Une Seconde Chance Pour La France
- betsydelcour
- Jan 24
- 4 min read
Or more specifically, Paris. I went to Paris many...many years ago with my good friend Monnie. It was the second stop on our 6 week backpacking trip through Europe. We were 22, just out of college, no smart phones (Internet cafes were still a thing) and we'd actually used a travel agent to help booking our flights, Eurorail passes and a tour in Greece for the last week of our journey. The rest of it was seat-of-our-pants pay phone calls from train stations to youth hostels, beginning with our pathetic memorized phrases "parlez vous Anglais?" or the same version in Spanish, Italian, etc. Sometimes we'd get "lucky" and we'd get picked up by a hostel scout while still in the station; basically another 20-something who saw our obvious disorientation and thought we'd be easy targets to rent a room. Such was the case in Paris in 2001. I could write a whole article about this experience decades ago, but I'll just say it was NOT a great time. Paris was dirty (porn posters EVERYWHERE), unfriendly people, strikes that kept us from seeing the Louvre and cold, nasty weather in March (we were very underdressed). I didn't think I ever needed to go back.
Fast forward to present day. The girls had a 4 day weekend coming up. Casey had to work the whole time. Pressure was on for me to take them somewhere. I can't drive out of the country (I don't have my international license) and hadn't tackled trains yet (I mean, not in 20+ years). I briefly thought about flying somewhere on Ryan Air (cheap!) but that was going to be too much trouble on a few levels. After looking at lots of "easy" travel options ("NOT SOMEWHERE IN GERMANY!" - my girls) it was inevitable; it had to be Paris.
I couldn't NOT take my girls to Paris while we're here. I know Casey wasn't particularly interested in Paris, so this would be a good place to go without him. Everyone raves about how easy it is to take the train to Paris, especially if you drive an hour south to Kaiserslautern (another US base town) and take the ICE train which goes directly to Gare l'est (2.5 hours). So that's what we did! And I have to say...it was one of the best decisions I've made, and the girls' trip of a lifetime for me and my girls! I have LOTS of anxiety issues; this place (Europe in general) hits all of my triggers at once and it's actually pretty tortuous day-to-day for me. I had so many mental mountains to climb with this trip. I won't say I was exactly easy going. But I conquered (or at least faced) my fears and we had a great time! Here's a list of highlights/places we went/things we did:
Maison Mere - cute boutique hotel in the 9th arr. where we stayed
Many super cute Parisian cafes! Each had a totally different feel
Escargot every night, cappucinos (or hot chocolate for G) every morning
Mass at Sacre Coeur; we lucked out and enjoyed a special family mass that was celebrated by the Archbishop of Paris! SO BEAUTIFUL I cried during the entrance hymn. It was unreal!
Galeries Lafayette (thanks Francie!) - the most beautiful "mall" you've ever seen, absolutely packed with people because everything was on sale, like 50% off. We still couldn't remotely afford anything there lol, but girls got to see Chanel, Dior, Gucci - literally every high end designer you've ever heard of (or not heard of, in my case) was there. Box checked
Sephora in Paris - this made M very happy
Arc de Triomphe
Foodie Tour through Montmartre
The Louvre - booked a small group tour. Still got overwhelmed and saw maybe 5% of the collection, but was very grateful for our guide!
Notre Dame - newly renovated after the devastating fire, they did a beautiful job! It was stunning, and actually bright on the inside
Crepes! Savory ham and Gruyere crepes during our food tour, then Nutella crepes from a stand next to Notre Dame.
French onion soup - it was perfect in the cold weather
Got comfortable with the Metro! Public transportation is one of my anxiety triggers (as I NEVER take public transportation in my normal life). I'd say we nearly mastered it here!
And of course, to top it off: the Eiffel Tower at night, in all of its sparkling glory!
And those are the main hits! Most special was sharing this experience with, and seeing the excitement of my girls. I got to see how "take charge" M is, and how great she is with reading maps (I was happy to follow her lead). I got to see how easygoing and impossibly positive G is. And I got to see how fearless they both are. Having them hug me and thank me multiple times a day and saying "this is so COOL! We're having a girls' trip in PARIS!" definitely drove home that I'd made the right decision and all of my worries were well worth it. Thank you Paris, I'm so glad I gave you a second chance!
Comments