Take Your Momma Out

My mom took me to London and Paris a couple of weeks ago. It was such a fun and amazing trip, I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of Paris. London was spectacular as well. We hit all the high points, had private guides and excellent meals. Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, took the chunnel high speed train to Paris under the English Channel. We saw Versailles, The Louvre, Paris Opera House, Notre Dame, etc etc. It was a trip of a lifetime for sure, I am so thankful to have been able to go. I can't even begin to think of a way to thank my mom. She took me in true first class style and I was numb by the end of the trip with how top notch everything was. We had a good time together, too, which is something I was worried about. Not that we don't get along but it's scary to think about only having one person around you to talk to for two weeks and it being your mom. I'm stir crazy with anyone being 2 feet away from me for twelve days as it is. I get cranky. But it was so fun. I took pictures of EVERYTHING, but truth be told: the pictures never quite did any of the grandeaur justice, it was so weird. I would be standing at the foot of something jaw-dropping, take a picture of it, and look back at the photo like "wha..?!" Nothing made it look as ridiculously incredible as it was in person.

Either way, it was great. We were away over Mother's Day so I kept telling everyone it was a mother's day trip that I took my mom on. They don't have mother's day over there but they still thought my lie was very sweet. Obviously it was the other way around- she took me.

The British seemed to not like Americans much. Not all of them, but some. I thought it would be the French that spit on us as we walked down the street. On the contrary, they were very nice and the British were the obnoxious ones who spoke very loudly around us about how they loathe the ignorance of our people. I just asked them if they spoke German fluently and reminded them that if it weren't for my ignorant country bailing them out of WWII they would currently be hailing Hitler and speaking the Deutsch. Most of these confrontations happened in my head, of course, and I just killed them with kindness by smiling. But mostly I smiled to show them what properly cared for teeth should look like. Cheers!

No, but it was a remarkable trip and the people were nice. I have to claim Paris as my favorite of the two places. I told my mom when we got there "I get it, I finally get it." I understand now what the fuss is about and why people LOVE Paris so much, how could you not? They can be snots all the want, I would be too! (and really they didn't seem to be). They kinda live in a cool place. OOOh and the history. I won't bother to get into it all, it was just great though. Returning to the US was like landing back in Lego-land. Things seem so "new" and plastic. I was in several 800 year old buildings there- makes our history seem so brief.

I need to get my pics up onto Flickr or something. Until then, here's a small sample.

Mom and I at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant in London:



Cheers! Drinks on our last night in London:



Pretty self explanatory:


Boarding the flight back home. Bye bye Europe:


Take off- departing back to Chicago:


Eurostar- High speed train, 200+ mph.. outside of Paris


M.db