My bad! Also, Scotland part deux

Hey friends/students/family/anyone who's reading this!  I CANNOT BELIEVE I LET THIS HAPPEN.  I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted anything. So much has happened, and I have so much to catch up on!!!

Ok, first of all, let me pick back up in Scotland where we left off.  In my last post, I only made it through part of the first morning that we spent in Edinburgh!  Right after our visit of Holyrood Palace, we went straight for Arthur's Seat.  (You can read more about Arthur's Seat here).  On our climb up to the top, I was continually just in awe of the view.  Here, see for yourself:

It was abnormally hot that day, so we sweated our way all the way up to the tippy tippy top, and then took a deep breath and some "Proof That I Did This" pictures.

After that crazy climb and the following descent, Jenny and I determined that it was, in fact, Tea Time. 

And after Tea TIme, it was then most certainly and definitely Nap Time.  We staggered back to the hostel through a haze of exhaustion and proceeded to sleep for the rest of the afternoon.  After waking up for dinner and a short walk around the city, we went back to the hostel and crashed for the night.  It was a looooooooooooooong and awesome day.

Your French Word of the Week

We interrupt this vacation recap to bring you the following:

I'm a sucker for a freebie, so I signed up for Clarin's newsletter to enter my name in a contest to win some eyeliner...and then I checked out the site a little bit more.  And what do I see?

Bon Mots - French Word of the Week

Plus apparently Clarins is all about French beauty, so.....new favorite cosmetic company?

Check it out, learn some French words....the end. 

Just a wee trip to Scotland, lads and lasses

Here's your travel tip of the day - do not take an overnight bus after the age of 25, unless there are beds to lie down in (think Knight Bus, Harry Potter style).  You will not sleep well on a night bus, and unless you are in that magical time of life when a lack of sleep doesn't slow you down at all, you will feel it.  Boy, will you.  

We happily managed to get on a bus that wasn't making any stops between London and Edinburgh (pronounced Edinborough, or Edinburuh) and so arrived at our destination at like 6:30 am.  We walked up to our hostel, and then I saw this across the street:

They didn't call it Castle Rock Hostel for nothing!  Oh, click here for a picture of the actual hostel we stayed in.  Right?!  Anyway, we did the whole checking in process but couldn't get into our rooms until like 2 pm, so we freshened up, dropped our bags in the storage room, and went out for breakfast.  And I had the full English, which looks a little bit like this:

Eggs, bacon, sausages, blood sausage (gross), a roasted tomato, baked beans (not like our baked beans) and a potato scone.  YUM.  I almost ate the whole gosh darn thing.  After breakfast we went down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace, which is where the Queen stays when she's in Scotland and where she has her annual Garden Party.  We got there right before it opened, waited in line and bought tickets, and then went in with our audio guides for a li'l tour.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside the palace, but I did get some awesome shots of the outside and some ruins at the back:

And I'm gonna end that post here, 
a) because I'm sleepy and need to go to bed
b) because I took a LOT of pics in Scotland, so there will be multiple posts

I'll leave you with this thought - my Scottish accent wasn't all that bad.

Lunch in London and a night bus to Scotland

I write this post as a recovering gimp - a friend and I did a mini-trip up to Philly today for the Radio 104.5 Block Party, featuring Walk off the Earth, Alt-J and PANIC! AT THE DISCO.  Can you tell who I was there to see?  Anyway, Walk off the Earth was awesome, but in between their set and Alt-J taking the stage, some drunk, under-age (bleep) decided to cause a chain reaction of people falling over.  In the chaos, I was pushed back into the metal barriers that we were standing in front of, and somehow one of them ended up crushing my left foot.  I had a dickens of a time getting it up high enough so I could scoot my foot out, and then my friend got me over to the first-aid section, to the side of the stage.  All I needed was an ice pack and to sit down for a bit, thankfully, while we watched one of the drunk under-agers get hauled off by security.  My friend was watching the show from where we were standing and ended up befriending one of the crew members for WotE, who got us backstage passes and let us hang out with him and the rest of the crew for a bit.  And then, and THEN....all the members of Panic! at the Disco walked right by me and proceeded to blow my mind. I have loved them since 2005, have all their albums and have never seen them live...until today.  From backstage. Within touching distance when they went on and left the stage. WHAT. THE. WHAT.  In the end, being hurt wasn't such a raw deal after all. 

But I digress.....back in time to London!  When I got back to Jenny's house from the airport on Thursday night, I crashed. Next morning I got up, repacked my overnight bag for Scotland, and went off to meet my friend Jade for lunch.  She and I went to Etown together, and she's been in London for a while doing a Master's degree.  We met outside of Buckingham Palace (classy) and went for lunch in a little pub not too far from there.  

After lunch, we walked back past Buckingham and down to Westminster Abbey, which I finally got to see the inside of.  I felt like such a royal groupie, because I kept trying to figure out which parts I had seen on TV when I watched Will and Kate's wedding a couple years ago. It was stunning inside, but we were't allowed to take pictures.  Here are some shots of Big Ben, Parliament, and the outside of Westminster though:

After Westminster, we got ice cream and strolled over to Trafalgar Square, where we said goodbye and I headed back to Jenny's.  We had dinner and got ready for the trip, then headed for Victoria Coach Station: Scotland or bust!

Last day in France....at last

Oh Em Gee, you guys.  I think I have recovered enough from the drama that was my Return to the States to finally get back to blogging.  Stay tuned to the blog for that story...I'm recovered enough to write, but not about that....not yet, anyway.

Ok so, where were we.....oh yes, the last day I spent in France on this trip.  Another late morning, you may well imagine.  I mean, when the guests don't leave until 2:30 am, you couldn't really be expected to wake up before 10 am the next morning, right?  Once I got up, got ready and repacked my suitcase, I went downstairs to discover more jam being made, and some tarte flambées about to go into the oven.  YUM.  Anyone who knows me probably knows about my obsession with this particular Alsatian delicacy.  The best place to have tarte flambée is probably in a little country inn, miles from the nearest city.  Next best (to me) is happy hour at Les Brasseurs in Strasbourg.  Tarte flambée can definitely taste better when eaten in a place that conjures up happy memories of studying abroad or being a broke teaching assistant.  When neither of those options are possible, you do whatchu gotta do - you go frozen.  They were super yummy, and I ate more than I probably should have.  Glorious.

The tarte flambée was eaten out on the patio, in the garden, in the sunshine, btw.  I also spent the afternoon out in the yard, sitting in the shade and catching up with another one of my colleagues from last year, one of the teachers from the middle school who happens to live in the same town as Isa. Her two daughters came along, both very young and super cute.  One of them was in a FOUL mood, and kept biting/hitting/kicking/hair pulling, and generally being disagreeable.  Isa sent her kids up the road to an elderly neighbor's house to deliver a jar of homemade jam.  The neighbor has gotten the nickname "Madame Chocolat" because she's always giving the kids chocolate.  This time was no different, and they returned with a gift wrapped box of very expensive and yummy chocolates, which we promptly opened and shared.  La vie, franchement, est belle.  

We had a quick raclette dinner, which I requested (again on the patio, in the garden...are you tired of me yet?) before Isa took me back to the airport for my evening flight.  Raclette is a cheese, meat and potatoes meal, pretty heavy and hearty and not at all what you'd expect to have on a hot summer evening.  The thing is that raclette cheese and the raclette melting machine are not widely available in the States.  I was carpe-ing the heck out of that diem and eating some of my fave French foods that I really just can't get here very easily/at all.  Side note - Trader Joe's does a decent frozen tarte flambée, so I will be journeying to Cherry Hill soon to stock up.  

Had another lucky moment at the airport that evening.  I hadn't planned on (or paid for) a checked bag, but Isa had given me tons of jam to take home with me and one of those jars was intended as a gift for my friend Kate.  Definitely wasn't going to make it through security and onto the plane with that stuff, so I went to the check-in desk to see how much it would cost to check my bag.  It is usually really expensive, so I was cringing as I asked....and then the woman at the desk said the word "gratuit".  Did I just hear her say free??  I did!  Since I had volunteered to check my bag, and because there ended up being not enough room on the flight for all of the carry-on luggage, I didn't have to pay!  **happy dance**  Isa could't believe it, and I sort of couldn't either.  I was so bummed to leave France, but I know that I'll be back next summer, so it's not that bad.  I had a pretty uneventful trip back to Jenny's, and there ends my tale.  Stay tuned for tales from my wee trip to Scotland!

And on the third day in France....

....I slept in again!  The mornings I spent in France could definitely have been put to better use, but hey....vacation. On Wednesday we all piled in the car again, this time driving to the Parc de Wesserling.  We drove through a town called Thann to get there, which made me think of my friend Matt.  He and I went to Thann on a grey November day (11.11.11, to be precise) and hiked up to some ruins way up on a hill. Miss you, Matt!

Anyway, the Parc de Wesserling is kind of awesome.  There's a textile museum there, which is located in an old textile factory.  We got to see how a type of fabric called "ïndienne" was made - essentially there was someone who would weave fabric, someone else who would conceive and draw a design, someone who would carve the design into wood blocks, and then someone who would stamp the designs on the fabric, using a different wood block for each color.  It was an insanely long process before it was modernized with machine production, and very cool to see all the steps of the old process.  

The grounds all around the museum form the actual park, where every year they have a new theme for the 5 gardens that make up the park.  This year it was Gulliver's Travels, so there were huge boots and big chairs for giants, and little tiny gardens and things for the Lilliputians.  We did the guided tour with one of the gardeners in order to hear a little bit more about the theme, the decorations, and the different gardens.  One of them was a veggie garden, one a garden in the French style, etc and so on. There was also a "sentier pieds nus", which basically means you take your shoes off and follow a path in your bare feet.  There were all kinds of different things to walk on/in - wood chips, pebbles, a clay pit...there was even a place where you could rinse your feet off.  It was a hot day, but we had a lot of fun just walking around.  Meanwhile, Isa's husband was off running for the 3 hours that we spent in the museum and the gardens.  Scenes from our afternoon:

When we got home from the park, Isa and I went to the grocery store where I stocked up on French candy for myself and others (pics to come when I get home), then we went back to her house for the big BBQ with all of my colleagues from last year.  It was so indescribably wonderful to be able to spend the evening talking with all of them!  There was one colleague missing - she was already on her way to Corsica when we called to see if she was free, so I'll have to get back to Strasbourg sometime to see her. :-)  All in all, it was a wonderful night.  The last partiers stayed until like 2:30 in the morning, and I was just about falling over by the time we finally said goodbye.  Here they are:

Le "Dream Team" du lycée Louis Armand

So, there you have it - only one more day to go before I've written all there is to write about my trip to France this year.  But it'll have to wait until tomorrow, because my feet are frozen so I'm going up to my hostel room to get warm, but the Wifi doesn't reach all the way up there!  See you back here soon!

Ok, back to France - Tuesday

Ok, where were we?  Oh yes, Tuesday.  Let's go back in time.....

On Monday I had hiked up to a chateau and then had a really late (and wonderful) BBQ, if you recall.  So, the directive when we got home was to sleep until I woke up, and not to set an alarm.  For those of you playing along at home, you might remember that my jet lag management had dipped below acceptable standards, and that I was already a bit behind on my sleep.  I did manage to set an alarm for 10:30, but it dragged me up from the depths of a Very Deep Sleep indeed.  

So our plan for that day was as follows:  pack a picnic lunch, pile into the car, drive to Switzerland and go to the Fondation Beyeler, a museum in the city of Basel.  We ate our picnic lunch in the little park next to the museum, went in and saw exhibitions by Max Ernst and Andy Warhol, and a particularly disturbing work of art involving taxidermied, decapitated horses. Ick. On our way back to Altkirch, we stopped off and picked up Isa's daughter, who had been staying at her godfather's house.  We lounged around for about an hour, chatting with them and watching the kids shoot water guns at each other and swing on the swing set.  Oh, and I painted Chloe's nails! When we got back to Isa's house, I'm pretty certain that I took a nap for an hour or so.  Here's a travel tip that I didn't follow: stay hydrated when traveling, it helps you to adjust to changing time zones so you're not a zombie.  

After my nap, we went over to her Mom's house for dinner, and then Isa and I dashed off to the movies for a girls' night, just like we did last year when I'd stay with them on weekends.  This time we saw Pour Une Femme, a non-subtitled French film about love, spies and intrigue following World War II.  We both really liked it, and I hope I'll be able to find it on DVD sometime by the end of the year!

Here are the few pics I took that day, and coming up next is the post about Wednesday!

The Fondation Beyeler, as seen from the park where we ate lunch

Since I forgot...Vive la France!

Last Sunday, the day after Anne's wedding, was Bastille Day in France!  Some of my students must have been listening when I explained what Bastille Day is, right?

Well, for anyone who doesn't know (or zoned out in class), Bastille Day is officially known in France as La Fête Nationale, and commonly known as le quatorze juillet.  It commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison on 14 July 1789, which sparked the French Revolution.  I've only been in France once on Bastille Day, in 2011.  It's a holiday throughout the country, and in the evening we went to see the fireworks show down by the river.  

For anyone who wants to see shots of France's most famous city, Paris, and how they celebrated Bastille Day this year, check these photos out:

Thanks to my friend Bethany for posting the link on facebook!  Come back soon to hear about the rest of my time in France, my whirlwind weekend in Scotland, and what I'm about to get up to when I leave for Iceland tomorrow and then home on the 25th!  À plus!

Bonjour....et au revoir, la France

Salut, faithful readers!  

I totally did mean to blog while I was in France....and for various reasons, I just plain old didn't.  Listen, I have never felt so absolutely disorganized in all my life!  I somehow managed to leave my camera in London at Jenny's house, so I ended up taking all my pics with my iPod.  Derp.  I did manage to take Isa her requested PB M&M's and some Jell-O for the kids, plus a ton of stickers for Isa to put on her students' work this year (and next year, and the year after that).  So it wasn't all ridiculousness on my part.  And I did have SO so so so SO much fun!

It all started on Monday, after a late night of quickly re-packing a bag for France.  I flew EasyJet, where they make you pay a ton of money if you want to check a bag.  No thanks!  So I planned to only have one carry-on bag with me going and coming.  Simple. I got up at like 4:45, got ready, and left to catch the bus to the underground to the train to the airport.  I arrived in plenty of time, had breakfast, and waited for them to announce the gate from which my flight would depart.  They finally posted it 15 minutes late, and I took off speed-walking for the gate.  Once we finally boarded (last row, awesome), it was only an hour and 15 minutes to Basel/Mulhouse airport!  

Isa picked me up and explained that she'd also been running late because of construction and the fact that she was just running late.  :-p No big deal to me, since my flight was also a bit late.  On our way back to her house, we stopped at a boulangerie because she was out of bread at home.  Turns out that the woman serving her went to school with Isa's sister and knows her mom, so Isa left with free bread (2 baguettes and one pain aux céréales)!  "Ça m'a fait plaisir de vous revoir", she said.  Not bad, hein?

That afternoon, we drove about an hour north to Scherwiller, in the Bas-Rhin département.  Isa's aunt lives there, and not far away in the Vosges mountains are the ruins of the Chateau d'Ortenbourg, which dates from the 13th century.  We took one of her aunt's dogs with us, drove up to the start of the trail, and hiked about 45 minutes up the mountain to the ruins.  Such an amazing view, and a really nice hike.  

We then proceeded to spend the evening having a BBQ with her aunt and cousin, eating outside under a tree in the backyard until the sun went down.  And the green salad we had with our 6 different kinds of grilled meat?  It came from their garden.  La belle vie, quoi!

Now, 3 announcements.  
1.  I am having lunch today (Friday) with a friend of mine from college who is doing her Master's degree here in London. While I'm out, I hope to maybe visit Buckingham Palace and/or Westminster Abbey.  Meaning I need to get a move on it!
2. Tonight, Jenny and I head up to Scotland!  Night bus, woooooooo.  Won't be back in London until Monday.
3. Unless I have time later in and amongst re-packing a bag for Scotland, re-organizing my suitcase to leave next week, and having dinner with Jenny for the first time since Sunday, y'all will have to wait for more French-y blog posts.  I'll do my best, but I'm not making promises.  

Ciao ciao!

The Tower (or 20) of London, Greenwich (pronounced Grenitch) and 400 views!

Today marks 400 all time views on my blog!  Not too shabby since it's only been in existence for a little less than a month!  Thanks to everyone who's been reading, and welcome to those of you who just found me!

Yesterday, I finally did something that I've been wanting to do for a long time, and something I had the opportunity but not the means to do twice in my life.  I actually went into the Tower of London for a tour and visit!  The first time I came to London as a student I was too broke to afford the entrance fee, and the second time I was with Anne, who had already been before.  Plus that time we showed up too late for me to go in anyway.  But this time....THIS time I was going in NO MATTER WHAT.  I ordered a ticket online ahead of time, which was slightly cheaper, with the only drawback being that I had to commit to a date.  I chose the day after my arrival, figuring that it would give me something to wake up for.  So of course my eyes fly open and find the clock on my iPod only to see 11:00 am!  Oops.

I got ready and headed into the city on the bus, walked over the Tower Bridge, collected my ticket and went inside.  The Yeoman Warders (colloquially known as Beefeaters), who live at the  Tower, also work as tour guides.  I stood around for about 10 minutes reading a book about the Tower that one of Jenny's flatmates had lent to me, and then the tour began.  Our Beefeater was really funny, and told us lots of bloody and gory tales of beheadings.  He also taught us that there are actually 20 towers in the Tower of London.  I knew there was more than just one, but I didn't know it was 20!  The tour was pretty frickin' awesome, if you ask me.  Our group was huge, but the tour only lasted an hour, at which time I broke away and went to see the Crown Jewels.  Oh. Em. Gee.  Amazing.  I'll have to post my pictures later, since they're not on my computer yet and I should be going to bed soon!

Today I slept a bit late as well, got ready slowly and then took a walk down to Greenwich Market for a browse.  I also visited the church where Henry VIII was baptized and Thomas Tallis is buried (did anyone out there watch The Tudors?), and saw the Cutty Sark.  After a stroll back, I hung out with Jenny, her boyfriend and her flatmates for the evening, much like the night before. We cooked dinner and talked until it was time to figure out my travel plans for tomorrow morning.  At 7:00 am, I will embark on a nearly 3 hour journey up to Dunstable to see one of my best friends get married!!  I think it'll be like my cousin's wedding - I'll be totally fine until the moment it starts, and then I'll probably cry like a little girl.  But I have been asked to be the photographer tomorrow, since I'll be one of the only non-family members there!  So I have to keep it together a little bit.  They'll have a legit photog for the ceremony on Saturday, but I still want to do a good job.  And to think, if I hadn't gone to teach in France in 2007, I would never have met her and I wouldn't be here right now.  So glad that I did. :-)

Ok, I'm supposed to wake up in 6 hours and I'm getting a little tired, so I think I shall go.  No posts until Sunday when I get back, so à dimanche!

*P.S. - another good friend of mine with French connections is getting married this very weekend in NY, and I, of course, can't be there.  We met during our study abroad year in college and have kept in touch ever since.  Kate, I'm sorry I can't be there, and I hope you have an amazingly beautiful day with your family and friends!  Gros, gros bisous à toi et Steve!*

Cheers from England!

First post on this blog from overseas! Now that I'm here, let me tell you about the journey...

My mom was wonderful enough to drive me to the airport on Monday, so that I wouldn't have to pay to leave my car in the long-term parking for 2.5 weeks!  We left around 1:30 so that we'd have plenty of time to deal with traffic, and for me to get through check-in and security.  Once we got to the airport and found the check-in desk, I got a nice surprise - the woman took a look at my itinerary and said "I'm going to book you on an earlier flight (to Boston, the first leg of my trip).  We're gonna have some weather later and you know what it's like when they start cancelling flights.  I don't want you to miss your connection." What. An. ANGEL.  So my mom gave me a hug and left while I waited in the security line, found the gate for my new flight, and boarded about 30 minutes later, instead of waiting around for 2ish hours as I had planned.

Cut to Boston - had a classy dinner at BK (mmmmm sweet potato fries), splashed some water on my face so I wouldn't get raccoon eyes on the plane, flipped through some magazines in the bookstore (they had a couple of French ones!), and then went to board my flight to Iceland (second leg of trip).  There was a guy in front of me who was concerned about his friend getting there in time, and as we were walking down that rickety hallway thing that you go through to get onto the plane, his friend came barreling up to him, sweaty and stinky from apparently sprinting to our gate after his flight arrived.  And WHERE do you think he was flying from?  You guessed it - Philly.  I can't be sure he was on my original flight, but I still mentally sent that US Airways lady a big hug.

Big bummer that the sound on my in-flight tv wasn't working, but it meant that I actually slept during that flight.  I mean, as well as you can sleep on a plane.  Once in Keflavik airport, I had a couple granola-y things for breakfast and then boarded my third and final flight for London!  On arrival, I had exactly 60 minutes between getting off the plane and my bus's scheduled departure time....so I booked it.  I practically ran down all of the hallways that I encountered until finally, mercifully, I found the security/customs area.  Most of the people arriving on my flight were UK or European citizens, so I was the only one in the "Other" line.  Showed my passport, answered a few questions, and was through.  Waited for what seemed like an eternity until they posted the number of our baggage claim carousel, almost knocked a guy over on my way to the stairs, showed up at the carousel....and my bag was like the 5th one I saw.  Never happens to me.  I was sitting, waiting for that bus to arrive, playing Candy Crush all cool and nonchalant, with 20 minutes to spare.  I almost patted myself on the back.

Up until now, everything has gone relatively swimmingly.  There were some babies crying on one flight, and I forgot that Icelandair makes you pay for meals if you want to eat, but all in all, a good trip, with some dazzling bits of luck.  Then there was the bus.  It started out well enough, and I was getting acclimated to driving on the wrong side of the road.  Bus had wifi, so my friend Jenny and I were messaging about me arriving soon and getting to her place. I closed my eyes for a while because the lack of real sleep was getting to me.....and I hear *gaspcrashbeeeeeeep* and open my eyes to see a huge white hunk of metal-y thing in the road in front of the bus.  I asked a couple sitting next to me, and they explained that a truck had tried to squeeze between the bus oncoming traffic the other way, but didn't have enough room and took off one of the driver side mirrors!  That was the great big white thing in the road, which was then stowed under the bus.  Our driver called the cops, who filed the accident report but didn't come because nobody was hurt.  The truck just kept right on going, but the bus has cameras and probably caught them on tape.  Oh, the excitement!  

We kept on going since the driver still had the lower mirror on his side, got to our destination, I switched to my other bus on time and got to where I was going with no more fuss.  Once I arrived, I was trying to remember what I was supposed to do next, and I remembered Jenny saying I should get an Oyster card (for the underground and city bus), so I did.  I then worked out that I needed to take the underground one stop to Jenny's neighborhood, which she had told me but I hadn't written down.  Once there, I got hopelessly lost trying to find the bus stop and then went the wrong way once I got off the bus and was walking to her house. Chalk it up to dehydration, sleep deprivation and heat exhaustion.....and hormones, if we're being truthful.  Anywho, I did manage to get here only about 20 minutes later than originally thought, hurrah!  We hugged, I collapsed, she brought me water, I changed, and we went to lie in the park for a while and catch up while she marked papers.  

And that's only how I got here!  This post is long enough, so stay tuned for what I've done since then. :-)

L'Europe, j'arrive

Last post before I leave!  As promised, a post all about the packing process...

I have to start by saying that I have a weird level of nervousness about this trip.  I've developed several theories:  
a) I want to make sure I'm on time for everything during the trip
b) I want to make sure I don't miss out on anything 
c) I don't want to get there and realize I forgot something crucial

And....most of these theories are complete nonsense.  A) aside from getting to the wedding on Friday and getting to the airport multiple times, I'm sort of at my leisure for the rest of the trip.  Getting to the wedding on time is crucial because I'm the unofficial photog for the civil ceremony on Friday, so I'll be up early that day and making my way to Dunstable.  Getting to the airport for France....I mean...might as well throw myself under a plane if I don't make it to my flight on time.  B) Of COURSE I'm going to miss out on things, there's only so much time and I'm only so much person who can only be in one place at one time.  I am practicing breathing and saying "This is your flipping vacation, stop freaking out and just go with it".  I've got 3 flights to hammer that into my mind tomorrow, I'll get there.  And C) once I tell you about how I packed everything, you'll think I'm certifiable for worrying that I've forgotten anything even remotely useful. 

Allez, let's talk about packing.  Firstly, I had to do a minimal amount of digging on Pinterest before I found an awesomely complete packing list (anyone who needs a stocking stuffer for the traveler in your life, buy them a notepad of the lists here...I mean, how useful and clever and fabulous would one of these be?)  Since I don't have one of the notepads (yet!), I just used the image on Pinterest as a reference point, and gathered things in categories.  Yes, I also made my own list...it calms me.

First up, some massively important things to take when flying/leaving the country:

This neck pillow brought to you by IKEA, and I think I'm going to be really happy I finally bought one. I found that eye mask at Michael's yesterday, and I've had the earplugs because my neighbors and I had a rough start. Of course you need your passport, and I'm taking the smaller wallet that's on top of the passport in addition to my regular wallet...more on that in a sec.  I'm taking my phone and iPod for entertainment purposes mostly (read: Candy Crush, my Kindle app and music), and then of course there are the snacks.  My snack stash has grown considerably since I took this picture...what can I say, I wanna make sure I don't go hungry. I have to say though, Icelandair has pretty good in-flight meals. 

Now about that wallet - I found it down the shore this week when I was hanging out with my friend Jamie.  When I first saw the display of all of them, I thought they were kinda cheesy. Then I saw the one that said "France" and went all weak at the knees.  I mean, look at this thing:

The outside

The flip side

Inside one of the inner pockets

Inside other pocket - Notre Dame!

Clearly I had to buy it.  You get it, don't you?  

Ok moving on, I also took a pic of all of the stuff that I'm taking for my hosts in France.  Jenny is coming back to the States literally the day after I leave the UK, so there's really nothing I can take her that she's not gonna get herself when she comes home.  I'll cook dinner for her one night or something. So, for my fabulous French hosts, by request:

Sorry for the lighting, the flash on my camera is not doing it for me right now. Anyway, I'm excited to get there, see them, and unload this stuff.  3 bags of PB M&Ms are heavy! Isa also loves to use English stickers on her students' work, so I'm giving her the stash of a lifetime...or at least the next year!  The stamps and ink pads are for all of the English teachers at my old school to use, so I hope they like them.  We're all gathering for a BBQ while I'm there, and I can't  wait to see them all!

One more picture and then I'm wrapping up, I promise you.  Gotta make sure you're able to adapt while you're traveling, and your electronics are no different.  Here's my team of adapters (and a charger, for good measure):

The one on the left (which has a USB outlet on the bottom) and the one that's second from the right are both for France and any other country that uses that type of outlet.  The black rectangle is my camera charger.  God help me if I forget that thing.  The one on the right I had to do some digging for, but I'm so relieved that I found it.  It's got options for Europe, the UK, Japan, Thailand and the USA, so you can plug in wherever you go!  Having said that, please don't start throwing your blowdryers and curling irons and microwave ovens in your bags.  Europe and the UK have a different voltage system than the USA, so drying your hair at the hotel in Paris could result in frying all of the circuits.  Luckily my new haircut requires a little mousse and a little scrunching, so I'm really just hoping that people along the way will have blowdryers out of vanity.

Eh ben, voilà quoi!  I also spent quite a bit of time picking out the clothes that I'm taking, but I think that what I've got is super reasonable...I mean, there are the 2 dresses for both ceremonies, and enough mix-and-matchable outfits and Woolite to get me through most of the trip...and only 5 pairs of shoes!!  I'm trying to go for light layers and a sweater or two that  can keep me warm if needed.  Luckily, the weather forecast looks pretty good.  Everyone please keep your fingers crossed and do whatever voodoo that you do so that the sun will be shining at least until Anne's wedding, if not for my whole trip.  Kudos to those of you who made it through this whole post....it'll have to last you until I get to London!!  Catch y'all on the other side of the pond!

Énormes bisous!