I am certainly not complaining, people.  Because I am on a [mostly] free trip to Paris, and when will that ever happen again?  But the first five days were not completely enjoyable.  The business district we were in while Scott was working could have been any city really. Just skyscrapers and rushed businessmen and mediocre food.

And me alone with my toddler all day and sometimes at night if work required evening attention. In a place where people seemed both shocked and confused to see a small child. And yes that was every bit as fun as it sounds. Last night, when the work day was over, I was grabbing my coat and shoes and loading Jude in the stroller to get the hell out. We dined on the Champs-Elysees, and had the best food I’ve tasted in months just by stumbling on a random brasserie. How do the French do that? They’ve mastered food in a way we never will.

The reward of my few days alone in the business district is so worth it. Scott didn’t have to work today at all, but by mid-morning, we were packed up and headed out to our new location. The taxi ride felt like fresh air.

So here we are in what finally feels like The Real Paris, and I’m writing with a belly full of Salade Parisienne and the soundtrack of two napping boys in our hotel room. We have no plan for tonight which is perfectly good with me. Tuilerie Garden perhaps. Or somewhere equally as lazy and beautiful.

Plans for the next few days? Eiffel Tower, Musee D’Orsay, the Marais, Centre Pompidou, maybe Montmartre. Just trying to soak it all in and enjoy some last travel moments as a family of three.

I’m realizing I’m pregnant on this trip, in the sense that I cannot really lift things or walk as fast as I’d like or whatever. I’m just past 22 weeks, so it’s where the physical limitations are sinking in a little. All in all, it’s not bad though. Just trying to calm my overly anxious American ways and enjoy the occasional french coffee or white cheese or sip of wine (gasp! My doctor even told me to.) and remember that millions of mothers around the world do the same thing and enjoy healthy pregnancies.  In fact, when I look around and think about all of this, I’m realizing we are the unhealthy ones in so many ways.

Here it is bread at every meal. Pastries every morning. Sidewalks smelling of cigarette smoke all day long. But they are happy and relaxed and healthy both physically and psychologically in a way I think we will never be.

Oh travel, I love you so.   You always show me things I’d never notice otherwise.

More soon, friends. Thanks for reading.