Welcome, 40

Carl arrived home from New Orleans last night, Mom is here, the suitcases are packed, the boys are off to school, and we'll be off later today. I still have a million things to do, but still... its almost time to say goodbye to my 30s.

 

 First up, Bath for two nights.

Then we'll have four nights in London, and we made a last minute decision to add two nights in Paris. So I'm super excited about getting to see Monet's gardens in Giverny! We're even going to rent bikes and ride from the train station to the gardens - two bucket list items of mine in one hour. :)

I'm going to make a whole Monet day of it, starting with the gardens, and then visiting the big Monet museums in Paris. I've never been to the Orangerie or to the Musee Marmottan Monet so this will be great. The Orangerie is home the famous water lillies. This room was built according to Monet's specifications so that the light is exactly as he wanted it to be when you view it.When I went off to college, I took a set of Martex Monet's Lillies sheets with me. I just LOVED them.

And the Musee d'Orsay is my most favorite museum in the world (its all Impressionist art) so if we have time (and energy) we will revisit it as well. Or save this for the next day.

And then we have to backtrack to London and have one last night before we fly home. This is SO much better than a big party. :)