We've gotten lost in the winding streets of Old Cairo. We've traversed Tangier's Medina. We've looked down the mouth the White Island volcano off the coast of New Zealand. We've taxied around Jordan, had beers on a street corner bar in Hanoi, and studied the Cyrillic alphabet enough to decipher signage in St. Petersburg. We visited places such as Estonia, Malta, Slovakia, South Africa, and Cuba--to be exact, 46 countries at the time--but we had never been to France. It wasn't on purpose. We weren't avoiding France; it just hadn't happened yet. So when we booked a trip to Luxembourg in 2018, I saw an opportunity to pop over the border.
From Luxembourg, we took a high-speed train (nearing 200 mph) to Strasbourg. I read wonderful things about it ahead of our trip, and it was everything I hoped it would be. First, the flat terrain was a pleasure after the steepness of Luxembourg. The Alsatian architecture was so beautiful that it didn't seem real. The food was some of the best on this trip, as were the pubs. People were friendly and didn't seem to mind my rudimentary attempt at French. It definitely sold me on returning to France in the future.
One year later, we returned to France and visited Nice. The trip started with the inclination to see Monaco--for that, of course, you fly into Nice. In the middle, we did a jaunt to Tunisia. We only had a short time in Nice, but it was as beautiful as they say. We would love to do a return visit to the region.
And finally, after all these years, in 2024...we went to Paris!
A friend of mine who teaches French was worried that having traveled so much and seen so many unusual places, I wouldn't be impressed with Paris. This wasn't the case at all. We were quite taken with Paris, and northern France in general. French café culture speaks to me on a very deep level. If I could start every day in a French café, sipping a cup of tea or coffee, while eating a pain au chocolat or brioche, what a life that would be! I can also manage French pretty well at this point, so that gave us an even richer experience on this trip, allowing us to communicate with ease and get nothing but smiles and politeness in return. So regarding future trips to France: oui, s'il vous plaît!
In 2018 and 2024, we flew on British Airways through London Heathrow. We had a four-hour layover at Heathrow on both ends. For those of you who know Heathrow, you're already aware that this is, in actuality, an hour and a half. Transferring between terminals in Heathrow can take well over an hour. As long as you plan ahead, it's fairly painless.
In 2019, it was a different story. We flew SAS through Copenhagen. I have one major gripe with SAS (and several small ones): they don't honor seat reservations. We had four flights in total, and on two of them, our seats were changed without our approval and without notifying us. To be clear, the new seats were far worse in every way. It just seems as though SAS is working hard at becoming a low-cost carrier...not in a good way.
Monaco was closed when we went. I guess when the president of China visits, the country goes on high alert and shuts down. It's unfortunate, too, because I think we would've been left with a much better impression otherwise. Our misadventure really began as soon as we left Nice Airport.
From the Nice Airport, we took a taxi. This would've been an easy endeavor, if not for the aforementioned issue. Highways were shut down, so he took a winding route on side streets that resulted in our total fare surpassing the flat rate. After he dropped us off as close to our hotel as he was allowed, we continued our journey on foot in the direction the first police officer told us to go. After 20 minutes of wandering up and down steep streets with our bags, encountering impassable routes, and being given contradictory instructions by a variety of police, we were finally told to go through the Hôtel de Paris in order to get to our hotel, the Hermitage.
Upon entering the Hôtel de Paris, we were escorted by a series of hotel staff. Each one walked with us for about a minute or so before handing us off to the next escort. We went up and down elevators, through an underground passage, and eventually ended up in our hotel. Each employee divulged a small bit of intel--although it was clear they were not supposed to talk about this. By the time we got to the front desk of our hotel, we had pieced together that the president of China was in Monaco and staying at the Hermitage. Even check-in had been halted temporarily until he was out of the building. So we decided to go out exploring the town in the meantime--except that we couldn't, because entire neighborhoods had been completely shut down, as well as most major roads. We couldn't even access the waterfront area. It was difficult to unsour ourselves from this introduction to Monaco.
What turned my mood around was the Casino de Monte-Carlo. It is small, intimate, and elegant. It's everything a high-end casino should be. The immaculately-dressed clientele gives the place an air of class and maturity. Old tuxedoed men work the tables, and slot machines are kept out of the main hall. There isn't the constant noise of machines, and the entire casino is non-smoking. You could say it's the opposite of Las Vegas, and I appreciated that. By far, it was my favorite thing in Monaco.
All in all, we managed to have a good time, even with all of the initial frustrations.