in which I go to paris... with my mother!

From my Flickr page

My mother said, "I want to go to Paris. I want to see Paris one more time while I'm still healthy enough and mobile enough to enjoy it. But..." - here comes the good part - "I have no one to go with." My mom's best friend passed away some years ago, and none of her other travel buddies are available anymore. I almost blurted out, "I'll go with you!" but I thought, better run this by Allan first.

Allan and I have each taken small trips without the other, but never for a full vacation, and never to a place we both love so much. Not that Allan would ask me not to go, but just how bad would it make him feel? Fortunately, when we went to Spain last year, we made brief stops in both London and Paris, so the answer was, not as bad as it might have!

I called my mom - "Remember you said you had no one to go to Paris with...?" - and she was over the moon. We talked a lot about what kind of trip it would be - what we wanted to see, where we'd stay, and so forth - and I planned the whole thing for us.

On Monday, May 5, I go to New York to visit with friends and family, then on Wednesday night, my mom and I fly to Paris together.

Last May was my first European trip since 1998... and now I'm going again the following year. And as an extra-bonus-very-special-highlight, my great friend R will join us for a day, taking the train from London. When R and I saw each other last year, it was the first time in 14 years.

If you dislike when this blog turns into a travel journal, consider this your warning. Although my mother and I have each been to Paris several times, neither of us has seen many of the most famous sites for a very long time. We're planning to re-visit many places, and will also visit Giverny, and Rouen.

You know, when NN and I went to Europe after graduating university in 1982, I truly believed that would be my only trip there. I had such a great hunger to travel, and I couldn't conceive of a life where I could make those choices. Now, I can't say I've realized my travel dreams - that really would be impossible - but it's comforting to think about where I've been and where I might still go.