Hello…Bonjour! It is the end of December, 2024 and this photo and trip took place already six months ago now. I’ve been on hiatus for all things online for about six months. The calendar is full, just with a different focus. We decided to redirect our time and invest in our grandchildren. It was a good decision. Time is something one never gets a “re-do” and we can see how fast we (and they) are moving forward. Social media can become very addictive and take up much of one’s free time. I don’t see myself getting 10 years down the road and saying to myself “well, I am glad I spent so much time on FB”. Rather, I can already say that I have so many memories of the past 16 years, doing “life” with my grandchildren. No regrets…
But, today, I thought I would take some time to myself, now that the Christmas decorations are put away, etc. It feels cathartic and my house can breath again. With that, today is couch potato time, so drafting a few paragraphs feels therapeutic…in a good way.
So, here we go…
This photo above was taken on our last night in Paris. My sister, Kristin, and I had just taken a perfume course just down the street from the location of the Opera Garnier (above). This trip was
carefully planned to allow us the most opportunity to see and experience all that we had on our separate bucket lists. Planning like we did was an epiphany in terms of how I/we would plan for all our vacations going forward. As you may already know, Paris is divided up into arrodissimonts or “districts”. Before we left Detroit, we each made a list of our “must do’s” and then I separated them into groups according to the location of the store, event, historical site etc. Each day we started out in one or two districts and did everything from our list. This day, above, would take us into the 9th district and we can’t say enough how brilliant our plan was and worked out for us. This area is full of people, shops, places to eat…It was bustling for sure. We pre-booked our perfumery course and also our tour of Opera. We intentionally scheduled both venues on the day we planned to be in that area. Doing this on the front end was a little bit of work, but we never felt rushed or had to pass up an impromptu stop to shop at a store along the way because we were so well organized and planned ahead.
Above are some highlights and looking at these photos makes me want to schedule another trip. After all, we just got our wheels turning as we found so many perfume shops, both big names and small boutique places that we had never heard of. We like to call our perfume experience a “crawl” and would love to do another bigger crawl next time. France is known for timeless and well known fragrances and we believe it is well worth taking time to search and source as many perfumes as possible, if you are passionate like we are about fragrances. Perfume is so personal and Kristin and I learned that what smelled lovely on her was abominable on me. We differ in our skin ph levels. It made it that much more fun and we laughed a lot with our preferences too.
If you are thinking of visiting Paris, consider a day trip to Giverny to visit Monet’s home and gardens. This is so doable, if you plan ahead and know it is pretty much a full day, and you will need to know how to get to the train station from your hotel. Remember, it is most likely going to be very busy on the metro and you don’t want to miss a stop, etc. It was a bit of a challenge as we didn’t know that even getting to the right station, still meant we needed to be up on the top floor to board the train. Who knew? We also left early, like right after breakfast, since we knew we had to take the metro first and then get to the right station to catch the train. Once aboard, it takes you right to Giverny and, when you get off the train, you board a little “toy” train that takes you all the way (about 3 miles) and drops you off right at the home of Monet. It is well worth it if you have an extra day to make the trek. We returned to the city a little tired, but so happy to have been able to see the house and gardens. Getting back when we did left some daylight and we found another cafe to have dinner and talk about our fabulous and adventurous day. It was one of the most memorable things about this trip. We had the wind at our backs kind of feeling!
I may write a little more in detail later as there were so many wonderful thoughts and ideas that may be helpful should you be planning a visit to Paris. But, this is a short read for today. Until then…
As you find yourself turning the page next week as you step into 2025, may the Lord bless you and keep you and may His face shine upon you and yours! Happy New Year 2025, Jeanine
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