What I Learned on my Summer Vacation

I know that I have not posted to my blog in a while and it’s not because I’ve had nothing to write about. Believe me, there’s been plenty to write about. But as I have careened from one life event to another, somehow sleep or a walk or a glass of wine always won out.

Right now, however, the house is quiet. My kids are asleep, my husband is reading the newspaper with a bottomless cup of coffee and the dog is “resting” in a cool spot on the hardwood floor. We just returned from a glorious week of vacation in London and Paris and I cannot muster the strength to tackle the laundry or go to the grocery store.

I am however, happy and content sitting in my chair with my feet propped up on a suitcase reviewing the incredible memories of the past week. I will not bore you with all the details. Suffice it to say that the trip was divine and everyone loved it. But I will share with you some very important and poignant things I learned about myself this past week during my summer vacation. I learned that:

• Most people probably would not have noticed if my sneakers were old and ratty and that I should never buy new walking shoes before vacationing far from my trusty old ones. The new ones were, however, very white and I’m sure that I represented well all middle aged women from the US.
• If you can pretend that pounds and euros are the same as dollars, you can postpone your money anxieties until you get home and check your bank statement.
• I love English pubs and that I can actually drink a lot more than a single Bud Light.
• Bringing a son with a broken ankle (and large walking boot) can be advantageous when faced with large queues to sought-after landmarks. People are so nice.
• The crown jewels are really spectacular and I rarely ever wear jewelry.
• If English countryside is half as great as London, I can’t wait to go back.
• A diet of wine and brie will actually result in a weight loss if you get as lost as we did walking around London and Paris.
• After a few days of listening to French, a language that I can say hello and thank you in, Parisians begin to sound to me like Charlie Brown’s teacher (wah wah wah, wah wah, wah wah). And in response, I, inexplicably, would talk loudly back to them in phrases of simple English in a ridiculous French accent, as if that would help the communication process.
• I will never see the view from the tippy top of the Eiffel Tower because it took every ounce of courage I had just to get to the second platform. And besides, the view from there was pretty spectacular.
• Just walking down the steps from the second platform of the Eiffel Tower should not be underestimated; my calf muscles felt rubbery for the remainder of the day and for the remainder of the trip, they just plain hurt.
• The most amazing part of the Louvre was underground standing in the moat outside the palace walls. Down there, you could see the moat and the towers and for me, the Palais du Louvre came to life.
• According to great works of art both in London and Paris, I would have been considered a beauty in the fine cities of Europe. I definitely have the build and the complexion. 
• Diet Coke tastes fine in England but weird in Paris. 
• People from Arkansas, Kentucky and Los Angeles make lovely travelling companions and wonderful dinner mates.
• Great family dinners and laughter with my children and husband are the best parts of travelling to foreign cities.
• Despite what my children believed, no actual harm came to any one of us by going without our cell phones, the Internet or television for a full week.
• And I want to go back and see more of the world but right now, I just need a vacation from my vacation.

Hope your summer is going well too and I hope you get to create wonderful memories where ever you are.


Carole