Sunday, August 27, 2017

Meeting in Paris, France--post 1 of 9

Stitched during Paris trip 2014. 
Stitched during Paris trip 2014
Stitched during London/Scotland/Paris
trip 2016
Stitched during France trip 2017
Husband B reading the daily newspaper
Our daughter, N, lives and works in London, England. I had planned to visit her sometime in 2017.  I was disappointed when I wasn't able to pin her down on a date last May when I celebrated my 60th birthday. I didn't know that she and our daughter, A, had planned a wonderful surprise party for me which you can read about here. When N was in town, she asked if we could come in August because her boyfriend, J, was having a birthday celebration. There were lots of communication exchanges and some schedule changes; but, we finally picked our dates--Leave August 2 and return August 11 and we would meet N in Paris! N even talked her dad, who does not enjoy traveling, to come.

Ahh. . .a little coffee to begin the day!
The trip was amazing in terms of sights seen, people met and food eaten. I will be sharing our trip here. You won't be reading much about quilting projects for awhile!

When I travel, I like to take a stitchery project with me and a couple books. (I still like reading the "real" thing!) I started the embroidery project when I visited Nicole in Paris when she worked there in 2014.

I stitch while I wait at the airport. Sometimes, there is enough light and space to stitch on the plane. Sometimes, I stitch during the trip when I'm resting my feet at the end of the day.

B, N and me in front of the Fountain of
the Observatory
This project has been to Paris 2014, Paris/Scotland/London 2016 and France 2017. I seem to complete a block and get a start on another during the trip. There are nine embroidered squares and this is as much as I've completed. Hmmm. . . I guess to make more progress, I'd better schedule more travel! :)

Daughter A dropped us at the Portland airport. (Thanks A for doing that for us!) We enjoyed the amenities of the United Club lounge while we waited for our flight to board. We flew to San Francisco and then to Paris. It is a long flight and for the first time, I slept about three hours on the longer leg of the journey! We had stayed up late the previous night just so that we might be able to sleep on the plane.

A sample of the red flowers in the garden
We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. I've been practicing French with a Duolingo app on my phone; but, I'm far from fluent. The taxi was the best insurance for husband, B, that we would arrive at our destination. It was only about an hour before daughter N joined us and off we went to my favorite garden in the city.

Luxembourg garden happens to be N's favorite garden too. The fountain has an interesting spray pattern.

It doesn't matter what time of year you see the garden, it is always beautiful. This year, there happened to be a lot of red flowering plants. Of course, you know how I feel about red!

N and B in front of the circular basin

A fun part of the garden is the circular basin where kids rent a model sailboat to sail there. The rental fee is $5 euros for 35 minutes. It was fun watching the kids play and seeing the boats sail!

Also, my favorite bakery, Dalloyau, is across the street from the garden. It was late in the day when we passed.  The staff had put away the chairs outside of the cafe and they were out of pistachio macaroons so we walked on to our dinner destination.

Charcuterie for dinner (photo from 2016)
We ended our day having dinner at the same restaurant we visited the last time we were in Paris (Aidans) because B wanted to go there. I think he was remembering how wonderful the cheese was!

I walked 8.7 miles and got a little blister. . .arnica to the rescue!

12 comments:

Nicole Knott said...

Wow -now we'll need to get busy planning some trips. Especially if I have to wait for my quilt before this project is finished!!! Always an adventure...where to next?!? Love you N

Luann Fischer said...

I'm so happy for you. Getting to visit with your daughter and enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of such a lovely city makes for a beautiful vacation.
And, I think having a specific project for when you travel is a nugget of wisdom! Sure takes all the rethinking what to pack out of the event.

Nancy said...

What a fun trip! I can't wait for the next installment!!

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

Nicole, you just never know what will be under the needle next! I like having a simple project to have on hand for traveling. Right now, I don't feel the need to work on it outside of a trip as I've got work to do on that pesky chicken! Hawaii is sounding good. . .Love you right back!

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

Luann, it was a beautiful vacation! After packing a bunch of supplies for an appliqué project for a trip, I decided I could find a more simplified project to play with--so that is how I started with the embroidery. Also, there isn't too much "thinking" involved as I stitch! :)

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

Nancy, thank you for your kind words!

JoJo said...

Oh how I wish I could sneak a piece of cheese from that platter! LOL

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

JoJo, I wish that you could have been there too! It was as good as it looked!

Monica said...

You know, when I saw the caption for Husband B, I wondered if Husband A was on the other side of the aisle!

;-) In any case, I'm looking forward to reading all about your trip!

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

Haha. . .good one, Monica! I've used initials so he can be a bit "mysterious!"

BJ said...

What a delightful trip. So happy you are taking us on the journey in this nine-part blog.

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

BJ, I'm happy that you want to read about the trip. Gosh it was over the top fun!