France recap - Paris

This is part one of several pieces of trying to write up our trip, its delayed but will be a good reference if anyone wants recommendations on what we saw or did (and for when I forget the many many details of our trip).

We had to drop the dogs off the day before to be boarded and honestly that worked well so we could spend time packing and not worry about stressing out Smokey or Sadie getting hold of stuff...my fear was she would chew on a passport.

We also took advantage of no pups at home and went out to dinner with friends.

On Sunday (departure day!), we saw the French team win the World Cup right before we left for the airport, so we knew we'd be going into a country celebrating that win.

We had some food and drinks at the airport , always good to have some extra time....the plane ride was as good as it can be, watched a movie, tried to sleep, wondered how my brother did the even longer trip to Japan....choosing seats so we were in a duo row (I had aisle, he had window) was a great idea...still not real comfortable....when K flew overseas before he was in first class..sorry babe...we are economy pricing...when we landed it was about midnight to us but Monday morning in Paris -- they are 7 hours ahead of Houston.

Our first adventure was getting turned around at the airport and leaving the baggage claim area without our bags...there was construction at the airport and we didn't realize we took a wrong turn until it was too late...we found an info desk and they have a phone to go to call to be let back in....I guess it happens pretty regularly.

That first day was rough due to little sleep and the time change...we took a taxi to the hotel (shuttle I'd arranged either never showed or gave up on us we were so late coming out) and settled in a little bit and then explored right near hotel....found a cafe and had a little food and caffeine....our goal was to stay awake to get on French time. That night we watched the soccer team come home and take the same route from the airport that we did...we had considered trying to get to the parade but with jet lag, crowds and not knowing our way around (hotel worker said metro was closing early for it) it was just not going to happen...We were content with watching from our room.

Our first morning in the hotel, we woke upto realize we'd overslept...its almost 10 am...and we had only 10 minutes for breakfast....and just over an hour before timed tickets for the Eiffel Tower.  We threw on clothes and made it to breakfast, and weren't the last to arrive. I was so happy we made it to the Tower (I stalked their website for months to get these tickets), we had planned to figure out metro but with the time crunch just walked it...  The views from the top were amazing (and yes we waited for the elevator)  I had no idea that science experiments were conducted on it, and Mr Eiffel had an apartment on the top!

That day we also saw Napoleon's tomb and a little of the Army Museum.    Walking back that evening we saw a street closed even to pedestrians and nosey me looked at permits on one of many cars loaded with stuff...they were filming a show called Killing Eve...I'd never heard of it but now  I have to check it out..

The next day we had an alarm set up and got up a bit earlier, we took time to figure out the Metro to get to the Arc de Triomphe, and then wandered the Champs-Élysées, including a stop at a cafe (there were many cafe stops). We got back on metro to get to the Louvre - I'm still amazed at how many pieces of art you can see there that are in books and posters, and the Mona Lisa is so small!

For our final day in Paris we went by train to Versailles (on Kevin's must see list).  The train was an adventure in itself -- we heard someone telling another passenger that we may need to swap trains, based on announcements being made in French.    This was probably our longest line of the trip, but well worth it.  The palace was so opulent and we saw the Hall of Mirrors, where many treaties have been signed.    The palace is also surrounded by huge gardens, and when we read that we could rent a golf cart we knew that was the best way for us to see it. I think K was glad to be in a driver's seat again.    We actually had another couple join us, they were behind us in line and since it seats 4 and was the same price full or not, it made sense to split it.  They were happy to get out of line (they had not even seen the inside of the palace the lines were so long -- we had waited at least an hour and a half to get in), and it was fun to have some English speaking folks with us for a little while.

We stayed at this hotel in Paris, it worked for what we needed, hotels there are just different than here -- the day we left the elevator was broken so we very carefully got our bags down 6 flights of circular stairs.  The front desk staff were very helpful (and spoke English), and the breakfast available in the basement each morning was a good way to start our days -- the girl working the breakfast was so French and had an eager 'Bonjour' for us each morning.

We enjoyed the cafes and also found this Indian restaurant near to our hotel, it was a nice change of pace and honestly so nice to have an enclosed and a/c'd restaurant after several days of open air cafes.

Dementia sucks

I don't think I've ever written about it - my parents have been really private about it for multiple reasons - my dad was diagnosed with dementia several years ago.   He had been doing okay - short term memory was definitely affected, and his hearing and sight have been going as he has other ailments, but he's still been able to interact and go on outings, and generally seem like himself.

In May he moved to a memory care unit (same location as my mom) and since then he has declined really rapidly - physically and mentally.   Each visit is hard as we never fully know what to expect, and while I catch glimpses of his old self its hard to see him changing so quickly.

He has also been a fixer and a doer so its also hard to think of what he must be thinking, and feeling as his body fails him.

We are now working with hospice services, which is still a scary word every time I hear it, and we are navigating just day by day...and making many mistakes along the way.

I am thankful my siblings and I are close and we have each other as we go through this.

I'm struggling with how to balance taking care of myself and trying to see him and my mom as much as possible, and help out with the various decisions that need to be made - as if we didn't have enough going on, my mom is also dealing with identity theft...

I just recently started to tell my friends what has been going on...it should help me to be able to talk about it.