She flies through the air with the greatest of ease!

I am in a city other than Los Angeles...again. Working and playing in Manhattan...again. Though I'm not alone this time! Yay!! Mom has accompanied me on this trip in order to get reacquainted with the city of her birth and, of course, spend a bit of quality time with her first born.

Before I get into a post about this trip however, I owe you all a post (or two) about Paris! Yes, I know. It's about time!

Getting to Paris was a lovely experience. (Remember, I was on yet another work/play extravaganza, which began with seven days in London, culminating with four days in the city of light.) My colleagues, the hubs and I boarded the Eurostar in London for a quick two and a half hour jaunt beneath the English Channel to our final European destination. This was my first rail experience in Europe and, well, I highly recommend it! It was quick, painless, good food and anyway, there is only so much plane travel I can handle in one month...

Upon arrival to the Paris Gare du Nord station, we hailed a cab and snaked our way about the paved labyrinth of streets to our hotel, which happened to be directly across from the Louvre. Nice locale for moi, a, um, err, Paris virgin, albeit expensive ($700 per night) and home to a rodent or two...Did I tell you that the location was good?

After checking in, we dropped our bags in our respective rooms and hit the ground running in search of food, drink and a bit of Paris nightlife. A couple of glasses of wine and Ratatouille would become a fond memory. Okay, it took four glasses of wine, but whatever. Our little group wandered from cafe to cafe, talking, laughing and enjoying the evening, before heading back to the hotel for the night.

The following day was all about sight-seeing. We began at the Louvre...




Venus de Milo


Winged Thrace


Gallery ceiling


David's Madame Recamier


David's The Oath of the Horatii


THE Mona Lisa



Working our way from that spectacular museum...







To the Eiffel Tower...




A view from the top of the tower

Definitely a good way to pass the day even if my hair did end up looking like this from the humidity...



A few more glasses of wine accompanied by some baguette and beurre would make me forget the hair.

Okay, not really. I mean, look at that do!

Just terrible!

However, I would endure. I had to! It was my birthday after all...

To be continued...