What dreams are made of

Paris beckons once more. This will not be any ordinary trip to the City of Lights and Love. Nope. This is my dream trip when I realize two of my "bucket" list items. And I can hardly contain myself!

Tomorrow, I am retuning to Paris with my friends/colleagues, Jeff and Christine, and their son, Quentin. We will spend the first day and a half of our 5 day adventure driving between the World War II memorial sights: Omaha and Utah beaches, the American Cemetery and more. Before we drive back to Paris we will stop off at Mont Ste. Michel Abbey and island. It's essentially an abbey that was built on the top of an island and was protected by the tides and the bog that surrounds it. How cool is that?! And while I am excited to see new parts of France, what I am most ***excited**** by are my plans for Saturday and Sunday.

I will be on my own for most of the weekend as my friends will do the "Paris thing": Versailles, the Louvre, etc. So what am I doing? Oh, just fulfilling some lifelong dreams. Saturday will find me on a train to Vernon and then a bus to...Giverny!!!!!! I am going to go to the gardens and the house where Claude Monet created so many of his incredible paintings. I have wanted to go to Giverny since my friend Sarah's dad surprised her mom for their anniversary in 198something with a bike trip through France with a stop in Giverny. As Monet is my favorite painter, this sounded like a piece of heaven to me. And so from then on I'd dreamt of going to the gardens to see things like the water lilies, the Japanese bridge, and the willow trees. I can only imagine what awaits for me!

Then, on Sunday I will be attending the first round of...the FRENCH OPEN! As I've mentioned on here before I'm something of a tennis enthusiast. Last year while I was in London at the end of June I opted not to go out to Wimbledon because I didn't want to deal with the crowds. Can I just say the word regret!? Thus far I have been to two of the four major tennis tournament locations: the Australian Open location in Melbourne, Australia and Wimbledon--I did tour the grounds a couple of years ago. So, for me to make it to the grounds of Roland-Garros and, even better, catch some matches is no doubt a dream come true.

I fully expect this trip to be sensory overload. I am sure it will be something akin to going to Disney for the first time--mouth agape, gasps of delight, and wonder at where I find myself. Never did I fully imagine that these dreams would one day become reality. Blessed doesn't even begin to cover it. Now if only the weather would cooperate.....