France Trip! May 2022

I had the opportunity to go to Paris in mid-May for a week for work. I had to scramble to get my passport in time since it was still under my maiden name, but I got it from the Passport Agency with 2 days to spare!

I traveled with a coworker, so that was a lot of fun and nice to know someone.  We left Sunday evening at 7:45 pm.  I was lucky to have the 2 seats next to me empty, but it didn’t help me at all with falling asleep.  I dozed off and on and read my book a bit.  The airplane was FREEZING.

We landed and it was Monday mid-morning.  The first thing I noticed about Paris was how many people were smoking!  We were pretty tired so after we ubered to our hotel and got checked in, we decided to take a half hour nap before going out and exploring.  We walked to the Arch de Triumph and looked at it from a distance.  The funny thing – we thought to get to it we had to run across the 6 lanes of crazy traffic and didn’t realize at first that you had to walk under the street to get to it.  We walked to the see the Eiffel Tower and then walked back to the hotel.  I wore the wrong shoes and got off to a bad start with giant blisters.  Once we got back to the hotel, I grabbed my Kindle and went down to the hotel restaurant and had a drink and read my book.  We met up with another coworker to go find dinner.  He is a sales person and has been all over the world and knows all the best places to go, so it was awesome to have him with us!  We went to a fancy little restaurant that would have been amazing if I wasn’t a vegetarian.  The only thing on the menu I could eat was a big ball of burrata cheese drizzled in olive oil… After dinner, we walked along the Siene and found some delicious gelato.  We walked past Notre Dame and the Louvre as the sun went down.  It was beautiful.  We headed back to the hotel via Uber and I was off to bed to read my book and sleep.  I slept so so well.  I did wake up a few times to the weird siren sound, but was able to fall back asleep easily.

The conference we were supporting started Tuesday so I had to be up semi early.  I walked over to the pharmacy across the street to get blister pads for my feet.  I found a little bakery and had a fresh croissant and then found a restaurant to get some breakfast.  This is where I wish I spoke French.  I wanted an egg and cheese sandwich and in a communication breakdown, I ended up with a ham and cheese sandwich.  I was too passive to point that out so I got it packed up to go and ended up not eating it.  I felt bad, but also didn’t want to be rude.  

We checked into the conference and found the Boston Scientific booth.  They had a barista making all sorts of coffee drinks – I had so many little lattes.  They were delicious. The booth was pretty slow that first day and we were hidden in a little corner room with no windows or air conditioning.  

We headed out to dinner with a group of coworkers and found a restaurant that had a delicious vegetarian option – it was like an edamame bowl? This is where my tour de creme brûlée also began.  I decided I was going to try some everywhere we ate.  It did not disappoint! 

The group decided to walk back to the hotel via the Eiffel Tower.  We got to see the pretty lights sparkle on the structure and a couple coworkers helped me barter for a little toy to bring home for Hailey. 

We had the booth all day on Wednesday, so nothing really exciting.  It was slower than I would have hoped, but it was great to meet European coworkers and hear about their experiences.  

After the booth, we went to a small French restaurant where they were able to make me a veggie pasta dish.  Their crime brûlée was AMAZING.  After dinner, I walked back with my coworker and we chatted. It was late – dinners in Paris start so late! – so I headed back to my room to try to get more reading in but fell asleep right away

Thursday

I got to attend a session at the conference since our booth was pretty slow.  It was a live case for our competitor.  It was definitely educational to watch.  

The booth was sort of slow and we found out that we wouldn’t have to be at it Friday, so we went out with the coworkers and stayed up late eating food and getting some drinks.  We made it back to the hotel VERY late.  I was happy to be able to sleep in the next morning.

When I woke up, I had to pack up my bags since we had to move hotels.  Our hotel was only booked during the conference, so we had to move across the street to a different hotel.  It was raining, so we waited for the rain to slow down a bit then went over to the new hotel.  It was too early to check in so we dropped our bags off with the concierge and got some work done in their coffee shop. We walked over to a pizza place and had lunch.  We went back to the hotel and had some coffee with one of the European Product Managers before her fight.  We then walked over to the Eiffel Tower and rode it to the top to look over – it was so amazing!  The line to get up wasn’t even too long.  We found a river boat tour that took us along the Siene and talked about the history of buildings.  I wish there would have been a little more English speaking, but it was well worth it.  We found dinner on the walk back and I had amazing ravioli.  Their bathroom at this restaurant was so unique – it was like garage stalls for the toilets, you pushed a button and then garage door lifted and there’s just a toilet sitting there.  You go in, push a button and it closes…. It was pretty cool!

I slept in a bit and walked to a coffee shop next door to read.  I got bit by a dog there…. 

I had to go get a covid test to be able to get back into the States so I walked to the pharmacy to get one.  After the test, Tommy and I walked over to the Louvre.  We were there for a bit and saw the Mona Lisa.  We then headed to grab some lunch, I had an amazing omlette, tried my first crepe, and got some crème brûlée.  After lunch, we had some time to kill before going to the Orsey (?) museum.  I read my book in the shade next to the river and it was spectacular.  We went to the museum, I liked that one way better than the Louvre.  After the museum, we went shopping – I hung out with T bought a suit jacket.  I got some shirts for Miles.  Then we headed back to the hotel.  I was still full from lunch so I skipped dinner and just read and watched NCAA softball regionals.  I struggled to fall asleep because I was so worried I would miss my flight the next morning.

I got up early and headed down to catch my Uber.  It was a Prius that the driver basically speed raced people! We were flying and he was blasting English rap music the whole ride to the airport, which was entertaining at 6am on a Sunday. 

I got checked in and through security, grabbed some breakfast and then read my book until my flight.  I dozed on and off the flight home.  We ended up a little delayed.  I landed and found an Uber that drove me home.. super chatty guy, I learned all about his son.  I was so thankful to be home and sleep in my own bed and see the kids!

Photo credits to my talented coworker Tommy: