15 days, 6 countries, & 1 very small backpack

Packing for spring break has never been this challenging or amusing in my whole life.
I just don't know how this is going to work. I'm really hoping Aer Lingus doesn't mind a very large handbag as a personal item!

I just want to quickly check in before jetting off until the 2nd of May...

I did 9 euros worth of laundry today, painted my nails and they look horrendous, and now I'm about to go and make myself a lunch out of all the food left in my refrigerator. I still need to put minutes on my phone and get out some cash to have on hand, ready to exchange into whatever foreign currency I happen upon.

Although Colleen and I have still not booked hostels for either Vienna or Milan, I hope we can do so either when I see her in London on Monday/Tuesday, or while we're in a hostel elsewhere.
She and her parents are in town so it's been crazy knowing that we'll have seen each other twice in our respective cities.

Ok ok I guess I'll write a bit-- Niamh's visit was really really great. Apart from overpacking a massive suitcase to haul from my foyer to our hotel on the other side of town, we had a great time. She was happy enough to go off on her own when I had classes (I had no problem skipping a few as well...) and we ate some delicious food, including L'Entrecote, a veritable Parisian institution with crowded tables, enigmatic steak sauce, and no menu. Our hotel was comfortable but certainly not luxurious-- I suppose if 53 euros a night can get you comfort in the heart of Paris, we didn't do too badly! Unfortunately I had quite a few tests and assignments due the week she was here, but I managed and we had a really great time. In between getting asked if we were twins, running around Rue Mouffetard, and eating entire fish still on the bone, we took some great pics and just generally enjoyed both being so in love with this city.

"It's bad that we're here together. I get enough compliments as it is, senorita!"

Mum's visit was quite different, as it started out on a train from Paris to the countryside last Thursday. The combination of fresh air, cows, lavender, and a comfy bed made my two nights in Beaufort absolute heaven. I also got a homecooked meal, with ingredients bought hours earlier at the market. I got my cough checked out at the doctor, filled myself with homeopathic medicine, and by the time we sprinted to catch our eternally-prompt TGV to Paris on Saturday, after a chaotic rental-car drop-off, I felt really refreshed and ready to spend the weekend back in the city. We stayed in a great area, smack between the Marais and the Bastille quarters. The weather was decent, meaning the rain was patchy, so we ate some great meals, did some boutique-browsing, ran into our old friend Sofia Coppola on the Ile St. Louis, and shopped at the Bastille market on Sunday morning. After a bottle of Spanish wine and tapas on Sunday night, we conversed with an Argentinian, Philippe, who was, we concluded, completely full of shit, but works with fashion photographers for French Vogue. He called me two nights ago to go and get a drink, but Colleen was in town so I'll have to save that little rendez-vous for after les vacances.

Les Blanchardieres in Beaufort.. just what I needed.

At the market, with the Bastille in the background

I was sad to see Mum leave on Monday morning, but I've been completely recharged and am now ready to take on this last month-and-a-bit of la vie parisienne, as well as 5 other countries, before Philadelphia and I catch up.

The sky has been blue every morning this week, the trees are budding and blossoming, the flowerbeds are planted in the Jardin du Luxembourg, and I think it's going to be harder to leave than I once thought after all.



So, if I survive budget-airline flights, 7-hour bus rides, and the languages of Eastern Europe, I'll be back on the 2nd of May. A bientôt!