard) and that is where we discovered who we have come to call Perfect Man; he was (and is) the handsomest man any of us have ever seen and he was wearing tight white riding pants and a really impressive uniform and…wow (I’m happily married and don’t ever behave this way around handsome men but...again, wow). I tried to convince daughter and niece to pose with this guy (as other starstruck young girls were) but they were too intimidated by his perfection and therefore I didn’t have an excuse to talk to him (too creepy for sister-in-law and me to ask to take a photo but we did consider it for a moment). We were distracted from our stalking by the flyover (I’d always wanted to see the bleu, blanc, rouge streaming from the back of those jets and it was as cool as I’d imagined) and as we watched the planes I struck up a conversation with a woman who turned out to be the mother of another one of these soldiers; she asked me if the girls would like to pose with her also not-so-bad looking son and we finally got a shot. We reluctantly left the soldiers behind and headed back to the 7th, and even though we didn’t see much of the parade, we felt as if we had seen the most important parts of it (the President, the jets, and the Perfect Man).

After dinner we headed towards the Champs de Mars to find a place to watch what was reputed to be a very magnificent fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower. This time we anticipated the crowd and arrived early enough to get a good spot to spread out our blankets, and the fireworks were indeed magnificent. We began the evening sitting on the ground but when the Marseillaise was played the crowd stood and somehow surged forward and then we were on our feet for the remainder of the show. Singing (or really, humming because I only know a few verses) of the French national anthem in a crowd of thousands of French was very, very, moving and it was a Parisian moment that I will never forget. I will also always remember the music played during the show because the majority of it was American, including the song "Living in America" which baffled all of us! Kind of weird but I guess American music dominates the French charts, but still, I would have liked to hear all French music for the show (imagine La Vie en Rose at an American July 4th celebration?). After the fireworks ended (about 11:30 pm) we were very happy that we were at the back end of the park as we moved back towards our apartment in a sea of people which continued to stream past our apartment until 1am in the morning. The 14th of July in Paris was not quite what I expected; there was less overt celebration of the holiday (e.g. nobody here wears bleu, blanc, rouge clothes on the 14th) but it seemed that everyone in Paris was in a very festive mood and their good mood was infectious.

Two unforgettable days of celebration. Can we top this? (probably, because we’re in Paris).
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 09:02 AM
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Loving your report! What did your "Less-than-adventurous-eater" niece order at Le Florimond? I have a husband just like that. He also happens to be gluten-free. Not a good combo, I might say! Years ago at Le Florimond, he just handed me his menu and asked me to find something he would like. This became a pattern and has continued to this day. Luckily, he has some redeeming qualities!

Keep it coming!
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 10:43 AM
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Excellent report
Waiting for more
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 12:23 PM
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dlejhunt, really a fun report, am having Paris envy as I read. Glad you all had such a fantastic time.
I am one who likes modern art but the Pompidou had some stuff that had me making those same remarks.
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Old Jul 27th, 2013, 01:29 PM
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Thanks for a great read. I'm enjoying your trip enormously!
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Old Jul 28th, 2013, 04:51 PM
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Kansas, niece and sister-in-law ate the filet mignon special at Le Florimond. Niece scraped off sauce and all was well.

Here is more trip report:

Day 9/10: It Is Hot. Really.

After a cool weekend the heat was back on Monday (85+ during the day) so we decided to do some sightseeing-light. Métro over to Nôtre Dame; the line to get in was crazy so we ate lunch at a forgettable tourist trap café and then headed over to the "Lock Bridge" so niece could add a lock with her boyfriend's and her name to the thousands already there. When I first heard about this new tradition I found it charming but after it was depicted on two reality shows (Real Housewives and the Kardashians) it sort of lost its allure for me (BTW only saw this on promos and not actual show because of course I would never watch that stuff ). Niece cannot be denied; the bridge was found, the lock was put in place, and the key thrown in the Seine (sadly a day later we see a television report stating that the City of Paris will soon cut off all of the locks because their weight is destroying the bridge).

We headed over to Berthillon for what is quite rightly said to be best ice cream in Paris (it is damn good). While walking to the shop I overheard two teenage boy nerds (identified thus by daughter) talking excitedly about spawning chickens in a trench and then blowing them up with dynamite. I was quite frankly seriously disturbed and thought to myself, "Holy cats, these two kids are at best a major threat to chickens and at worse future serial killers" and as the boys passed out of earshot I asked my daughter "did you hear what those kids were talking about?" She answered, "Yeah Mom, video games…typical nerds."

Oh. Video games. Right. I was relieved and at the same time distressed at this reminder of the generation gap, which I am clearly now on the wrong side of.

We made it to Berthillon where we unfortunately found ourselves in line behind the two would-be chicken killers and a large number of their classmates who must have been in Paris on a summer study program. It took these kids forever to order and pay, but the wait passed quickly as we spent the time talking to a nice man from New Jersey. It is always fun running into fellow Americans in Paris because we give each other little episodes of linguistic relief; as we speak our native English we become once again competent speakers of a language and are no longer the bumbling butchers that we feel like as we attempt to negotiate the demands of Parisian French. Ice cream was fabulous BTW (roasted pineapple and basil flavor on a hot summer day? Perfection). Finally made it to Nôtre Dame. Meh for me; I've been there before and there were way too many people to see anything. I was also somewhat disappointed that a large part of the plaza in front of the church is taken up by a big wooden structure built for the celebration of the 850th anniversary of the church; I've always found that plaza charming but it is ruined by the structure (which I hope is very temporary).

The next day we braved the hot touristy hell that was the Champs Elysées so that I could get son the PSG soccer jersey that he requested. Due to the heat (and absence of cooling crossbreeze at night which impacted our sleep) we had abandoned plans to go up Arc de Triomphe or to visit the Père Lachaise cemetery. Ate dinner both of these nights after 10 because it was too hot to eat earlier; both dinners at cafés (clearly we’re not foodies as we are satisfied with simple bistro food). Continued to be thankful for the invention of rosé wine and that we could drink Parisian tap water (too hot to haul big bottles of water AND wine home from supermarché, though I was loving me some Badoit when we ate out). We were all looking forward to Wednesday (Day 11) when we would take the chunnel to London; was also hoping that Kate would have that baby on day we were in London so we could hear gun salute, maybe see Queen handing out cigars, etc.
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Old Aug 6th, 2013, 08:27 AM
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ay 10: Two Strikes and London Is Out

A few years ago, in the midst of a vacation in Paris, we (family of four) did a day trip to London. I wasn't really impressed with the city because what I saw that day was so different than the charming London depicted in photos and film. One of the reasons, I think, is that the city seems to be put together haphazardly, new and old construction next to each other, unlike Paris, which profited from Baron Haussmann's remodeling job during the 19th century. However, so many people just LOVE London, I thought it might be nice for sister-in-law and niece to see the city, and a great family friend is living there now so I decided to give London another chance and scheduled a day trip for us.

The Eurostar tickets said to arrive at the station 30 minutes before your trip and we did that, only to discover there were multiple hoops to jump through before the Brits would let us in (I did not remember this from our first Chunnel voyage; have things changed or am I getting forgetful? Probably the latter). A initial ticket check was followed by a passport check, and then we had to fill out a form with our name, passport number, and other information and we were interrogated by a very unfriendly woman who wanted to know why we were going to London and when we were going back to the U.S. (what does that have to do with anything?). So tempted to say that I was going to London to steal the crown jewels or to stalk the Royal Family (Kate, have that kid on the day we’re in the U.K., will you?) but instead gave answer that got us past the guard (sightseeing and lunch with family friend).

After this hoop we had to go through security scanners. Finally cleared to get on the train and arrive at the gate...as the boarding door was closing. European trains leave on time and this is why; latecomers are not seated. No problem because at desk nice French man arranged our tickets so that we were on next train (in 30 min) as we all smiled at crazy family arguing with each other; father was yelling at son, mother was yelling at father, and son was trying to speak to desk man while explaining to father that the train has most definitely left without them (all I could understand: father saying, “no, no, no”).

Moral of this story, be at Eurostar gate 1 hour before train leaves.

Made it to London, got through tube to Kensington Palace, our first stop. No sign of any royal, adult or newborn baby. Had tickets to attend a dress exhibition in palace; dresses were beautiful, in particular the Queen's. Diana's dresses were instantly recognizable and although I was most looking forward to seeing these, they were my least favorite because while her clothes are stunning it is clear that her beauty and personality were the most important parts of her "look." (Link here: http://www.hrp.org.uk/kensingtonPala...s/default.aspx)

Kensington Palace was a disappointment. It was HOT (hopefully the royals have A/C otherwise poor, very pregnant Kate would have been dying in there) and the grounds were not that attractive (apparently the thrifty Queen does not water her grass in the summer). We were also surprised at the small size of the dress exhibition. Zipped through the Queen's apartments (Victoria was tiny!) and then headed out to meet friend, her son, his wife, and their two sons for lunch. After hot walk in palace and in London were thankful that friend had chosen restaurant across the street. Great lunch: British food is not all bad! (Link to restaurant info here: http://www.kensington-chelsea.com/in...n-high-street/).

Afterwards we headed to Big Ben and thought of going into Westminster Abbey. But...18 pounds each to see inside a church? No thanks; we explored the neighborhood around the church a little bit (there’s a little hidden courtyard across the street from the front entrance to Westminster Abbey that made a nice, cool walk for us). We were all hot and tired and London was SO crowded that we gave up; we decided to tube back to St. Pancras where we bought British tabloids (I have a sad, sad addiction to the Daily Mail). I suffered further disappointment when I learned that the Boots formerly located in the station had been closed. Damn you, London, I gave you another chance and you screwed up. Your people are nice but your city annoys me so I don't think I'll be back anytime soon (though son will be studying here next summer so I may have to give it yet another chance. And I know that one day is not a fair shake by any means).

We have learned our lesson and we made our train with time to spare (BTW, getting back into to France was much easier than was getting into the U.K.). Finally were back in beautiful Paris, where it was 10 at night but still light. We were too tired to eat out so grabbed groceries and ate at home (the grocery store, Cité Carrefour at the École Militaire métro stop, was jam packed with Parisians buying party supplies, that is, wine). All were exhausted and the thought of getting up early the next day to go on what was predicted to be another hot day to tourist-packed Versailles was not appealing. But the tickets had been purchased and we would go (on yet another semi-disastrous train adventure).
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Old Aug 6th, 2013, 08:47 AM
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Well different strokes and all that..was just in London for nine days and as happens every time I go, have my love for it re-newed.

We went to Kensington Palace as well, and I also thought the dress collection was on the small side but otherwise loved what they've done to it. Apparently 18 months ago it had some re-furbishment and I particularly loved the William and Mary rooms, very clever.
We spent an hour lounging under a tree on the grass, I thought it was very attractive.

Must say I don't get the comments/jokes people make about bad British food, we ate very well, not a bad meal in the whole three weeks there and in Ireland.

And as for annoying border guards/passport checks etc....you should try crossing into the U.S. as a foreigner.
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Old Aug 6th, 2013, 09:15 AM
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I think British food has improved some from decades ago, but I still have never had a decent meal there -- in a British restaurant. Sure, I've had good food there, also, but it wasn't British, it was Indian or Italian, and the place mentioned about as good also was Italian, I note. And the food I had in Ireland was equally bad or worse, actually, but that was a couple decades ago. I've been in London off and on every few years, including recently, and have had pub food I could not stomach and could not eat after one bite, it was that bad. I remember starting out nonchalantly digging into it and nearly gagging on the first bite and it obviously showed, as some locals sitting near me started laughing, it seemed like they weren't surprised.
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Old Aug 6th, 2013, 10:02 AM
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Christina, you ought to eat out with me then. And I am picky about what I eat. Honestly on this last trip we had maybe two meals where the food was at worst average. None of it was Indian either and only once in each country did we eat in a pub.

Took my mother to England for three weeks in 2009 and she was surprised by how good the food was everywhere we went; after a while we were joking that we were just eating our way around England.
I wouldn't tell her this but the most average/not great food we had was at her cousin's house.

I also remember a million years ago on my first trip to England not being overly impressed with the food but I am now.
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Old Aug 6th, 2013, 02:39 PM
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raincitygirl, I agree, I just need to find my London "groove" and I haven't yet. It is difficult because I love Paris & France so much, and because France is so close to the U.K., every minute that I spend in London I wish that I was in France.
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Old Aug 6th, 2013, 03:18 PM
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Day 11: Let Them Go Someplace Else

Alarm rang at 6:30 a.m. and I began extended internal debate; get my exhausted self out of bed and go to Versailles or waste the many euros spent for tour and train tickets. I am disciplined adult and my husband would have killed me if I wasted that much cash and so I got up (barely); convincing daughter and niece that they must get up was much, much more difficult than convincing myself. We all eventually made it out the door and to the train station, where our train trauma continued as we took the wrong train to Versailles.

Rode backwards a couple stations, got off to catch correct train, and called tour company who promised to fix all (high marks for Viator, found at www.viator.com) . We finally made it to Versailles and were escorted to the palace to meet our tour guide; all we had missed was the garden tour (and on this hot day that was not a problem). As we walked to the palace I spoke French with the nice Viator employee and had one of those moments where I felt like I COULD speak French; however, I didn't get too excited as these moments are always followed by epic French language fails that put me firmly back in my American-classroom-French speaker place.

Versailles was different than I had expected; I imagined the chateau would be surrounded by countryside but it is actually in the middle of a city. It is huge, and I can only imagine what people thought of it when they saw it years ago when it stood alone in the French forest (actually I know what they thought; the king is a jerk and we must cut off his head). Versailles was jam-packed with people, and as we assembled in front of the gate for our tour I was very grateful that we were not waiting in the miles-long line to get into the house.

The tour was great, our guide was wonderful and the house indeed spectacular. However, what I found the most remarkable (and not in a good way) was the behavior of other tourists (of all nationalities, no stereotypes please) inside the house. I was shoved and pushed and big cameras were in my face and large camera lenses constantly blocked my view. Also was bothered by the constant photo-dodging that we had to do as the many photographers searched for a perfect shot/pose/smile while the hundreds of other tourists that surrounded them tried to continue their tour. After some time I got tired of this and I photo-bombed away (I will be appearing in many vacation photo albums across the world later this summer). Towards the end of the tour a couple argued loudly with each other as our guide tried to describe one of the rooms in Marie Antoinette’s apartment; I’ve forgotten which room we were in as the argument was so distracting. We finally finished the tour (sadly it was such a battle that it was a relief when it was over) and decided to lunch at Angelina's in the chateau (We were eating lunch IN the palace of Versailles! Living history so cool!). While the room, service and food at Angelina's were wonderful, we sadly witnessed more bad behavior as we ate.

It was a warm day and the poor waitress, wearing a long skirt and a heavy blouse, was literally running between tables. It was clear that she was busy and doing the best that she could, and yet many diners acted as if they were the only customers in the restaurant. One group left when the waitress did not get to them soon enough (that is, immediately). The table across from us complained about what they ordered and seemed more interested in giving the male server who brought the food a hard time vs. rectifying the situation (he offered many times to take food back but they just continued to complain). A woman at that table laid her head down and fell asleep during the meal (this is at what the tour guide described as the “nice” restaurant at the chateau). As she paid her bill, a woman lunching at the next table with daughter loudly complained to the host that she never got her bread or water; he replied with a spectacularly intoned "hmm" that skillfully struck a balance between "I am so sorry, madam" and "screw you.” Teach me your secret, French man, I want to learn how to make that noise because it could be useful in so many situations (like those we found at Versailles).

Faith in humanity was somewhat restored on the train ride back during which daughter and I conversed with nice couple from Louisiana. Once again, all were happy to be back in Paris; feet were killing us (despite all wearing old, comfy shoes today, fashion be damned) and thus decided to have dinner at café at end of block because we could not walk any further (Café Gaspard on rue Duquesne, not a bad choice). Ah, another dinner on la terrasse in the perfectly warm Parisian evening (with more rosé, of course). We'd made it through two days of tourist hell and looked forward to a more relaxing pace during the following (and last) days of our trip.
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Old Aug 6th, 2013, 05:25 PM
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dlejhunt, I get it, some places speak to us more than others and sometimes it is just the circumstances which make it a better or not-so, trip. I love Paris too and also Italy, so it is always a big fight in my mind as to which place wins my next trip...I want to go to all my favourites as much as possible!

Enjoyed this latest instalment, aren't people just great? ha ha. First time to Versailles was in October and not very crowded compared to your description, second time in July and it was madness so I let my DH and DS go through the palace and I opted for strolling through the gardens and the hamlet. Much better. But I ate lunch first in one of the restaurants and witnessed some similar ugly behaviour as you describe. You just have to wonder are those people like that all the time or does travelling just do some people in to the point of losing all sense of decency and manners.

I stayed recently at a very nice hotel in Cornwall and one night we were seated close to a couple with very plummy English accents. The waitress was asked by the man to recite the specials, not once did he or his wife look at her and mid way through, he interrupted her, barked out their order and then motioned with his hand (as if sweeping crumbs off the table) and said loudly "that's all, move along!"

We then tried to kill them both by death-ray stare. LOL.
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Old Aug 6th, 2013, 06:49 PM
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Loved reading your trip report! I found London overwhelming, and the streets difficult to navigate. I actually thought the people were unfriendly (although I hoped it was because of the crummy weather they were having!). Nonetheless, I fell in love with London and found it nothing short of magical at night. I felt the same about Paris. Also, I caught the Lichtenstein exhibit in Chicago last year - SO memorable. Lastly, I'm glad you bought the pants for your daughter.
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Old Aug 7th, 2013, 05:37 AM
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raincitygirl: I LOL'd as I read about your experience and your death-ray stare; my daughter is an expert at that and we should have used it, too.

Annaandlulu: The pants were a good buy! She wears them all of the time and they're a good memory of how we out-foxed an avaristic lady and her husband. Literally a shopping win!
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Old Aug 7th, 2013, 06:59 AM
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Oh, wonderful!! One of the best trip reports ever, thank you so much for sharing this lively, lovely adventure!! And that apartment - looks like you got it through Arch Digest rather than VRBO!

Hope others are picking up on one of your best travel tips: naps!! We don't actually have to go-go-go every moment of the day. A refreshed traveller is a much happier traveller.

(Death-ray stares: Airport in Jamaica. Hot. Flight delayed. Group of noisy teens near us are being really REALLY loud and obnoxious. I'm looking (ok, death-raying) in their direction. From behind me, my 25 y.o. son says: "Stop it Mom! I can tell what you're doing from the back of your head." (Voice of experience, that boy...) Sorry to digress - but thanks again for a great vicarious read!
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