We tend to plan travel a year in advance, and by this time in 2024 we already had the Africa trip planned, which we did in the summer, and the Amazon trip which is coming in December.

But sometime in November Ash decided he wanted to return to Paris and spend a month again, which he had done in 2022 and 2023. And somehow that conversation turned into me joining him for his last week, and bringing our friends Sherry and Mark with me, who have never been.

So here we go! They came over to my house Thursday night and spent it there so we could all catch a Lyft to the airport at 4:45am on Friday.

We had a 7:15 flight to Dallas and about a 5 hour layover there. We couldn’t have had better luck in gate locations: our landing gate, departure gate, American’s Flagship Admiral’s Club, and a massage place were all between D21 and D24.

We stopped in the lounge for what would be lunch for us, then walked through D, A, and B terminals to get some steps in. Stopped at Be Relax on our way back. Mark and I got 15 minute chair massage which comes with our Priority Pass membership. Then back to the lounge.

We found this section in the very back of it and couldn’t believe this section was empty. We relaxed here for almost 2 hours before we had to board our flight to Paris.

Our flight was delayed just as we were getting to take off. We sat on the tarmac for 90 minutes and finally left about 7pm. The flight was thankfully uneventful and we landed in Paris about 11:30am Paris time on Saturday.

Ash met us at the airport along with Vasco, Jon, and Lindsay. Vasco is now at university in Amsterdam and joined us for the weekend. Jon you’ve met from Puerto Vallarta and he got here a week ago. Lindsay got here from San Francisco on October 8. Ash rented a 9 passenger van and we were on our way to our first stop, Giverny.

If you’ve been following me for a while, this might sound familiar since this was my 3rd time there. Giverny was the home of Claude Monet for the last 20 years of his life, and where his famous lily pond gardens are. I was first there by myself in 2018, retuning with Ash in 2021. He has been back since with others. It is less than 90 minutes from Paris and we planned it first because it logistically made sense to approach it from the airport instead of from the city.

We had 2:30pm timed entry tickets and got there just in time.

The last two times I was here were both in August. The fall colors are already out and it felt like a completely different experience. The photo above is a greet example of that.

Ash snapped this selfie of us with the lily pond in the background.

As you can see, it’s a gorgeous place. And always surreal to be here.

A few photos from inside his house. I always appreciate the view from his bedroom.

We made our way back to Paris and got to our apartment about 5:45. Ash rented a 3 bedroom and has been here for a month already with lots of other friends coming and going during that time.

I just took this photo since I realized I’d forgotten to take any of the apartment. The first floor is a lovely open plan for the living, dining and kitchen. The bedrooms and all beneath us.

We got settled in then left for dinner around 7. We are just around the corner from the Bastille.

Dinner was at Bianca, an Italian place about 2 miles away. It was nice to walk a bit after 10 hours on a plane and another 3 in the van.

We met our friend, Shaye, who I know from Sacramento but who lives in Madrid much of the time. She decided it would be fun to join us for the weekend and we are thrilled to spend some time with her. She will join us for today as well. The food was good and we had a lovely time together. It was a great start to the trip. (Mark stayed back to get some rest.)

After, Ash, Sherry, Vasco and I took an Uber to Notre Dame just to include something classically Parisian on their first day.

Today we have a walking tour planned – just based on our previous travels. The weekly metro passes run Monday-Sunday so we will wait and get one for us new arrivals tomorrow. So walking for the day gives the new visitors a fun way to adjust to the time change and get a sense of the layout of the city. Come back tomorrow to see here all we went!