The Next Great Adventure

It never fails that as soon as I get home from a long trip - even before I unpack (which by the way often takes me many days!) - I am planning my next adventure.  I don't know why I have such a travel lust.  Well, yes I do.  I love history, art, architecture, culture and self-discovery.  My son, Andy, and I have had many discussions about our love of travel and what a wonderful education it is to see the world outside of our comfort zone.  So then some will ask me why I continue to go back to France.  I'm in love!  I don't know how else to describe it!  So, yes, my next adventure (Lord willin' and the crick don't rise - as my grandma used to say) will be back to France.  I'm looking at a particular tour which includes 4 days in London and 4 days in Paris.  My past trips to London have been way too short and I'm yearning to spend hours in the British Museum and Westminster Abby.  The older I get and the more I have traveled give me a love of museums that I did not have when I was younger.  I study the statues, the paintings, the tiny jeweled earrings, the combs made of bone, the armor, the everyday items of 3500 years ago.  I'm fascinated at how ancient people figured out how to adapt to their surroundings and also be so artistic.  When people hundreds of years from now find my box of "treasures" will they be fascinated?  Am I leaving anything that someone would ever want to "study"?  I think of these things when I'm overseas.  I look forward to London.  And I never tire of visiting Paris!  The huge churches, the tiny churches, the restaurants, the neighborhoods where people go about their daily lives in the most beautiful city in the world!  Do they realize that?  How lucky they are to be in the "city of light"?  I'm really anxious to go out to the palace of Versailles, Louis XIV's incredible palace which he built in the 1600s.  The French government has been doing a huge reconstruction project to bring the palace back to the splendor that Louis' original structure had.  When I was there 2 summers ago they had it about half finished.  I'm in the process of creating a guide book for visiting Paris and Nice - my 2 favorite cities in France.  It will be filled with photos as well as day-by-day itineraries for getting the most from your visit.   When it gets finished (hopefully before Christmas!) I'll post it here and on facebook.  Hopefully some of you will find it helpful in planning your next trip - your next great adventure!  But, you can have adventures from your favorite armchair.  There are wonderful shows on PBS, History, Discovery, etc that will take you away from your everyday life and send you on an adventure.  I encourage all of you to take advantage of those shows and take a "virtual trip".  Those are rewarding too - and no jet lag! :)  A bientôt!