Sellers Round-the-World Trip

Yay! We’re in France! After our train from Munich -> Paris was cancelled due to strikes and the apartment we were supposed to stay at in Paris got cancelled a few days before we arrived (due to electrical problems) - and having a mommy -figure- out -new -plans-in-a-new-country frenzy, we made it.

Finally I can (usually/sometimes/a bit of the time) understand what is being said! I spent a year in Switzerland about 25 years ago so a bit rusty. Some people speak to me, say “vous Parlez bien!) and I can have a full conversation in French. Others switch immediately into perfect English; while a few lovely people have spoken…v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y in French to me. I’ll take the wins while I can and let the others go. I’m having fun with my girls and we’re in Paris!

The essence of Paris is so romantic and alluring! The cafes with people drinking their coffee or wine in open cafes. People just outside and enjoying…something we Americans miss a lot of the time. The enjoyment…the interaction…the living in the moment. Maybe it’s just me as an introvert…but here - I can come, sit and just be. So I’m excited the girls have gotten to experience this!

Here’s the issue - we’re are here JUST at
the beginning of the high season and it is CRAZY busy and packed with people (tourists and locals)!. It became very overwhelming very quickly. I don’t remember feeling like that when I was last here. It’s like the number of people have outgrown this enormous city. I was grateful we were here in May!

Given the sheer volume of people, I think my favorite memory of Paris will be us 3 girls laying down on a lawn near the Eiffel Tower. There was so much buzzing around us - so many people and sounds - but the three of us were all just laying down on our jackets for about an hour watching it all happen. Weather was perfect and not a cloud in the sky.

The other very unique thing we did was a photo shoot. I found this amazing photographer Meiry, who lives in Paris, around the time we left on the trip in ‘22. Brian captures amazing picture of all of us but I wanted something with the 4 of us! We rarely get those. Anyhow Meiry had availability for 1 day only in May - May 18th- which happens to coincide with the 1 year anniversary of Brian’s mom’s death and right when we’d be in Paris. So I took that a sign we should it and booked it. I didn’t know at the time Brian would have to head back so we still went ahead and did it - but were sad Brian missed it! It was beautiful walking around early in the AM through the streets of Montmartre. Meiry is just a beautiful person - inside and out.

Some other highlights of our time in Paris:
- Eiffel Tower at sunset
- the louvre
- staying in Montmartre (and getting crepes and ice cream scooped in the shape of a flower!)
- walking along la seine
- sitting at the cafes and watching the people go by.

So now we are in a small seaside down in Southern France called Cassis (just to the southeast of Marseille). I hadn’t planned on having us come here but since our place in Paris cancelled, I figured maybe we should spend less time in Paris and more time in a quieter place! We used our eurail pass, hopped on a couple of trains and then a bus and voila - we’re here.
It’s rainy, busy with mostly French tourists, but still just stunning…

I’ll write more soon!
We’ll be home in about a week!!

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