Scotland to France on the Eurostar -- Part Deux

The next day I left the kids in our hotel and took a shuttle to the Renault Auto Lease office at Charles De Gaulle Airport. It's an incredibly efficient system. We leased a car for about ten weeks -- much cheaper than renting. Once I was in the office, the whole process took about four minutes. I walked back outside, my car pulled up and I got in. I reached forward to enter the hotel address into the GPS system... Wait there's no GPS. And no map. I really thought there was going to be Sat Nav in the car. I can read a map fine, I learned in Mr. Bunte's fifth grade geography class, but I don't have a map and now I need reading glasses and the signs are in French and I took Spanish in high school and I can't even speak that and Brenna's not here, so who am I going to yell at when I take a wrong turn?!?

Unfortunately I wasn't paying attention to the roads when I was on the shuttle from

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Like Mother Like Daughter

On our last day in Paris we decided to wander. Our wandering led us to a little restaurant in Montmarte with wonderful onion soup, and a window looking out across the street at a huge seconds shop called Sympa. We watched women digging through giant piles of clothing on tables as we ate our soup and roast chicken, and when a truck pulled up to drop off more boxes of clothes, Ella and I decided to cut to the chase. We spent an hour or so digging and comparing, and by the time we left Ella had scored pants, skirts, sweaters... she got a new wardrobe for €28. I think she has the Brenna Bargain Gene.Hey - it's cheaper than the Paris Designer Gene!

  

We Love Paris in the Winter

We visited the Palace of Versailles while we were in Paris this past week. There's no doubt that the hall of mirrors is magnificent, and Marie Antoinette's estate is beautiful, but the real action was outside the palace. Sure, in the spring the grounds would be stunning -- immaculate gardens with flowers in bloom, fountains flowing and and statues not covered in tarps. But then, we wouldn't have been able to do this. The real action at Versailles was outside on the icy slope.

  

Paris Photo Blog

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Battling Complacency in the Scottish Winter

Lately I've gotten complacent. In my desperate quest to blame something or someone, other than myself, I am blaming the holidays. When I say, "the holidays" I'm including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years and/or Hogmanay -- and, if I don't get my ass in gear soon, I'll be blaming Ground Hog Day. Or, perhaps my lack of forward momentum stems from the fact that I don't have a real (paying) job to

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