CARNET DE VOYAGE: MY 96 HOURS IN FRANCE
Yesterday afternoon I came back home to Los Angeles from my extended weekend in France. Believe me I did not waste a single hour of my 96 hours in France (not even sleeping...) I have arrived on thursday night to Toulouse. The reason of my trip was to be there for the first birthday of Eva, my goddaughter.
She was born premature at 6 months and a half. She fought hard the first months of her life to survive and today she is amazing, smiling all the time, almost walking in a very top model on a runway style. I was really happy to spend time with her and the entire little family. She was a bit intimidated when I told her I wanted to take a photo for OhLaLa but she will get used to it ;-)
On saturday thankfully the plan was to stay home, and celebrate her birthday. That day a killer hurricane like storm hit the south of France and north of Spain with winds up to 119 miles per hour (192 km ph) killing 24 people. 70 % of the Landes forest on the Oceanic coast was destroyed . Fortunately we did not loose electricity like millions of people, nor our roof, which would have been even more annoying!
So after 72 hours in Toulouse, I flew back to Paris for one day. I have spent a couple of hours walking around, it was not that cold, but the city felt strange, like one of those hangover mornings. It was weird, not so many tourist or people were around, and it was grey and there were some really low clouds too. I have experienced better energy in this city, but I guess the economic climate and the winter is not helping.
What I love and have always loved about Paris is taking photos, so that's waht I did and I invite you to click on the gallery below to discover them all.
This was my very last look on the Eiffel Tower and I am pretty sure that it will be months not to say years before I see it again. While I was in Paris there was one thing I did not want to miss and that was my flight back home :-)
So in order to avoid stress and morning traffic to get out of the city, I have decided to sleep at the airport, at the amazing Sheraton hotel located inside the terminal. From the inside the hotel is like a giant cruise boat floating above the terminals, but the most amazing feature is looking at the planes taking off right in front of your window without hearing a thing.
The next morning, I was ready to board even before the plane was ready ... a little too early in fact, so I stayed at the Air France salon, had breakfast and watched the first two episodes of Lost that I have missed because I was on the plane on my way to Paris.
The flight back home felt like a 3 hours flight (even though it was 11) that might have something to do with the fact that I have slept the all time, and believe me business class is worth the money!
The landing in Los Angeles was amazing. You have to see the photos I took in the Gallery below. I would love to say that now we are going to stay in Los Angeles for some time but in 2 weeks we will be going to Miami and Key West. It should be fun time ...
