Why did I go to Paris?

Let me start by saying that Paris is one of the most interesting cities that I've traveled through, but keep in mind that I was there during the Christmas season. That means the weather was cold, extra city decorations were abundant, and people were generally more busy because of preparing for the holidays. With that said, I had a truly amazing trip.

One reason Paris was so exciting is because I like the comfortable amenities of the western world. Yes, I can deal with squatty toilets, among other things, but there's just something so nice about clean public restrooms! On to the real stuff...

As part of my school year, I have more than two weeks off for a winter break. This year, our vacation was from December 18th- January 4th. (It was rough going back today.) Because Chris teaches at the university level, his vacation schedule is different and we only have national holidays off at the same time. Since we couldn't travel together and I was craving all things Christmas without the possibility of going to the States, we agreed that I could travel with one of my friends to somewhere that had snow, cold weather, Christmas lights, Christmas celebrations, and good sights. With the idea of Western Europe in my head, I mentioned it to my friend some time at the end of October, and Darlene and I devised a plan.

I booked our flight, and after settling on a hotel, we had reservations through the morning of the 24th. *Note: At this point in time, I was not aware that Turkish Airlines is notorious for mishandling baggage, so when we experienced the suitcase debacle, I was somewhat surprised.* Each of our flights was delayed at least two hours due to weather and one other problem, and we had a connection in Istanbul both ways; that made for lots of good airport reading time. In instances such as those, I have to remind myself, "Better late than dead." I can say that I wasn't thrilled to be stuck in an airport on my 4th anniversary- especially without my husband.

"You left Chris on your anniversary?" you may ask. Yes; however, we spent a good amount of time together beforehand and went out the day before I left. I made sure that even if I had missed an entire flight, I should have been able to make it home before Christmas. Indeed, I arrived in Kuwait at 3am Christmas Day, stopped at the grocery store by 4am, was home wrapping presents by 5am, and hit the pillow around 5:30am. My wonderful husband made French Toast (I think a coincidence) for us at around 11am on Christmas morning.

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What did I do in Paris?