Welcome back for more on our upcoming
Mother Daughter Trip.
My daughter and I went to Paris about four years ago and rented an apartment. I had been there for the Maison & Objet Show and the young lady flew over to meet me.
The apartment we rented was in the Marais and very convenient.
Daughter in the courtyard of the wonderfully typical Parisian building.
Dinner for two at our window.
This apartment is called “Le Provencal” and is rented through Parler Paris Apartments and Adrian Leeds. Adrian has many apartments throughout Paris (and now in Nice!) and I recommend her highly. She and her agency are a pleasure to deal with, very attentive to detail, and the apartments are immaculate. No request is too small for her team.
Daughter and I settle into an apartment or hotel room easily. We know each other’s boundaries, we respect the other’s need for privacy, we can tell the other one to hush during the night if one is, ahem, making noise.
On to some shopping and about town.
We “do” shopping very well together! It’s so helpful to have someone to fetch another size or color or just to ask an opinion. We’re very generous with each other’s taste….says she of the older generation! We have just about the same shopping stamina. Same goes for museum and touristing.
Top left is the Carnavalet Museum. BHV. Looking toward Ile St. Louis.
As you saw a few days ago, here we are again, a few years later, and back in Paris.
This time we rented in Montmartre. This trip did include my husband, but daughter and I usually leave for most of the day to explore, while he goes out to photograph. We even had a visitor for a few days, Delana Nelsen: remember her from the last post? While it was a good experience and the apartment spacious and light and with a balcony, we found Montmartre too far from most things. We spent so much time on the Metro which, while I adore the experiences and sights and sounds, is not how I want to pass the time in Paris. And frankly, I also found the immediate area around the Sacré Coeur (we were just a block below it) so very touristy and the street hawkers were a constant annoyance.
On to our upcoming adventure in England.
While we will fly over separately, we will meet the following morning at Heathrow as our flights arrive within a few minutes of each other. Thank goodness for texting!
The very general itinerary is:
- staying in a hotel in Kensington
- a day trip to Bath and, among other things, the Kaffe Fassett show at the American Museum
- an overnight to Sissinghurst
- and all the usual touristy eatings, museum visits, picture taking etc etc.
On Day #6 daughter returns to D.C. and I stay on for another five days. I had actually planned to stay even longer but cut my trip short. The value of the dollar vs. the pound is not good….it’s better than in July, but I was very nervous about the amount of money being spent. I told you how expensive travel is, right? There is just no getting around it, no matter how you pinch the pennies. And, thank goodness I am using Awards miles for this trip as you can change flights/tickets at no cost. I’ve changed my return twice but now it’s set.
Stay tuned for Part III. Yes, I will be doing another post on just what I’m taking in my suitcase, as well as what kind of suitcase each of us is taking. Are you a carry on person? Or do you always check? How much do you actually put in your bag that sits under the seat in front of you? Do you take headphones? Pillow? We’ll discuss all that in a few days.
And, last but not least, I’ll tell you my new friend I’ll be staying with and show you her gorgeous gardens!
See you then.
