Europe Part 6 – Paris

Time to go to Paris! As I mentioned, Spain was delightful – not only the amazing scenery but the people. They seemed to have a real zest for life, which was on full display during our plane ride out of Barcelona. The back of the plane was filled with a group traveling together. They broke out in song as they took their seats. When we touched down at Charles de Gaulle Airport, the pilot announced our safe, on-time arrival. The back of the plane erupted into cheers – quite a rowdy, fun group.

We made our way through the usual airport routine, boarded the RER (France’s rapid transit system), and headed into the City of Light with our son and daughter-in-law as tour guides. In strict contrast to our plane ride, you could have heard a pin drop on the RER. This was also the case every time we rode the subway, unless a musician popped in for an impromptu concert. People don’t look at each other on the subway. The typical smile or nod of the head that is customary in Orlando is not readily observed in Paris.

When at last I set foot on the streets of Paris, I paused to take it all in. Emotion welled up inside me. It was a little overwhelming. This city of romance, art and history has quite a reputation. I wanted to absorb the city, to remember the sights and sounds, to feel the rhythm of it all. I was in Paris. Yeah, baby!

I didn’t want Paris to fly by too quickly.

The first order of business was to get to Joe and Aubyron’s seventh-floor apartment. We walked for about 20 minutes along the streets of Paris, dragging our suitcases behind us. I knew what was ahead of me and I was not afraid. After all, this trip had been a walking trip. We literally walked for hours every day. I walked down the Rock of Gibraltar for goodness sake. I could handle the 124 stairs winding their way up to Joe’s apartment. I would do this. It was the moment I had trained for.

We opened the huge, green doors to a small, dark lobby. As if the staircase sensed our presence, the lights came on (either that or they were on a motion sensor). There it was looming large before my eyes. My Everest, my white whale – the oldest, windiest stairs I have ever dared climb. Up we went. I knew to pace myself. Nobody had to be a hero here. No records to break. Simply complete the climb. By the fourth flight I was feeling it. I handed my suitcase off as I feigned interest in the view from the window.

The stairs were angry that day – like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli

With each floor the stairs grew narrower and less level. I refused to let them defeat me. I would plant my suitcase firmly in that apartment and call it home for the next week. The way it really happened was, I planted my four-wheeled suitcase on the floor of the bedroom in the apartment and it rolled across the room. Such is life in a Paris apartment.

The sense of achievement I felt as I entered their apartment was only equaled by the exhaustion of the climb. I did it. Now, let’s go back downstairs and see the city.

We actually went up and down those stairs three times that first day. The motivation of seeing more of Paris was enough to get us going. Joe took us on a walking tour of the city that gave a great overview. We passed Notre Dame and saw the Eiffel Tower from the Seine River. I was captivated.

Not the Arc de Triomphe

Locks on the Bridges are common and considered a nuisance by the city

This picture captures the way people think of the locks. Bob is interested. Aubyron sees the romance of it all. Joe is disappointed that people defile the bridges.

After a long day, we head back home. Here’s the image that was in my head that night.

Good Night Eiffel Tower. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Au revoir!

8 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on January 10, 2014 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Travel

Tagged Barcelona, life in Paris, locks on bridges, Paris, RER, Seine River, travel, Travel in Europe, walking through Europe, winding stairs in Paris

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on January 10, 2014

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2014/01/10/europe-part-6-paris/

Christmas Wrap-Up

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season. Our Christmas was wonderful. Bob’s dad, my parents and my brother were with us on Christmas Day, as were all our kids and grandkids except for our son and daughter-in-law, who are still in Paris. They did visit us by video chat. We passed them around the room on my iPad for everyone to share a few minutes together.

There were a few unusual or noteworthy things this Christmas Season.

1. We decorated the inside of the house early this year. It was complete before we left for Europe back on November 15. I did not want to return home on December 1, jetlagged and worn out, with that task ahead of me.
2. Our first weekend home, we decorated the outside of the house. We scaled back – no lights on the roof so we (meaning Bob) didn’t have to do any climbing. The mandatory outdoor decoration is my Christmas moose. He is made from grapevines and stands proudly in our front yard with his head swaying back and forth as he greets passersby. This year, however, the lights on his antlers didn’t work. In the dark it looked like a headless moose – not too Christmassy. We never got around to fixing him, but as we walked into the house the evening of Christmas Eve, we noticed he was fully lit from antlers to tail. That’s right – it was a Christ-moose miracle.

Christmas Moose

3. I saw Santa Claus shopping at Costco on December 23. Further proof that Costco has the best stuff.
4. On that same Costco trip, I was nearly run over by a man texting while driving a motorized shopping cart. Makes you wonder how he ended up needing that cart to begin with.
5. While waiting in line at the grocery store I heard the elderly woman behind me quietly singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It struck me as funny that out of so many beautiful Christmas carols, this was the one she was singing. She must be a grandmother.
6. I did a photo Christmas card, which I have never done before. One of the photos was us posing with a monkey in Gibraltar. I mainly did this for my relatives who live out-of-state and figured it would be the only card they received with a picture of a live ape surrounded by family. This checks another thing off my bucket list.

Pictured left to right – Aubyron, Joe, Monkey, Me, Bob

7. I successfully made two new recipes for our Christmas meal. This is very unlike me on both counts – trying something new and having everyone like it.
8. There is one day out of the year that I can count on Bob being totally exhausted. That day is Christmas Eve. He hits the wall around 10:00 every Christmas Eve night without fail. I typically have crazy energy on Christmas Eve and am constantly amazed that he doesn’t. I’ll be getting stockings out to stuff and putting gifts under the tree and he will be down for the count. This year, however, Bob stayed up all the way until 10:30. That may have something to do with #9.
9. The stockings were stuffed and 95 percent of the gifts were wrapped by December 23.
10. Dena’s oldest three children painted a statue of whales for Bob’s dad. Dad is almost 91 and legally blind. He has a collection of carved animals, which he has acquired from all over the world. He was holding his gift and trying to figure out what it was. The kids told him it was two whales. He strained his eyes and asked, “Are they doing something obscene?” Another classic Grandpa quote.

On that note, I wish you a Happy New Year!

3 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on December 30, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Holidays

Tagged Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas moose, Costco, Santa Claus

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on December 30, 2013

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2013/12/30/christmas-wrap-up/

Europe Part 5 – More Adventures in Spain

We left Spain on Monday of last week, but there are several things from that leg of our trip which I want to share before I move my blog on to Paris.

You may remember that I was trying to brush up on my Spanish. By that I mean – attempting to remember what I learned in my two years of high school Spanish and trying to learn enough to order at a restaurant, get directions, purchase items from a store and the like. I found my Spanish-speaking skills muy util (very useful), especially when speaking with people who spoke English. I was excited when a local man told me that I was speaking well, even though I think he was being kind. Mostly I fumbled for the correct noun and pointed a lot. I felt like a toddler. Quiero esto (I want this). The most popular question I asked was “Habla ingles?” (Do you speak English?) I had a great time trying to communicate and found the Spanish people so gracious and helpful. My son, Joe, has been immersed in French since they moved to Paris two months ago. He speaks it well. Often he would say the French word for something and then I would say the Spanish.

When we moved on to Paris the problem was Bob and I kept thinking in Spanish. I really enjoyed hearing Bob tell the French “gracias.” You get the phrases of one language down, and then you move on to another language! It’s not exactly a seamless transition.

The Clothes Dryer

Resort amenities in Europe differ from those in the states. For instance, our resort had a washing machine and a dryer. The washer was small and confusing. The dryer was easy to operate.

Driving in Southern Spain was an experience of its own. Bob did an admirable job. The trip from the airport to our resort was most exciting. We got off at the wrong exit and were quickly lost. As you may know, roundabouts are all over the place in Europe, so you can literally find yourself going in circles. We finally stopped at a tienda (store) and right away I was up to bat as the clerk did not speak any English. Tiene un mapa, por favor? (Do you have a map? – I think I learned that question from Dora the Explorer.) We bought a map, but unfortunately it was not one that was helpful to us; so we backtracked and found our way.

Our directions said that the resort was right off of the highway. Look for camping, then a castle, then a petrol station and turn right. They were serious, too. Right after the petrol station we had to quickly slow from our 50 mph to make a sharp right turn with no off ramp. We held on tight as Bob made the turn without having anyone rear-end us.

We soon discovered that you can’t make a left turn in this region. There were signs that looked like someone had fun drawing intersecting lines that indicated we could turn left by turning right. Then we were led to a roundabout (if we were lucky), and then back on to the original road so we could turn right. Also, the signage was confusing. So many signs along the highway pointing to the same exit that we often thought we had missed our turn or we sometimes turned where the sign was and ended up on a service road. When we flew to Barcelona and left our rental car behind, Bob was happy to take a taxi or the subway for the rest of our trip.

We were excited to have tapas in Spain. We found the perfect spot in Barcelona to have an authentic lunch. I am not very adventurous when it comes to eating, but I did try every one of the tapas we ordered, even the octopus, which was disgusting. They came with their heads on them and their little legs curled up. Everyone else popped the whole repulsive thing in their mouth; I cut off a little piece – just couldn’t bring myself to eat the head. Everything else was amazing, well maybe not the squid and mushrooms, they were only good.

Tapas - Notice the Octopus on the left and the enormous glasses of sangria complete with the longest straw in the world

Tapas – Notice the 0ctopus on the left and the enormous glasses of sangria complete with the longest straws in the world

Also, while we were in Barcelona we witnessed a protest against some taxation issue. The streets were being closed by the police and parades of people with signs in hand and music playing marched down the streets. I am told that protests are not unusual in European cities. We chose to bypass the action and walk a couple of blocks over from them, just in case.

One night while walking down La Rambla, a tree-lined pedestrian mall that is famous for its shopping, we witnessed a woman rush out of a corner store with a stack of clothes clutched between her hands. She was followed by a security guard who wiped out flat on his face as he rounded a corner to catch her. He recovered from his fall and quickly gained on her. She dropped the clothing and fled. Honestly, we did not feel unsafe on our trip, but I did find it interesting how bold a snatcher can be.

I’ll leave you with a picture of the view we had the pleasure of enjoying during our stay in Southern Spain and a picture of the castle that was near us. Of course, we walked along the Mediterranean Sea and up to the castle. That was the first of many walks. Many, many walks. Next blog will be about our adventure in Paris.

We walked along the Mediterranean to this castle.

2 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on December 4, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Travel

Tagged driving in Spain, La Rambla, Sangria, Spain, tapas, travel in Spain

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on December 4, 2013

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2013/12/04/europe-part-5-more-adventures-in-spain/

Europe Part 4 – Color and Light

Spain was a delightful surprise to us. We chose to go there because we were going to Paris to visit our son and daughter-in-law, and we wanted to tag on a visit to another area – you know, as long as we were in the neighborhood. We narrowed our choice down to Southern Spain and Tuscany, because both areas were available via our time-share. We chose Spain because chances were the weather would be warmer. Also, I was afraid if we went to Tuscany in late November I would never get Bob to go back there when we could roam the countryside without lugging heavy coats around. He would want to try some place different and new. I couldn’t risk it.

Barcelona was the icing on our Spanish cake. It reminds me of New York City except when I’ve visited New York City I was always ready to get out of the city, but in Barcelona I wanted to stay longer. It is a very artsy city with a strong influence by Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi was the architect/artist who designed The Sagrada Familia, the unfinished basilica that looms large over the city. He wanted a cathedral that would draw people to worship. The story of Jesus is depicted all over the outside of it.

The front doors have the gospel carved into them.

Once inside his influence from nature takes over. He was fascinated by light and his use of stained glass combined with columns that look like trees transforms the interior to a symphony of color.

I will admit that the inside of the cathedral emphasized Gaudi so much that I think it may have distressed the man, who died when he was run over by a tram in 1926 just before his 74th birthday. (To this day, the cathedral is unfinished; construction is on-going.) The outside, though, dramatically moved me to worship. Jesus was glorified.

Park Guell is another of Gaudi’s creations. The serpentine benches alone were worth seeing, but the entire park is a wonderland.

Now I have to stop myself from posting more pictures. I haven’t even included Gaudi’s houses around Barcelona, but I guess there’s always facebook for more.

2 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on November 26, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Faith, Family, Travel

Tagged Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona, Gaudi's unfinished basilica, Park Guell, Sagrada Familia, traveling in Spain

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on November 26, 2013

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2013/11/26/europe-part-4-color-and-light/

Europe Part 3 – On to Africa

Yesterday we went to Africa. What a strange sentence to write! Bob deserved a break from chauffeuring us all over Southern Spain so we joined a tour group that picked us up at our resort and drove about an hour and a half to catch the fast ferry to Morocco. On arriving we were shepherded into a bus and driven around the coast. We saw the Cave of Hercules with all its lovely views. Unfortunately, the beauty of it was marred by merchants within its walls.

The coast offered a view of the spot where the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet. Tradition says that during certain seasons you can see the demarkation of Sea to Ocean. It all looked the same to me.

From there we headed to the pony rides of Africa – dromedaries. We figured we had monkeys jump on us in Gibraltar, so riding a camel was not a big leap.

After we dismounted the camels the tour went downhill. They took us to a lunch in Tangier. We had been alerted to the danger of pick-pockets in the crowded streets. There are a lot of ways they try to get you. I was listening to our guide when all of a sudden I felt someone bump into me and slip their hand into my pocket. Always on the ready, I squeezed the intruding hand with all of my might and almost crushed the hand of the poor older woman, who was part of our tour, who had slipped and was using me to steady her – or at least that’s what she claimed. It was a little awkward!

Our lunch was good but the “surprise” of belly dancing was cheesy. And then it got worse. We were herded to a carpet store where we had the opportunity to purchase expensive carpets, none of which could you fly around on. After making it out of the carpet arena we were deposited in a “pharmacy” where we could purchase herbs and local concoctions for everything from backaches to laziness.

We made it through those two things without being tempted to make a purchase and then we headed down the streets of Morocco where we were approached by very persistent local merchants who had local jewelry, belt, mirrors, magnets and the like. It was fun and interesting to negotiate with these folks and it gave us a view of a different way of life.

We felt like we were on the movie set of an Indian Jones movie. Even our guide looked like he stepped off the silver screen.

I started looking for the movie director who may have been yelling, “Release the street merchants. Now release the small child clutching a single coin in his hand. Bring in the rain clouds to give reason for our guide holding an umbrella.”

We can now say we’ve been to Africa.

On a related note. I collect magnets of all the states we have traveled to. They are displayed on our refrigerator at home. Once we had a layover in Illinois and I insisted on buying a magnet. Bob said I hadn’t really been on Illinois soil. I said it counts. Our trip to Africa was like that. It counts. Yes, I enjoyed it; but there was so much more to see that our tour did not allow. I’m glad we did it and glad Bob had a relief from driving, but I might just have to return one day.

2 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on November 22, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Travel

Tagged camel riding, guided tours of Tangier, Morocco, Tangier

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on November 22, 2013

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2013/11/22/europe-part-3-on-to-africa/

Europe Part 2 – Monkey Business

I woke up this morning with one question on my mind – How does one dress for monkeys? I don’t mean how should I dress to impress a monkey, but how should I dress in case a monkey jumps on me? This can only mean it was our day to travel to Gibraltar.

Gibraltar is part of the British Empire, complete with bobbies and double-decker buses. The currency is the pound, but for a fee most merchants are happy to take euros. Before planning this trip I didn’t know Gibraltar was its own nation. I confess I had only heard of the Rock of Gibraltar. In my mind it looked like Alcatraz, i.e., The Rock. This was quite a diffferent experience.

To get there, we headed west down Spain’s version of A1A for about 1.5 hours. Mountains were to our right and the Med Sea to our left. It’s quite breathtaking. At long last, there it was looming large in the distance. The Rock of Gibraltar is quite a presence.

Thanks to Rick Steves’ guidebook, we were prepared to park in Spain and walk across the border. This saved a lot of headaches. To walk across the border you cross a live air strip of the Gibraltar Airport. No planes were coming or going at the time, so that made it a little less exciting. Still it was a strange experience.

We traveled through the main square taking in all the Britishness of the place and stopped for a typical British lunch, cottage pie.

As we entered the city, taxi drivers and tour guides taunted us to buy their tour. Ha! We laughed at their taunts that we would regret going it on our own. The gondola took all of six minutes to get us to the top viewing area. How I wish we had bought a ticket for the ride down!

We were excited to see Africa off in the distance. It was beautiful and seemed to beckon us to come. Sometimes the world seems small and close. The views of Spain were also amazing. But, we wanted to see monkeys, the famous Gibraltar apes. So, ennough of the landscapes and seascapes, on to the monkeys.

Our son, Joe, was on a mission. He really wanted a monkey to jump on him. Honestly, we all did, even Aubyron (our daughter-in-law), but she preferred a small one. You shouldl know that a large fine will be imposed for anyone taunting, feeding or approaching the apes. They are serious about this. So you just have to make yourself available, you know, hang around the various monkey haunts until one gets curious. We practiced looking nonchalant.

Bob was the first to have an encounter, but unfortunately I didn’t see it; but it counts. It was starting to get late and we were in need of more monkey business. I prayed that God would have a monkey jump on us (yes, I really did). We approached a few and sent out that “hey, we’re just chillin'” vibe. Joe took the high route and Aubyron and I took the low route. I leaned against the wall and looked over the sea with my most I-don’t-care-if you-jump-on-me-or-not attitude. Honestly, for a minute I wasn’t thinking monkey, and then it happened.

Yes I was groomed by a Barbary macaque (Gibraltar monkey). It was awesome! Not that I want to do this on a regular basis, but how often do you have this opportunity. He was surprisingly light and surprisingly happy to comb through my hair. I had read that if one jumps on you, you should squat down as they like to launch off of people. My monkey was quite content to groom me for about a minute and a half. Cool.

Bob and I were ready to go down. Joe was not. He had not had the full monkey experience and was dedicating himself to retaining it. At this point, we separated. Joe and Aubyron went off to see monkeys and find a way down the rock and Bob and I started walking down. I should mention that it was nearly dusk at this time and it appeared as if we would be the ones to lock up the rock. We had not calculated our return trip and I suppose the annoying taxi drivers were indeed getting the last laugh. We started walking down, down, down. There were no other tourists in sight. We saw parts of Gibraltar that are not on the tour – a child riding his bike, guard dogs barking, a gang of street youths that looked scarier than the apes did.

We were tired and it appeared that we had a long walk down ahead of us. I saw a woman watching her child play and offered to pay her to give us a ride. Bob told her it wasn’t necessary and she declined. I guess she would have anyway. I started hitchhiking every time I would see a car, which was infrequent. Bob had to instruct me on proper thumb placement, but I got the hang of it. The woman had suggessted that someone might pick us up and we might consider limping to look more sympathetic. Limping was no problem. Our entire bodies hurt. We figured we must have walked more than 10 miles up and down hills. We did find ourselves doing well considering, but the more we walked the further it seemed we had to go.

Finally a tour guide with two ladies in his van stopped for my hitchhiking thumb. They graciously gave us a ride down. He is my new best friend.

When we separated from Joe and Aubyron we decided to meet up at the All’s Well Tavern in town. Seemed appropriate. When we arrived, the sun had completely set and all the places of business were closing up. Time to pray again. This time for Joe and Aubyron to get down the rock. Twenty minutes later they arrived.

We decided to head across the border and have dinner in Spain. That would give us an opportunity to rest before the drive back. The border had its own idea. The line to cross the border looked like a bad day at Disney World. We waited 1.5 hours to walk across. The lines for cars were even worse. Periodically they would show their disapproval with a chorus of car horns. Yep, another new experience. Finally we crossed and saw those wonderful Golden Arches. Dinner at McDonalds sounded good to us. Food and a little rest made for a happier drive back to our resort.

As I prepared for bed that night I looked like a monkey had been going through my hair and I was tired. It was a great day.

Today we did nothing as we required rest. Tomorrow we will venture out again.

4 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on November 20, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Travel

Tagged apes of Gibraltar, Gibraltar, Rick Steves, Spain travel

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on November 20, 2013

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2013/11/20/europe-part-2-monkey-business/

Europe Part 1 – Help Me Ronda

Our adventure in Spain has begun! We began on Sunday with a day of rest that included a walk along the Mediterranean Sea, picking up stones and skipping them across the water. It was surreal. I think the walk helped me adjust to the six-hour time difference. The air was clear and crisp and the view amazing.

I had no idea that Spain was so mountainous. We meandered the windy roads to a little town called Ronda. There is a cave near there, Cueva de la Pileta, that was discovered in 1905. The cave was a bit treacherous for me, but I braved it. We single filed down slippery stairs following a guide with a flashlight. The four of us we were allotted two lanterns, which turned out to be fine as walking down the narrow, dark stairs was sufficient challenge for me. I was happy to have Bob carry our lantern. We were not allowed to touch the sides of the cave. I think I unintentionally broke that rule three times while traversing very narrow areas. We found lakes, cave drawings and the remains of what looked like a pottery factory (as you would imagine one thousands of years ago). It was very physical. At one point I felt a bit claustrophobic, even though we were not in a tight space. It is weird knowing that you are underground in a totally dark place. A few deep breathes and I was fine. I did feel a little like an old woman, though, as I took the steps slowly, two feet on each step before taking the next one. None of us fell – success!

The town of Ronda is famous for its new bridge, which was constructed in 1793 after the old bridge collapsed. It spans a gorgeous gorge and is one of the most picturesque places I have ever been.

6 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on November 20, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Travel

Tagged cave hiking, Europe travel, Ronda Spain

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on November 20, 2013

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2013/11/20/europe-part-1-help-me-ronda/

Off We Go

After much planning, shopping, studying and more shopping, today Bob and I head to Europe. We will meet our son, Joe, and his wife, Aubyron in Malaga, Spain, tomorrow at 4 pm Spain time. To get there we will fly from Orlando to Atlanta (I think this is mandatory for any travel anywhere. My dad always said it’s because they have the best baggage crusher.) Then from Atlanta we fly to Madrid. We will have a five-hour layover there and then on to Malaga.

This past week has been active to say the least. My sweet husband has had a cold/cough and has had to go to work every day in spite of that. He also had things to do for his dad so it’s been non-stop (unlike our airplane travel). I knew he was worn out, but I had no idea how tired he was until he called me into his home office and told me he couldnt figure out how to forward an old email to our son. Sure enough, there was no obvious way. And then something amazing happened – I figured it out. Yes, you read that right. I figured it out (it was worth saying twice).

Now, I should mention that he had spent quite a bit of time working out a computer problem for me earlier that night; but that might take away from my moment of techie genius. I will soar on this triumph for weeks. Even now as I think about it I’m smiling and giving myself a mental high-five.

Part of what Bob was doing for me was making sure I have a keyboard for my iPad so I can blog while we are gone. I am typing on said keyboard right now as a trial. Looks like it’s working so I hope to blog along the way on my trip. I’m sure between Spain, Gibraltar and Paris there will be a lot to tell. With any luck I’ll be posting a few times so you can follow me through Europe. As always, I appreciate all of you who take a few moments to read my blog. You are a blessing to me.

9 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on November 15, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Travel

Tagged Paris, Spain, travel

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on November 15, 2013

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2013/11/15/off-we-go/

The Trail of the Night Visitor

Bob called me on his way home from work today and gave me the rundown of his day. He accomplished a lot for his job and also managed to check several things off his to-do list for our upcoming trip to Europe. He was pretty pumped. The conversation went something like this.

Bob (with enthusiasm): I did this, that and the other at work (this is a paraphrase); I called Verizon and figured out how to use our phones in Europe. I also called the cable company and downgraded our service to save us a few bucks. I got our car insurance adjusted. I’ve updated our itinerary for our trip. How about you, anything exciting happen?

Me (with equal enthusiasm): I found raccoon poop in the backyard.

This was not a total surprise to me as two nights ago I was washing my face when I heard something scratching at the outside door to the hot tub area right off our bathroom. It reminded me of when we had a dog and he would scratch to come in the house. I opened the blind and there was a raccoon trying to convince me to let him in. Of course I did not, as the last thing I needed before going to bed was a raccoon in my bathroom.

I ran and got my camera and Bob (in that order). I snapped this picture. I guess he really didn’t want in, he must have needed help getting the cover off the hot tub. In his defense, it is a little tricky.

Focus, Focus, Focus

You may remember that my incentive for reorganizing my house was my son and his wife were temporarily moving to Paris, and we wanted to make room for some of their things. I didn’t mention that we are planning on visiting them there. On November 16 we will meet them in Malaga, Spain, for a week and then on to Paris for another week.

This is causing me to focus on three main things for the next month.

Lose weight. Always a focus before any trip, anniversary, high school reunion, summer, doctor appointment, etc.
Get in shape – exercise. Depending on the trip, this may or may not be a priority for me. For this trip it is as we will be walking a lot. When we stay with Joe and Aubyron (pronounced Aubrin) in Paris, we will have seven flights of stairs to climb to get to their apartment. That also means there are seven flights to descend whenever we go out. I’m hoping that once I walk up, I will have the energy to go back down and actually see Paris.
Brush up on my Spanish. This implies that my Spanish is “bueno.” It is not. I had two years of Spanish in high school. That was more than a few anos (years) ago.

The Stairs to Joe and Aubyron’s Paris Apartment

So here I am, tackling three big things at once, which is a rarity for me; but I am motivated. I am using MyFitnessPal to track my calories and exercise. It’s so easy and the app for my phone means it’s simple to keep track.

I am either walking or doing Zumba on our Wii for my exercise. If you drive by my house in the daytime and see all my blinds closed, you can assume I am doing Zumba or passed out on the couch from just finishing a session.

As far as learning espanol is concerned, I am using Instant Immersion. They tell me that I can have a short conversation with someone at this point in my lessons, but I’m not so sure. I heard two people conversing in Spanish the other day and I don’t think I made out but a couple of words.

I like the program, but some of the words they want me to know seem odd. For example, is cauliflower some kind of big deal in Spain? It must be or why would I have to learn it (coliflor, in case you’re curious). Maybe they have advertisements there like they do here – GOT MILK? – TIENES COLIFLOR? I can’t wait to go to my first restaurant in Spain and flaunt my knowledge. I’m going to be so bi-lingual.

When we get to Paris, we’ll let Joe and Aubyron take over communicating. We will probably be too winded from walking up and down and stairs to talk anyway. Aubyron has started a blog about their adventure. I think you will enjoy it. She is funny and real and takes lots of pictures. If you’re unable to travel to Paris, you can do so vicariously through her. Click here to read it. Enjoy!

8 Comments

by Bonnie Anderson on October 22, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Travel

Tagged Malaga, MyFitnessPal, Paris, Spanish Instant Immersion, Zumba

Posted by Bonnie Anderson on October 22, 2013

https://lifeonthelighterside.com/2013/10/22/focus-focus-focus/