My "Last Minute" Trip to France

I know it has been a while since I posted anything but I have a really good excuse. I kind of went to France!!! About a month ago Troy was working from home one day and out of the blue grabs my attention and says "Honey, I think I might go to France!" and of course MY response was " I don't care what you have to do but you get me there too!!!" Two weeks later I had my tickets and I was going! From the time we found out that he might go to the day Troy left was just over 2 weeks. That is where the "last minute" thing comes from. Anyway Troy was going to be there for 14 days and that was a little too long for me to be gone, so he left on Saturday and I left the next Wednesday. So to tell you about our trip and what we did in France I am going to copy Jaryn (because she is just the cutest) and tell you what we did from day to day. Before I start I want to say how grateful I am to my mom and my sister Kara because they are the ones that made this trip possible. Without their selflessness and willingness to take on my 4 I wouldn't have been able to go. And just to blow my sister's horn she did it alone with all 8 of our kids because her husband went out of town too. (She is my HERO!!!)

Ok Day 1

I have to tell you about my travels because it is quite the story. So I started by flying from Salt Lake to Houston, no big deal. But Houston's airport is currently under construction and so you have to get yourself to a shuttle to drive you over to the international wing of the airport. Well I don't trust the airlines so I carried everything on with me so my bags weighed 1,000 lbs. Each!!! (that isn't measured but that is what it felt like) Anyway you can imagine me this little 5ft. nothing weakling struggling with my bags to get on and off this shuttle it was a sight. I decided that I would find my way to my gate that then grab myself something to eat. Well when I got there it was such an ordeal that I didn't want to get lost so I decided to wait and eat on the plane (I was starving, I practically bit the poor attendant's hand off when she handed me my plate!) The flight to Paris took 10 1/2 hours. I watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" The strangest and longest movie I have ever seen. It felt like it took half the flight to watch it. Didn't sleep very well but really who does. After I arrived in Paris I then had to find my way to the train station which was some where in the airport. Again I decided to find the trains and then find something to eat because I had 4 and a half hours before my train left. (oh your read right!) Yet again when I got there there was absolutely nothing to eat. I have learned my lesson, I just want you to know! This train station was soooo cold. I had worn flip flops for the ease of security so my toes were freezing. I had on a sweat shirt which wasn't near enough! So I couldn't sit down and read for very long because I had to keep getting up and moving around so that I could get my blood moving to my feet again. (also I can't ever reach the ground on chairs so that didn't help either!) Also the weirdest thing in the world, the french post their trains and flights by time, and they don't post a train until 20 min before that train is scheduled to leave. So I spent most of that 4 hours hoping and praying that I was in the right station. Anyway I finally got on the train and promptly (as I was worried about) fell asleep! I woke up just before the train was supposed to stop at my stop thankfully. But not to be out done by my horrible wait in the station they announce that there has been an accident and we are going to be 30 min. late. A little back story. . . When Troy bought my train ticket online he bought one to take me to Marseilles. We found out later that there was a possibility that it would stop in Aix-en-Provence where we were staying. We weren't a hundred percent sure so I told Troy to go the the Aix station and if I wasn't there go to Marseilles. You can guess what was going through my mind when they said that we were going to be late!!!! Thankfully thankfully thankfully Troy had gone in and asked if my train had come through yet and found out about the delay and stayed and waited for me. Needless to say when I saw him after I got off the train I grabbed him and hugged him and kissed him and CRIED!!! (see I told you it was a story worth telling!!)

Day 2

On my second day but our 1st day of sight seeing we went into Marseilles which is on the Mediterranean it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. We started by going out to the Chateau D'If built in 1525-1531, which if you have read or seen "The Count of Monte Cristo" you know is the prison that Edmond Dantes was housed in.

This is me and Troy in front of the prison

This is hole that (were it a true story) Abbe Faria comes out of and befriends Edmond.

This is the view of Marseilles through the bars

This is Troy and I standing on top of D'If with Marseilles and the Ocean in the background. Isn't it/he gorgeous!!

This is the Ocean it was so beautiful and clear. You could see the fish swimming around in the ocean. It was amazing.

Ok so this post is already long so I will finish ths story about our 1st day tomorrow. (gotta keep you coming back for more!!)