Having a nice quiet weekend at home. I just got approved to have July 4-6 off, which gives me a fabulous 5 day weekend coming up, and I currently have no plans whatsoever. I might finish up painting upstairs, now that we have our ladder back...
Today, we are heading over to Key Arena to watch the Storm play at 4pm. I think we will leave really early, or take the bus, since the Pride parade and Pridefest are going on today, and parking is going to really suck. Maybe we will head down early and eat at Pridefest.....decisions, decisions, decisions....
Still talking Ethan into going to Europe next year. Did I mention that before?? We want to go back to Europe. *I* want to go back to Europe, and Ethan wants to make sure we can *afford* to go back to Europe. We can. We will be able to. Couldn't go today, since we are broke, but our vacation fund builds up each month, and we haven't been anywhere since last October (Palm Springs), so it is getting hefty. There is that pesky Hawai'i trip coming up, but I can commit to being not so spendy there, and saving our trip money for Europe.
Hawai'i can be not so spendy--free snorkelling right off the beach at our resort (we bought our own snorkel gear, since Ethan's feet are so big it is always hit or miss getting fins that fit, and he generally gets smooshed into too small fins), cook our own meals in our condo, do fun but free things like check out the blowhole, swim, drive around looking at sights, hike a bit.....lots of things that don't break the bank. I think we are contractually obligated to going ziplining with mom, which is spendy, but that is a perfectly acceptable splurge to do.
So--Europe. Definitely want to see Paris again, and definitely Amsterdam. Looks like flights into London would be easiest in my attempt to use airline miles again (spent $100 and total of 80K airline miles for 2 tickets last time), and I found flights home from Paris. Maybe a few days in London, then Chunnel and high speed train to Amsterdam for a few more days, then train back to Paris for awhile and fly home from there?? I found tons of teensy apartment rentals in Paris that are in my price range (€600 or less for a week). They have teeny washing machines (no finding a spendy laundromat like Ethan did last time in Amsterdam), and I only want a place that has free wifi. These places are sooooo tiny--like 100 square feetish, but have mini-kitchens and bathrooms. Some have beds that pull straight down from the ceiling (not murphy beds that fold out from the wall--those are uncomfortable!!). I ruled out any that have sofa beds, because my hips have enough issues as it is--I need a good bed!
I found lots of cool places right in Paris. I want to go to a fromagerie and buy cheeses and get a baguette from a boulangerie and browse a grocery store until we figure out supplies for a meal. I want to stroll through some of the parks and peek inside the gorgeous churches that we missed last time around (didn't realize that churches were so amazing inside until we went into a few in Rome). I really didn't think we would be overly impressed with Paris last time around, but I soooo want to go back there again!
How freaking cute are these places!?! Red This one would be more of a splurge.. Green
Don't *you* want to go now???
