JR's World Tour - 4th Stop : Paris

Once again, our stop in Paris was short and sweet.  Only two nights.  In the two years we've been here, we really haven't done the city of Paris justice.  We only go when something motivates us to go - medical appointments, visiting friends or family, piggybacking on other trips.  Of our half dozen trips to Paris, only once did we go just to see Paris itself, and never have we stayed more than four nights; usually its only two.  Before our time in France is up, I'm hoping we can take an entire week to explore the city; it really feels endless.  There are more restaurants and shops and sights and museums than one could ever fully tire of, and no matter how many times we go, I just can't get enough.

This particular two night trip was cut even shorter than normal, due to our early flight out the next morning.  But we had about a day and half to enjoy the city, so we did our best.  For me, Paris conjures images of gourmet food in lavish, belle epoque dining rooms.  And it should, the dining options here are fantastic!
Just one problem:

There he is!!!

So this is what dining in Paris really looks like for us these days:

We sprung for a room with a great Eiffel Tower view, and searched the streets for Parisian sweets, champagne, and yes, pizza.  Take-out food.  Because it's just not always worth it trying to get the baby to sit through a meal at a restaurant.  

The next morning we headed out on a nice walk along the Seine, stopping for a few minutes at the famous bridge of locks.  No, we didn't add one.  They are constantly cutting the locks off to keep the bridge from collapsing from the weight of all that metal, and knowing it would probably only be there for a few months kind of takes away from the romance of it.  So much for "forever", right?

Musee d'Orsay was our main destination of the morning.  A vast central hall, with several rooms full of paintings jutting off of each side, we wandered in and out for the better part of an hour, particularly enjoying the Degas and the van Gogh sections.  I do remember seeing a large number of grotesque paintings though; I wasn't such a big fan of the depictions of blood and death on half of the walls.  Photos are not allowed inside the museum itself, so we also entertained ourselves by counting the number of people that don't understand the meaning of this symbol

and have to be told off by the employees.  In one hour, I think I counted five.  It's not that hard people!!

That afternoon we met up with the rest of our gang for a small picnic at the tower.  In typical French fashion, we grabbed wine and a couple of baguettes, and parked ourselves in front of the Eiffel Tower for a while.  And then played dress-up with the baby:

Alas, no mustache for le bebe this time.

I never feel I've had my fill of Paris.  It may be in France, but to me, it is not French - it is uniquely Parisian and barely even resembles our city of Montpellier.  A city full of life, with surprises around every corner, j'adore Paris!








      

JR's World Tour - 3rd Stop : Santorini

Santorini... where to start.  What a magical place.  It really is just like the postcards, and every bit as wonderful as you dream it up to be.  From Crete, we took the two hour mega-jet ferry to Fira (JR's first boat ride!), where we set up camp for the next four nights.  We stayed at the Majestic Hotel on the outskirts of town, and I so wish I had snapped a photo of it.  The property was a bunch of white, two-story buildings connected by narrow, open walkways, and they must have had a brainwashing, relaxation inducing soundtrack playing in the background, because the entire property had a spa-like atmosphere.

We got ourselves settled in, let the little one have a small siesta, and then spent the early evening hours wandering the streets and shops of Fira and admiring the caldera view.  Santorini is actually made of five separate islands that were formed a long long time ago when a volcano erupted and left a huge crater more or less surrounded by five islands, thus resulting in a caldera.  And by some remarkable stroke of luck, it happened to occur in a location with some of the most brilliant sunsets in the entire world.  So it's a special place, to say the least.  Our hotel room had a nice sized terrace with a sunset view, and after we wore ourselves out poking in and out of tourist shops with cartoon donkeys and rainbow sunsets stamped on everything, we settled in with the babe and watched the sun go down from our hotel.  JR was in a great mood, so between a happy baby and gorgeous view, we were feeling pretty spectacular.

Donkey crossing outside our hotel

Streets of Santorini

Happy baby!

Admiring the view

Santorini Sunset

The second day we planned an evening trip to Oia (pronounced Ee-ya) for dinner with a sunset view.  Oia is also a bit more picturesque than Fira and well worth a few hours of wandering around; in fact it is so beautiful, it almost doesn't look real.  Every walkway and building is in tune with the atmosphere and perfectly kept up.  I actually preferred to stay in Oia, but Fira is more central and allowed us to access other parts of the island more easily, so in the end, practicality won.  Anyhow, we asked the front desk at our hotel to recommend a restaurant for us with a great view, that would also be baby friendly, or in other words, nothing too fancy.  They reserved us a corner table at a place called Sunsets Cafe, where we would be able to watch the sun drop and splash it's light off the water and onto the white buildings blanketing the cliffside.  You know, postcard stuff.  We realized as we were leaving we didn't quite know how to get to the restaurant, so we stopped by and ask for detailed directions.  It was a different employee working, but we knew the name of the restaurant, so figured she could easily help us.  After all, the island is not that big.  We asked for directions to a restaurant called "Sunsets" in the town of Oia.  "No problem!" she said, :Here is how you get to Sunsets Tavern...".  Can you see where this story is going?  Not good.  She instructed us to walk into the town and for directions to Amoudi Bay, we would need to go down some stairs, around 100 she said, and then there were four restaurants in a row and ours was the third one.  We were a bit put off by the 100 stairs, considering we had a baby strapped to us, but we thanked her anyway and headed off.  The five of us got to Oia with no problem (the bus system in Santorini is fantastic) and followed the crowd into the city.  We were a little pressed for time, so immediately started looking for some stairs and asking for directions.  People were very helpful!  The Greeks really are a friendly bunch.  But sunset was quickly approaching, the crowds were coming in, and somehow our group got separated.  Kerry and I with baby hurried off down the stairs, while Mom and Karla disappeared somewhere behind us.  But by this time we had found the stairs and there was only one path down; we figured they would catch up.  I had the baby, so Kerry took off to make sure they didn't give away our table.  I slowly shuffled my way down the "100 stairs".  No.  The stairs go all the way down the cliff.  And they are switchback style, back and forth and back

and.

forth.

the never.

ending.

stairs.

So many stairs...          

Finally, I reached the bottom.  250 stairs later.  We found Sunsets Tavern.  They did have a table for us, but it wasn't under a reservation from The Majestic for 4 people and a baby.  This should have been a big clue... also, it wasn't really what I was looking for.  We had a sunset view, but we couldn't see the beautiful cliff of perfect white buildings stacked on top of each other.  I wasn't satisfied, we left.  We figured we would leave and catch Mom and Karla on their way down, and tell them to turn around before they went any further.  So back up we went.  My legs were shaking before I even started.  I did unload the babe and let Kerry take him on the way up.  Up, up, and up, back and forth, back and forth, and no sign of our travel buddies.  What??  We had to stop a few times to catch our breath, by the time we reached the top, we were both damp with sweat, hungry, and panting for something to drink.  Meanwhile, Mom and Karla had somehow found a restaurant called Sunsets Cafe, and were patiently waiting for us to join them.  We were sucking down 6 euro lemonades and wiping sweat off our faces.  So yes, on the tiny island that is Santorini, there are two restaurants in the same city named "Sunsets".  Our hotel reserved us a table at one restaurant, then gave us directions to the other one.  Not cool Majestic... Kerry and I stopped in at the first place that looked like they might be able to give us food while we watched the sun go down, and then we headed back to Fira.  We never did meet up with the other half of our group again that night, but I'm told the view was great, they had the best table in the house, and enjoyed a great Greek dinner...

At least the 250 stairs had a nice view

Exhausted and sweaty, buying lemonades to quench our thirst

A view of the staircase of death, from the bottom of the cliff, all the way to the top!

At least we managed to see the sunset

The next day Kerry and I took advantage of our babysitters and spent the afternoon exploring the island on our own.  We rented a 4 wheeler and drove back to Amoudi Bay (on purpose this time) for a swim in one of Santorini's best swimming holes.  To get to the shallow swimming waters, you have to hike around the corner of the red cliffs, climb over a few rocks, and then descend down into a small, relatively flat area where you can jump a few feet off of the rocks and into the water.  Can you see why we left the baby behind?  It's not a secret spot by any means, but I think the entire hour or two we were there, we probably only saw about 30 other people.  It felt very un-touristy, which was neat.  Normally I'm quite happy to be a tourist, but this entire excursion felt very authentic, which was a nice change.  It's also one of the only spots I know of in the world where you can swim in an actual caldera, so that's kind of neat too.  Santorini has beaches, but most of them are on the other side of the island, facing away from the old volcano.  We whiled away a couple of hours swimming and lounging on the rocky cliffs, then headed back up to Oia for some smoothies with a view, followed of course, by a little shopping.

Amoudi Bay

Traversing the rocks to get to Amoudi Bay

Beautiful Oia

For our final day in Santorini, all votes were for visiting a beach.  Black, red, or white?  We chose black - no regrets!  It was an easy 20-30 minute bus ride, and it stopped right outside Perivolos Beach, where there were plenty restaurants renting chairs and umbrellas.  Some people prefer secluded, calm, untouched beaches.  Not me.  Give me those lounge chairs and bring me food and drinks with little umbrellas and pineapple slices on the rim.  Eeeeaaasssy.  And with a baby, the easier the better.  We got an early start to avoid having the baby in the afternoon sun, and JR made it nearly two full hours before we had to head back!  We were thrilled!  The sand was in fact black, and the water was a perfect ocean blue.  The water itself was a little rough, too rough to get the baby in, but for the rest of us it was actually a lot of fun; the waves on the shore felt like a wave pool, and we had a blast sitting on the shoreline and letting the water toss us around for a few minutes.    
    

Perivolos Beach

Black sand!

Our final evening, Kerry and I enjoyed one last date night.  Dinner at Selene, easily the most renowned restaurant on the island.  It was a very unique gastronomical experience, and a perfect end to our Greek vacation.

Riding off into the sunset :)

   

JR's World Tour - 2nd Stop : Crete, Greece

For our honeymoon, we took a cruise through the Greek Islands.  We stopped in 4 ports, for only a few hours each, but that's all it took for us to know that the Greek Isles were worth a repeat visit.  It was a destination that had been high on my list for a while, but kept getting put off due to various reasons (but mostly because of JR).  I was determined to make it happen this year, and our 3rd wedding anniversary seemed like the the perfect opportunity.

I knew I wanted to see some great beaches, and the direct flight from Marseille to Chania (pronounced "Ha-nya") made Crete the obvious choice.  Crete has some of the very best beaches in all of Europe.  We chose to stay in Platanias, a beach front resort town about 20 minutes west of Chania, and within driving distance of some the islands finest displays of sand, sun, and waves.  Before we left for Greece, I was a little anxious about the fact that I had very little planned for the trip, no real sight-seeing destinations or major tourist attractions on the agenda.  I was worried we would tire of the beach and get bored - so silly... I think I could spend months in the Greek Islands and still not want to leave.  It's paradise on earth!  It helps that the Greek people are as nice as can be, and all seem to be fantastic cooks.  We spent four short days playing in the water, exploring souvenir shops interspersed with a few surprisingly interesting art galleries, and chowing down on delicious Greek food (tzatziki sauce on everything!!!).

The beach outside our hotel.  It is considered "pretty good".

Enjoying our private pool - free upgrade compliments of Minoa Palace Resort!

The five star beaches more or less require day trips.  We only made the trek once; the roads are long and curvy, and JR gets fed up with the car pretty quickly.  But Falassarna was only about an hour away, and worth every minute of the drive.

It might be the prettiest beach I have ever seen.  The water was clear light turquoise, and just cool enough to be refreshing, but still warm enough for the baby - perfect!  The Caribbean beaches are pretty spectacular as well, but what puts this one at the top for me is the view from the water.  Wade out a few yards into the sea, turn around, and gaze at the mountains rising up in the not so far away distance.  5:00 P.M. came and none of us were ready to leave, except for JR.  One day he will love the beach, but he's not quite there yet.  

That evening, back at the hotel, the sea outside treated us to an incredible show of giant waves.  Some of them were taller than us!  We had never seen anything like it; I think we stayed out for nearly an hour watching them roll in.

Playing in the waves

Sunset in Crete

Now let me tell you about vacationing with a baby.  We have taken JR to Spain, London, Paris, Greece, and America.  So we've learned a few things.  There is only ONE way to travel with a tiny tot - bring a babysitter!  We were fortunate enough to have two helpers come along for our journey: JR's Grand-mere (my momma) and Auntie Karla (family friend).  Kerry and I actually got to enjoy ourselves a little bit!  We relaxed on the beach, went to dinner, and even took a turn at the water sofa.      
This is how Mommy and Daddy eat lunch:  

Playing pass the baby while we lunched on gryos.

We took turns riding on the water sofa - Kerry thought it was a lot of fun, I was terrified.  There was a photographer on the boat and of the 60 pictures he took, these were the only two where I looked remotely happy about being flung over the wake into the air.  In the end, it was pretty fun, but I also wasn't sad when our time was up.

I think I'm smiling because it's almost over.

We also celebrated three years of marriage while in Greece.  Everyone is always talking about how quickly time flies, and "can you believe it's already been x number of years?!?"  and what not.  But I don't feel that way.  For me it's the opposite.  I can't believe we have only been married for 3 years; it feels like so much longer!  But before you start worrying about us, let me tell you why this is a good thing.  In three (short) years, Kerry and I got married, moved to Europe, I quit my job, he started a new one, we visited a dozen new countries, learned a new language (kind of), survived pregnancy, and now we have seven month old baby.  We have been through so much together already, and while it hasn't flown by, probably because a lot of it has been so difficult, I think it has tested and matured our marriage in ways we would not have encountered if we had never moved here.  While we now feel that we do have a support network in Montpellier, for a long time we didn't, and we had no choice but to rely on each other for everything.  When I look back at all that we have done in the last three years, I can't believe we have crammed so many memories into such a short period of time.  It's been jam-packed, stressful, exciting, exhausting, and transformative for us both as individuals and as a couple.

Moving to France has allowed us to keep life busy and interesting; we certainly feel like we are living life to the fullest.  That said, I hope sometime in the next three years we can slow it down a bit, we just can't keep this pace up forever!

  

JR's World Tour - 1st Stop : London

We left our apartment on July 26th for London.  Between that day, and our grand return on September 15th, we spent a total of 15 (non-consecutive) nights in our apartment.  Which means we were living out of suitcases 37 out of 52 days.  I was so shocked by that number I went back and re-counted on my calendar.  No wonder we came back feeling like zombies!

So, here's a big giant recap, jumping all the way back to London.

Every now and then Kerry gets sent to London for work, and when possible, I like to go with him.  We went last year for a long weekend, but London is a big and wonderful city, so we happily jumped at the opportunity to go back.  Being primarily a work trip, time was short, but we squeezed in a few fun activities.

We started with a ride on the London Eye - JR's first Ferris Wheel!

It was a neat ride, but we had a little trouble enjoying it because we were nervous the baby was going to scream and ruin it for everyone else.  Perhaps a 30 minute ride with a 5 month old and no escape plan wasn't the greatest idea.  He was exhausted, but he held it together and did great!

Doing anything we can to keep the baby happy! 

We made a stop at the British Museum, a collection of artifacts and displays so interesting and vast, I actually wanted to stay longer!  Which is really saying something, because I normally spend my museum time calculating how long I have to stay to make the ticket purchase worth it.  Turns out, JR does even worse at museums than I do, and after only an hour he insisted on leaving (meaning he screamed so much that the security staff was worried he hurt himself).  But we did get a glimpse of some actual mummies and The Rosetta Stone.

And of course, we made a couple of obligatory pub stops.

Nooooo......

While Kerry was working JR and I took advantage of the beautiful, sunny, July morning and enjoyed a nice long walk around Regent's Park.  Montpellier is not known for it's superb green space, so having a fantastic park within walking distance of our hotel was a nice change for us.  We spent hours strolling around the greenery, marveling at the potent scent and variety of colors of roses (85 different types!) at Queen Mary's Rose Garden, and watching the ducks with their ducklings swimming in the lake.

Queen Mary's Rose Garden

Enjoying a sunny day at the park

Taking a break and watching the ducks

Also around this time, we started JR on solid foods, which he thinks is just about the best thing ever.

First taste of food!

He looks a little unsure, but he happily went back for more!

 




 

Hola Niño!

Traveling with a baby is awesome!!  Also, it's a little bit miserable.  Explanation:  People LOVE babies.  I sort of get it, but mostly, I am not what you might call a "baby person".  I'm getting along well enough with my own, but I have no overflowing desire to hold, cuddle, talk to, or play with every baby I encounter.  It seems however, that I am in the minority.  JR attracted SO MUCH attention on our trip to Spain, everywhere we went people gushed over him and wanted to play with him, and we got all sorts of preferential treatment!  Of three hotels, we got upgraded to suites twice, "so that there would be plenty of space for the baby's crib", we got sent to the secret security line at the airport and had priority boarding, and when we showed up 30 minutes after our ticketed entrance time at Park Guell, the employee's dirty look quickly turned into smiles and giggles when she saw JR.  Excellent!  The downside: the only meals the two of us were able to enjoy together were room service and take out thai food that we brought back to the hotel after the baby was down for the night.  Otherwise, we had to take turns holding the squirmy, irritable baby and taking him outside to calm him down.  We also had to severely limit pool and beach time, and ensure we left plenty of time in the afternoon for a nap at the hotel.  Lesson learned: next time we travel, we'll be bringing downloaded movies on the iPad and an HDMI cable, because baby goes to bed around 8:00 and hotel television is no good.  Taxis are another problem.  Getting a taxi with a car seat was nearly impossible, even with help from the hotel staff.  And of course, you never know when it's going to be your sweet little angel that decides to throw a tantrum for no apparent reason, and there's just no working around that!

So with all of that in mind, here is how we spent our time in Barcelona!

Night number one, we signed up for a walking food tour.  Like most babies, JR is better when we are on the move, long sit down dinners just don't work with him.  Our evening with The Barcelona Taste ended up being the perfect choice.  We stopped at four restaurants in town for authentic Catalan cuisine, had a guided tour around the city, and I didn't have to do any of the research or planning!

Tapas!

Vermuth from a bodega (place where they make Vermuth in barrels) in Barcelona

The next morning we took the bus up to Park Guell to check out some of the famous Gaudi architecture designs.  We could not have asked for better weather during our trip, it was perfect the entire week - I think June is the best time to visit Europe!  The park was beautiful, but the buildings and mosaic wall are smaller than I expected them to be, so I was a little underwhelmed by the monuments.

La Sagrada Familia, on the other hand, was incredible.  Another of Gaudi's works, this century old church is still under construction.  We've seen a number of great churches and cathedrals in Europe, and I was starting to feel like I'd had enough of them and they were all starting to look the same - not this one!  It was simply stunning.  An elaborate and ornate outside with a surprisingly colorful inside.

We left the church to find this:

Turns out, this region of Spain used to be Catalan, and there is currently a popular movement towards secession and a return to Catalan independence.  We scuttled our way out of here as quickly as possible, protests make me nervous.

We thought we would spend the afternoon relaxing at the hotel and letting JR have a quiet nap time.  JR didn't like that idea one bit.  So after a good hour of crying, we popped him back in the baby bjorn (he went right to sleep) and headed to Casa Batllo - you guessed it, more Gaudi!  It was like being in a Dr. Seuss house, only creepier.  It's not so unusual these days to see anything and everything on the streets, but 100 years ago?  A building like this was a lot more our of the ordinary.  And I believe it was inspired by a human skeleton.  Hm.

For our final night in Barcelona (or so we thought), we went to see the Magic Fountain show.  During summer weekend nights, every half hour the fountain lights up for a 20 minute display of dancing water jets and colorful special effects set to music.  Our music selection for the evening was Disney songs (in Spanish!).  We had fun dancing with JR and playing name that Disney movie.  I was 10/10.  Kerry got 0/10.

The next morning JR had his first plane ride!  A 45 minute hop over to Ibiza in the Balearic Islands, where we stayed for four days of beautiful beaches, sparkling pools, and jugs of Sangria.  The beaches outside of Montpellier are nice enough, but they don't compare to the fine sands and turquoise waters of island beaches.  While Ibiza is well known for its extravagant night life, we opted to stay about 30 minutes outside of the main city, in a town called Santa Eulalia.  It's a very family and tourist friendly place.

First plane ride - and a very nervous mommy!

Sangria by the pool

JR had his first dip in a swimming pool.

As well as his first real beach trip, which lasted all of about 45 minutes - I was so nervous about having that tiny boy in the sun too long!

Pretty beaches!

After a few days of island relaxation, it was time to head back to our home away from home in Montpellier.  So back to the airport, a quick flight to Barcelona, then lugging our suitcases (and baby) on the metro to the train station to take the three hour train ride back to Montpellier.  And all was fine!  Until, the train station.  One thing about being on an island for a few days is that you tend to lose touch with reality, and the news.  Which is why when arrived at the train station and saw the word "CANCELADO" on the board next to our train number, we were a bit confused.  I don't know very much Spanish, but I'm pretty sure "cancelado" is not what you want to see listed next to your ride home.  Closer inspection revealed that all of the trains to France that day had been cancelado-ed.  Ahhhhhhh - another French train strike!  These useless demonstrations occur pretty regularly around here and don't seem to accomplish anything more than upsetting both French nationals and tourists.  It's really a shame that the workers and the government can't find a better way to resolve their issues.  This is where traveling with a baby becomes absolutely miserable.  It's hard enough to rearrange all travel plans last minute, but to do so with a tired, hungry baby in a busy train station in a foreign country?  Not fun.  Try as we might, there was just no getting back to France that night.  No more trains.  No flights.  Car rental?  800 Euros.  Bus?  9:00 P.M. and a 5 hour ride.

Unhappy Traveler :(

We ended up walking into the overpriced travel agency in the train station and letting them find a hotel with a baby bed for us.  Getting stuck in Barcelona may not seem like the worst thing, and indeed it was not, the city is fantastic and it was a beautiful weekend.  But our suitcases were full of dirty clothes, our little fur babies needed us home, and we were exhausted.  The next train was at 4:00 the following day, so we  made the best of the situation, and took the next morning to check out Las Ramblas, a famous, and thus overcrowded and souvenir stand packed street with mediocre restaurants, a few great hotels, and a decent selection of shops.  It made for a nice walk, but in general, I didn't really see the appeal.

Overall Spain was fantastic.  Both Barcelona and Ibiza far exceeded my expectations, and I very much hope we are able to return one day.  After all, Barcelona is only 3 hours away!