mizChartreuse || redefiningSuccess

Can my life get any better? Really? Am I dreaming? Am I really sitting in a French mansion with Nancy’s fabulous parents and cute little Yorkie mix doggies? Did I really just go to the most wonderful dinner party with Nancy’s parents’ friends down the street and drink French wine and have the most delectable dinner?

I could not have possibly asked for a better vacation, and I’ve only been in France for about 12 hours.

Nancy’s friend Peter picked us up at her place (and I found a PRIMO parking spot in front of her condo ON Lake Shore Drive…seriously) and we had plenty of time to relax at the O’Hare after going through TSA. We went to the Chili’s in the airport and two seats at the bar opened up for us. We had our meal and a few cocktails and had a fantastic bartender. Our flight was on time and the smoothest takeoff and landing. And Montreal, from what I could see, is quite lovely.

For our flight from Canada to Paris, we were on a HUGE Boeing 777 (lucky number!) airplane and had the entire row to ourselves so we could stretch. We had a delicious meal and got some sleep. I did some writing and listened to music too.

At the Charles DuGalle (sp?) airport in France, we met a few obstacles.

The train companies are all on strike, and we were supposed to take a train to the Paris Austerlitz Train Station (kind of like our Metra) to come out here to Limoges, which is a three-hour train ride. Since the trains were on strike, we didn’t know how to get to Austerlitz. We could have flown, but that would have been over $500! Within the country! And the bus would have been 7 or 8 hours. We made a few phone calls, changed some US dollars to Euros, and went downstairs to try and find a taxi.

“It’ll be a LONG wait, but you can probably get one to Austerlitz,” people told us. The line at the taxi stand was LITERALLY 75-100 people deep…horrible. Plus, we don’t wait in line.

A random man came up and asked us if we needed a cab to Paris. Um, yes! Turns out he was the airport shuttle service…but how did he know to approach US? For only 40 Euros he drove us to the Austerlitz train station.

We got there in the NICK of time. But were trains running?

The ONLY train running was the one we needed to take…imagine that! Everything else from there were buses, yick. We bought first class train tickets and boarded in our super luxurious seats. I fell asleep right away, as I had on both plane rides. SO smooth. Why can’t CTA take a couple pointers, huh?

Nancy’s parents picked us up right away and…voila! Here we are. Their home is gorgeous, the vino delicious, and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my vacation. Home life and schoolwork are the LAST things on my mind. I am in fucking France. Wow. And her parents are HILARIOUS, wonderful, funny, beautiful people.

Went to a fabulous dinner party at their friends Tim and Barbara’s home, and had such a blast. I love older people…less pettiness. Very sweet. Took pictures, ate great food, and had so much fun.

I am so excited for the rest of the week.

And really…I’m going to keep saying this, but the law of attraction truly works. Everything worked out perfectly in spite of the odds being stacked against us. And if you knew how much we paid for plane tickets you would be shocked. We are truly blessed and are going to enjoy ourselves to the fullest.

I also like how everyone mistakes me for being French and speaks to me in the language…how elegant!

This is the life.