Paris 2023!

Our one day in London began at 8am. We were able to drop our luggage at our hotel before we headed out on our Big Bus Tour  for the day. With only 24 hours at our disposal, we tried to find the easiest and most efficient way to see the city. With the hop-on, hop-off tour, we could go to the lanmarks we wanted to see and get to rest on the bus as we passed by less important sites. There were so many things we had seen on TV that felt magical to see in person. Our faborite was Big Ben, and you can tell by th epictures how excited we were to be there. We also saw the Westminster Abbey, and recalled the wedding we had seen there. It was really fun to be in these magnificent places knowing we had truly done everything we could to see London's finest.  In the evening, we headed to the West End theater disctrict to have dinner and see Phantom of the Opera. It's one of my most favorite musicals, and I won't be able to get the songs out of my head...

We left for the airport at 8am and I was dreading the long flights to London. It's so hard to anticipate something for long and then hurry up and wait for it to happen. Our first leg took us to Minneapolis, and I was shocked by how quickly that flight went. After a short layover, we boarded for London, and I wound up sleeping for almost the entire flight. When the plane landed, it was hard to even tell what day of the week it was. Time zones are weird.  We were so worried about travelling on the 26th because it was the last day of Thanksgiving weekend. In stead, it was overall a really uneventful day of travel which is the most perfect kind of travel there is. 

Dearest Reader, In 1994, my mom and I went on a trip to San Francisco to go Christmas shopping. I don't think either one of us realized at the time how life-changing that trip would be, and the commitment it would draw from within us both as I entered adulthood. I remember so much about that trip, from Chinatown to Sausolito, and Fisherman's Wharf to Pier 39. It was my first real trip after coming to the age where shopping started getting fun, and toy stores became less appealing (although FAO Schwartz back then was fire). I was 14 years old. I had just gotten my braces off, and I remember how weird it felt to smile for every picture we took. It feels like a lifetime ago, and I suppose it was. It was before high school and college and sobriety and marriage and babies. It was just me and my mom and it remains some of my most fond memories.  At the end of that trip, we decided that we would do some version of that trip every few years just for the sake of spending time together a...