Just a Taste - PARIS

I am finally getting back to our Spring 2011 England/Paris trip!  In order to get back into my writing 'groove', I've posted a report at eGullet.org about the food portion of the Paris trip.  You can see it here: Paris Food Report.  Here at my blog, I'll go back and finish the England part before I go on to Paris.

Actually…a quick Bonjour

See these happy people? They are happy because they are in England – or Paris. They are pretending that their real world and lives don’t exist. They have spent two weeks murmuring to one another:

“We are actually sitting in a pub, drinking pints of ale and cider. Talking to ENGLISH PEOPLE!!!!”


“We are actually sitting in our little Cotswold cottage having a dinner of ENGLISH bacon, ENGLISH Stilton and ENGLISH strawberries!”


“We are actually climbing around an 11th century castle ruin!!”


“We are actually sitting at a sidewalk café in PARIS drinking coffee and chocolat and watching PARISIANS walk by all wearing scarves just like ME (meanwhile praying that those scarves are not this decade’s berets)!!!”


“We are actually picnicking in the Jardin du Luxembourg!!!”



These two people came home last Saturday and discovered that, after all, the real world DOES exist – work and laundry and parental health worries and feeding the grandkitty 3 times a day because The Child has decided to torture us by going off to New York City ALL BY HERSELF. No one needs to see the current picture of these two people.

We are actually a little grumpy just now. We’ll adjust, though, and as soon as life permits we’ll blog all about our amazing adventure. Suffice to say that we loved every single minute and would return tomorrow if we could. Can you really say anything better about a journey?

Whining About My Blessings

Normal life is going on here. I’m working at my job, making dinner, shopping for food and soap. I’m sleeping a bit and filling the bird feeders. Normal stuff. But THIS is what is filling my head:

London


Oxford


The Cotswolds


Avebury


Stonehenge


Lyme Regis


Beer


The New Forest


Winchester

And:

Paris

We leave in just over a month for our two week trip to England and Paris. For weeks I’ve felt chained to my computer – researching routes, advice, restaurants, etc. etc. ETC.!!! Its half fun and half brain exploding stress. I can’t wait to get there and see and experience everything. But I worry what we’ll miss in our ignorance. What if we stop at a tea room and just a block over is the BEST cream tea in Devon??? What if, in our two day Cotswold wanderings we miss the MOST charming and perfect village? I am not at all a package tour kind of person, but I completely understand the temptation. I can imagine how easy it would be to just let someone else arrange everything – where to go, what to eat, what to see. Being in charge of what Mr. Kim and I see and eat on what is quite probably our only EVER trip to Europe is a BIG responsibility! Yes, I’m a ninny, I know. And I’m NOT whining (or whinging, as they say in England) – I know just how fortunate I am do be able to do this and I am thankful beyond measure for the opportunity. It is truly the dream of my life to go to England and when I look at youtube videos of the little villages of the Cotswolds that we will be visiting I get a little emotional. So I do appreciate the treats that are coming for me, even as I grumble about the work involved.

Nothing to do with England or the trip, but look at the loveliness sitting at my elbow as I work on our trip:

I put these on the table last Friday when my MIL, Jo came for dinner. These ranunculus seem to get lovelier every day.

Posting this is an attempt to mitigate my piss poor efforts lately and to excuse in advance my likely absenteeism until after Memorial Day!