Monday, May 2, 2011

Parlez-vous anglais?


*Image from wierdworm.com

It is official. Chase and I have decided to go to France this summer. We have been toying with this decision for many months now, and had even decided without a doubt we were not going. But…then we had doubts! I have some friends going that I really wanted to see and flight prices decreased slightly, so we bit the bullet this weekend and bought plane tickets. That’s all we have done so far though. It seems there are a million things to do over the next few weeks as we prepare for the trip so my life (and purse, and phone, and kitchen table…) will be full of lists!

1. Update passport with my married name
2. Buy outlet converters
3. Determine our trip plan, i.e. what cities we want to visit
4. Book hotels
5. Shoe shopping-obviously I need some cute, yet very comfortable shoes for walking the streets of Paris.
6. Learn French. We don’t anticipate becoming fluent by summer, but we do feel like we should know a few basic phrases and words. I’m sure my favorite phrase will be “Crêpe au fromage s'il vous plait”.
7. Plan outfits for each day of the trip and how to best pack everything!
8. Eat French food (We think we should prepare our pallets a little before going with experiencing some French cuisine from the local hot spots.)
9. Save money (How will I shoe shop and eat French food if I’m trying to save money? Hmm…)

I'm sure this list will grow immensly as the weeks go on, but I'm trying to remember how fun it will be rather than stressing about all the details. I bought the Frommer's Guide to France last night and can't wait to dig into it more this week! I spent a semester studying abroad in Germany and made a trip to Paris while over there; however, Chase has never been to Europe at all, so I'm really excited to experience this with him.

Have you been to France? Do you have any favorite places or recommendations?

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