The Inevitable

With all the travelling I do, I suppose I should have seen this coming. I left Pisa Friday morning. Connected in Rome, then again in Lisbon and finally on to Terceira. My bag never made it out of Rome.

This is the first time I’ve had a bag delayed (I’m avoiding the word ‘lost’ so as not to jinx myself) and so far, I’m surviving. If all goes as planned, my things should arrive Sunday morning. In the meantime, the airline gave me an overnight kit with essential supplies like toothbrush/paste, deodorant, sleep shirt, shampoo, etc. Since I have to go a whole day without my things, they also told me to buy what I need to get by, not to exceed $100. So, this morning I went on a BX shopping spree! I scored new jeans, hair products, underwear and socks out of this ordeal. It’s nice to see the silver lining...

Oddly, I feel slightly more seasoned. Like, I can call myself a real frequent flier now that I've had a bag delayed.

Ah, Pari!

Alison was introduced to the joys of Ryanair from the onset of our journey to Paris. The first test was rearranging everything we packed so that our bags would fit in the metal container before being allowed to pass through security. I threw on a few additional layers of clothing and crammed things in my coat pocket. And, wah lah! Just like that, the bag fit. As soon as I was out of eye-sight of the security guard in charge of checking bags, I put everything back in. Sadly, I lost several hair products to the X-Ray machine. (Silly no liquids rule.) We landed in Paris a little late, a calling card of Ryanair flights despite their claim of being the ‘on time’ airline and hopped on the bus that would take us in to the city.

Lexie, Alison’s cousin, was waiting for us when we arrived and she kindly hailed a taxi to whisk her travel weary guests to her apartment. While Alison and Lexie caught up I promptly passed out. I can sleep anywhere, anytime. Friday morning, we woke up (in Paris!) and enjoyed a lesiurely morning over coffee and the most amazing croissants. Well rested, showered and fed, the trio set off for sight seeing. Our first stop was Luxembourg Gardens. I’d been there a few years earlier in the summer time. While the gardens are prettier in bloom, it was still a beautiful spot and a great way to start the day.

From Luxembourg Gardens, we set out for Notre Dame. Rather than hopping on the metro, we ambled through the streets of Paris. Lexie expertly navigating us to the Cathedral, Alison and I gawking at all the Parisian people walking Parisian dogs down Parisian sidewalks lined with Parisian shops… Notre Dame was less crowded than I remembered from my first visit. We stumbled across what I think was a full scale mass – first, a long line of Priests and other official-looking guys processed by us, leaving behind a trail of incense. Then, we watched a young boy sing and several priests speak for a few minutes. The interior of the church is impressive and beautiful. It was a sunny day – all the stained glass was alight and sunbeams filtered through the tall arches making the Cathedral glow.

After marveling at Notre Dame and a few more renditions of that song from Les Miserables (thanks, Alison) we were ready for a French lunch. Lexie led the way to a creperie where we feasted on buckwheat crepes stuffed with cheese, mushrooms, chicken and sweet crepes for dessert stuffed with honey, cinnamon, chocolate, sugar. Is your mouth watering yet? Needless to say, we all left pleasantly stuffed, headed for the Arc de Triumph. It was a long climb to the top, but the views of Paris, branching off at precise angles from the Arc were totally worth the stairs!



Friday night, our hosts picked out L’Ebauchoi for dinner, a great local restaurant. One of my favorite things about travelling is discovering ‘off the beaten’ path places and this restaurant certainly fit that bill! Seemingly a local haunt, everything about the restaurant oozed French charm. The theme of eating our way through France continued Saturday morning. After another leisurely morning, we made our way to Angelina’s for brunch. Feeling the need to give it a try (it was a when in France moment), I ordered the French onion soup. I don’t even like French onion soup but this was quite possibly the most amazing soup I’ve ever put in my mouth. Seriously. Amazing. The best-soup-ever was followed by the most decadent, rich, thick, creamy hot chocolate in the world. While I enjoyed it in the moment, I immediately felt sick with a sugar rush and chocolate overload when I put the cup back down on the saucer. Maybe it was the French onion soup/hot chocolate combo. I suppose in hindsight that wasn’t the greatest combination…

Facing a rainy day, we decided to tackle the Louvre Saturday afternoon. I’d already spent 2 full days in the museum on my last visit, so I didn’t feel like I HAD to see anything in particular. As it turns out, my favorite part of the museum (the indoor sculpture garden) was closed for renovations anyway. Alison and Lexie set our course. We saw the Mona Lisa, several Michelangelo sculptures, Venus de Milo, royal jewels, the infamous pyramid and paintings of Baby Jesus. There are always paintings of Baby Jesus.

From the Louvre, we hustled over to the Eiffel Tower for our sunset reservation. Fortunately, it stopped raining long enough for us to enjoy the experience without getting soaked. Unfortunately, it was still cloudy and overcast so we didn’t have any really spectacular views nor the beautiful sunset we were hoping for. But, I was on top of the Eiffel Tower with good friends. Things could certainly have been worse.



Exhausted from our days of sightseeing, we decided to eat in that night. Somehow, I managed to convince Lexie and Alison to call in for sushi. There’s no (edible) sushi to be found in Italy, so it was quite the treat to find myself face to face with this spread:

On Sunday, our last day in Paris, we woke up early for a real American breakfast at the restaurant named – appropriately enough – Breakfast in America. Bottomless cups of Joe, French toast (not actually French), eggs, bacon, toast… It was like a little piece of home away from home. I wish there were places like this in Italy. Actually, there is a place called the Dinner in Florence, but that’s a bit of a trek from Ponsacco.

Stuffed with great food for the millionth time that weekend (are you picking up on the trend yet?) we spent the time left before our flight on a self-guided (read: Taryn guided with the help of Rick Steve’s) tour of Père Lachaise. The famous cemetery houses the likes of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Edith Piaf and thousands of other noted artists, scientists, writers, musicians, philosophers, etc.

Before leaving Paris, another exciting Ryanair experience awaited us. Upon arrival at Paris-Beauvais we found a line for security that wrapped around the building twice. This with just an hour before our flight was scheduled to depart. As Alison panicked, I took the opportunity to put on layers of clothing and stuff things in my pockets again, determined not to get flagged for an oversized check-on. This time, my bag fit in the required dimensions the first time! As always, the minute I was through security I put everything back in my bag. It’s as if Ryanair just likes to make their passengers angry, frustrated and completely miserable before boarding the flight. The good news is, we made our flight with time to spare. Another delayed Ryanair flight put us in Pisa around midnight. We made it back to my house in time to catch a little bit of the Superbowl. When I went to bed, the Colts were up. It was quite the surprise to find out the Saints won it all in the second half.

Sadly, our trip to Paris marked the end of Alison’s visit. We had one more day together to explore Volterra (and hold a full-fledged photo shoot) and see the notorious Leaning Tower before I had to begrudgingly put her on a plane back to New York and the looming blizzard.