by Paula | Oct 22, 2023 | Family, Paula Persists
After much deliberation and consideration, Dan and I decided to embark on a 3 week bucket-list adventure across 6 cities in France and Italy. Rather than join a tour, we did all the planning and logistics ourselves – the planning process itself extended over a four-month window of time. After months of preparations, the trip itself seemed to fly!
Since Dan was already retired when we started the planning process, he took on the challenge of booking transportation and accommodations. For my part, I researched and booked various activities and day trips. As part of our research, we picked the brains of friends that are seasoned travelers and avidly read Rick Steve’s travel guides.
We were particularly excited about staying in a lovely apartment in the ‘old’ part of Paris, just across the river from Notre Dame. However, the owner of that Airbnb cancelled just three days before our trip due to unspecified electricity issues in the apartment. That was a major bummer, and caused us to scramble for what we could find at the last minute. C’est la Vie!
The departure day finally arrived! We flew from Chicago to Paris and eventually connected with our gregarious driver, Steven; who immediately got into a fender bender in the pick up area at the airport! The traffic in Paris was insane.
We arrived midday on a sunny day, which turned out to be the nicest day weather-wise of our time in Paris. We strolled the Ile de Citie, featuring Notre Dame (remodeling well underway from the fire), and had our first Parisian meal; a very tasty charcuterie plate and some really nasty shrimp toast. We were weary from our travels and enjoyed simply sitting at our sidewalk table while soaking in the vibrant Parisian scene. 
We cancelled our walking tour for the next morning due to the forecast of torrential rain—that also allowed us extra time to recover from our jet lag. We had checked the forecast before leaving and had packed for rainy and chilly weather.
On Thursday evening the rain eventually letup and we had a tres romantique dinner cruise down the Seine. In a magical moment, the Eiffel tower was alight and twinkling as we cruised past it.
The night of our cruise was also the evening that France beat Namibia 92-0 in a world rugby match. Although the match did not take place in Paris, there was a huge viewing area / arena near our cruise dock that was completely jammed with loud and rowdy rugby fans. There was very tight security in the whole area (our bags were searched). The rugby match finished at the same time as our cruise, which resulted in some crowded and rowdy metro and bus rides ‘home’!
In a theme for our Paris stay, public transportation was not as reliable as expected due to a variety of factors… so our well researched plans for how to get from point A to Point B were quickly scuttled and we relied heavily on a couple of apps to connect us with real-time public transportation options—with reasonable success.
The Louvre is massive and takes up several city blocks. We visited the outside plaza with the pyramid (see pic below) but on the recommendation of our friends, we skipped going inside the Louvre, and instead spent a day at the Musee D’Orsay… which was marvelous. I particularly enjoyed the Van Gogh and Degas exhibits. That evening we went to a comedy club… although the most comedic part about the evening was our vain attempts to take a bus there, finally resorting to a cab.
Friday, we took a full-day bus tour to the Normandy area, visiting both Utah and Omaha beaches, related museums, and the American Cemetery. Our guide was extremely informative and took excellent care of our full bus of tourists. One of our stops was at an apple orchard for a ‘cider’ tasting with various degrees of alcohol content up to ‘paint-peeling’. One of the tourists in our group accidently spit out her mouthful of cider into a vat of fermenting plums and got chewed out by our owner/server, who was rightfully appalled. The American Cemetery was particularly moving–full of young men, boys really.
We visited the Eiffel tower (Tour Eifel) twice. Friday evening we went to the busy plaza across the river from the Tower, which was packed with people and vendors. We got several nice pictures of the water fountains and the Tower all lit up—it was an incredible vibe. Unfortunately, I was weary from our long day in Normandy and got a little freaked out by the noisy crowd, so we didn’t stay very long.
During our last full day in Paris, we did an ‘official’ tour of the Eiffel tower, visiting all the levels. Being ‘in’ the Eiffel tower was interesting, but honestly wasn’t as magical as viewing it at night from the river. We also visit the Arc D’Triumph and walked along the Champs D’Elysee. Another high-step count day!
The food and wine in Paris was incredible. A highlight was an AMAZING Beef Bourguignon (burgundy); it melted in my mouth and was the best meal I had on the whole trip – a very high bar indeed! Overall, I particularly loved the cheeses in Paris, and we both enjoyed the excellent coffee and wine. Although I adore croissants, I started to get tired of all the bread-SO MUCH BREAD! At one memorable breakfast, we may have had a misunderstanding with our waiter, and he just kept bringing us more and more bread of different varieties!
On Monday we boarded a high-speed train to Nice. Au Revoir Paree!
See the links below to read about the other 5 cities we visited on our Great European Adventure!
Nice
Vernazza
Florence
Sorrento
Rome
by Paula | Sep 3, 2023 | Family, Paula Persists
I have enjoyed this summer to the max–due in large part to my June retirement from the working world.
Retirement and aging looks different for everyone – old(ish) age is where life choices, genetics, and personal histories converge and every path is different. Recognizing that it isn’t all roses (hello, arthritis!) I have compiled a top 5 list of the benefits of many birthdays:
- Eligibility for Medicare. In the USA, we have a terrible health care system. The deductible and co-pays are crippling – even for those lucky enough to have employer subsidized health insurance. Pre-Medicare I absolutely avoided going to the doctor. I didn’t like the HMO I was locked into and the out of pockets costs were ridiculous. Now, I can pick my own doctor (which is amazing!) and the cost is reasonable.
- Retirement-not working. For the most part, I enjoyed working, and was never someone who dreaded Mondays. A lot of my identity was wrapped up in my work, and I was a bit apprehensive as to how I would respond to no longer having a job. I needn’t have worried. While I do miss the people, I do not miss the daily grind and stress. Now, the only time I set my alarm clock is if I have an early court time!
- Retirement-More time for family and travel. My retirement kicked off with 12 days watching the grandkids while their parents took a much-deserved vacation. In July, we attended an extended family reunion in Colorado, Dan and I went to a couple Brewer games and are planning a longish trip to Europe this fall; and I spent a long weekend in NYC with my youngest. It has been wonderful to have more time to spend with the people I love.
- Retirement-More Time for ME! Most days find me on either the tennis court, the pickleball court and/or the health club pool. I take our mutt on daily long walks. When the weather cools, I have ambitions for household projects, volunteering, learning the ukelele, and other pursuits. I have always had an internal clock ticking away in my brain, aware of the list of things that need to get done. Now, that ‘clock is quieting, and I have the luxury of unstructured time.
- Being comfortable in my own skin. As I age, I find that I am less and less concerned with what others think about me, and more accepting of myself. I wear comfy shoes and no longer dye my hair. In our social-media saturated, appearance-obsessed culture, not caring what others think is something of a super-power.
My advice is to EMBRACE those birthdays–There is joy in having many trips around the sun.
by Paula | Dec 26, 2022 | Family, Paula Persists
When something goes very wrong, there is a temptation to dive into the depths of what-ifs and second-guessing choices along the way. In hind-sight there are always different paths or actions that could have been taken that could have led to a happier result.
If everything had played out according to plan my husband and I, my son and his wife, and my youngest daughter would all be in Cancun right now, sharing a large and lovely beach-side condo with my oldest daughter and her family. Instead, the five of us are back in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, while my daughter and family are in Cancun.
IF I had made different flight choices;, IF our flight out of O’Hare had not had mechanical issues, IF there hadn’t been so many rebooked flights ahead of us due to weather; we would ALL be there. It can drive you absolutely crazy thinking about it.
This was to have been a once-in-a-lifetime special vacation for myself and my offspring, along with their spouses and kids. Today, we are all mourning the loss of the extended family time in paradise.
While my oldest daughter and family did make it to Cancun, it is turning out to be a very different vacation than the one they were anticipating – with no other family members to join on excursions, play games with during the many rainy days, or to generally visit with them and help with their three young children.
My sister, who lives many states away, put things in perspective for me last night as we chatted by phone. Shit Happens. There are far more tragic events that happen due to moments and decisions we can never recall. We do our best to pick up the pieces and move on.
In the bigger picture, the loss of the vacation is sad, but not tragic. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say there is a silver-lining, there were many silvery moments:
- A tearful heart-to-heart with my son (who I don’t see often enough) in the lobby of the Chicago hotel at 2 am Christmas Day
- Hearing my daughter-in-law’s laugh – which is always amazing (before the flight got cancelled of course)
- My husband staying cool and collected through hours of frustrating (and ultimately unsuccessful) negotiations with the airline to get rebooked
- Making a pinky-promise with my youngest daughter at the bar of the hotel (I cannot divulge the terms)
- Sitting on my daughter-in-law’s lap on the overly crowded hotel shuttle and enjoying a few laughs with perfect strangers in the process
- Sharing jackets and shoes with my husband and daughter as we dealt with much more exposure to the bitter cold than I was prepared for
- A Christmas day buffet breakfast in the hotel, where the five of us exchanged a few gifts and did our best to salvage some Christmas cheer, albeit amid some tears.
- My impromptu gift to my kids was a tennis ball with ‘Xmas 2022, F**k Delta’ written on it. (The TRIP was my real gift… *sigh*)
- The FaceTime call with our family members in Cancun – the highlight of which was the huge smile that came over the two-year olds face when he saw us on screen. (OK, that one still makes me tear up a little bit)
- The people we met along the way that empathized and offered support:
- The driver who helped cram way too many people (and their luggage) on the inadequately small shuttle from the airport
- The Hotel staff who got called into work on Christmas eve due to the influx of disgruntled passengers dumped on them last-minute-including the sole waiter who dashed around setting up a buffet for 200 people.
- The patient hotel clerk who gave me supplies and empathy during my middle of the night pity-party
- The hotel maid with whom I commiserated at 6 am (I hope her daughter made it from Denver)
- The brother and sister-in-law that invited Dan and I over for an impromptu leftover Christmas dinner – recognizing we were returning to a house devoid of food on Christmas evening.
I am writing this the morning after Christmas day. Eventually my emotional hangover will ease and the knot in my tummy will loosen. Today, we will get groceries, fetch our mutt from doggie day car, unpack and resume our daily lives. The battle with Delta for refunds/compensation has begun. Live goes on, even when Shit Happens.
by Paula | Jun 25, 2022 | Paula Persists
Yesterday’s SCOTUS decision was the latest of a series of terrific blows. It appears the goal of both GOP and tRUMP-loaded SCOTUS is to criminalize pregnancy and to impose total state-control over a woman’s body. The hypocrisy of a party that claims to advocate for personal autonomy and limited government is stunning; but only until you realize that this philosophy only applies to themselves. The rest of us can go to hell–or at least to jail, for trying to act like autonomous human beings with control over our own bodies.
The current wave of anti-abortion sentiment is particularly hostile and cruel. The idea that a woman who is impregnated, regardless of circumstances or medical considerations, has no agency over her own body is beyond frightening. The woman or her ‘accomplices’ can be sent to jail for a range of perceived sins from miscarriage to still birth. It is a dystopian scenario for any woman of child bearing abilities. It is frightening and dangerous to become pregnant it today’s America.
The concern for babies stops at birth. Once born, the GOP doesn’t give a shit, and won’t lend a hand (or a buck) to help feed, house or otherwise care for that child. In a less tragic scenario, one would think that anyone with a self-proclaimed ‘pro-life’ label would be first in line to assure that moms and babies have the resources to thrive: access to quality medical care, housing, food, paid time-off from work, quality daycare, etc. But, no. The richest nation in the world treats new parents and their babies worse than any other ‘industrialized’ nation.
Although the state MANDATES that a child be born, the tremendous burden of caring for that child rests solely on the parents shoulders.
Today, we breath, and tomorrow we persist. I’m not sure exactly what that looks like today – but while pondering those next steps, I’m going to search my closet for my pussy hat– I’m going to need it.
by Paula | Apr 25, 2021 | Family, Paula Persists
It is a lazy April Sunday. Like many of my friends, I find myself slowly and cautiously emerging from the emotional malaise of the last 4 plus years. I find myself unexpectedly smiling for no particular reason in the grocery store, laughing at the dog’s antics, watching the trees bud, and appreciating moments of pure contentment. I had such a moment this morning; as I savored my morning coffee; reflecting that I have a good book, a good dog and a good man. Life is good.
I wish you all contentment and joy in the moments of your lives.
