To Paris We Go

I'm savoring it this morning, before the day is filled with errands, activities, and events. Tomorrow we are going to Paris!

Today I'll be busy with the last-minute details: packing, doing laundry, downloading travel apps and kindle books, triple-checking money and itineraries. But I'll kind of be gliding through the day, because, well, tomorrow we are going to Paris. For real.

I haven't been overseas in 30 years. Thirty years! That is hard for me to imagine because I can still hear the sound of our footsteps echoing in the Louvre, still see Notre Dame against a deep blue January sky. I was 16. I hope my own kids remember this trip so well.

I am grateful for a friend who is staying at our house and cat-sitting, my parents who are dog-sitting, and friends who have provided luggage, adapters, and advice. I am a little sad to be leaving our yard just as the azaleas and irises are in full bloom and the roses and peonies are about to burst forth, but, then again, I'll be in Paris.

Stay tuned for our adventures in France! In the next 10 days we'll hit a bunch of museums and cathedrals, Versailles, the Catacombs, the sewers, the Eiffel Tower, and as much as we can cram in without collapsing. We'll also take the train to Normandy and spend one day there, touring Omaha Beach and a few other D-Day sites.

And then we'll be back home, where we'll remember gargoyles and the Mona Lisa and city lights, ready for summer adventures in our own small world.