Hello All! Summer vacation is here and we are having a ball already. The girls are taking swimming lessons and enjoying it immensely. Hugh and I just got back from Paris last week. We had a great time and saw some great stuff. We got soaked in the rain walking around Paris the night Jennifer( another NSA wife) and I arrived. Who cares? It's PARIS! My white canvas flats I had on are no longer white(sigh)and I dropped chocolate ice cream on my shirt, but I was in PARIS. SO, because my flats were wet I had to wear sandals to the Louvre the next day.
Now, Keep in mind that the Louvre is HUGE! We saw some awesome stuff, including Winged Victory, the Venus De Milo, and the Mona Lisa. By the time we got through the museum and outdoors to the Louvre Gardens, my feet were less than happy. We walked through the gardens, ate some ice cream, no, I didn't spill any this time, and sat for a little while. We got up and walked some more, but by this time I couldn't stand my shoes any longer, so I took them off right there in the middle of the Louvre Gardens and walked barefoot through the rest of the gardens and about a quarter mile down the Champs Eleyses? before I found a little souvenir stand that sold flip flops. So now I have a pair of flip flops from Paris. Also along the Champs was the Arc De Triomphe. Went up to the top of that. COOL! The next day we went to Notre Dame cathedral. Very impressive. Then Hugh and I split off from the other NSA couple and did our own thing, which was to tackle the Eiffel Tower. We got up to the second level observation deck and that was as far as I wanted to go since I nearly took Hugh's arm off during the ride up on the elevator, I don't do heights well. The lines to get to the ticket booths were ridiculous, but hey, it's PARIS. Great view once we got up there, though. We had a great time, it was beautiful, but by the night before we left to come home, I was getting sick. Wound up with a monstrous sinus infection. A word of advice, if you have a sinus issue or a head cold, DON'T FLY!!! No, really, DON'T FLY!!!! All was well until we were on our final flight from Amsterdam to Memphis. By then I was miserable. As we were flying in over the US, we were also decreasing our altitude. I knew this because I was nearly climbing the walls in agony as the pressure changed. My ears were stopped up and wouldn't clear(they still aren't clear). I don't think I have ever been so glad to see Memphis in all my life! We got home, the sinus infection is on it's way out, (don't come back either)and now I have a great story to repeat whenever the subject of travel arises. That's all folks( probably too much)! God Bless- Julie