29 July to 5 August
29 July
This week was my first whirl winded trip back to the states for work. I needed to go to Chicago for the week so I didn’t get to come back to Philly. But that’s ok since my family is coming to Paris in less than 2 weeks!
However, I did book my flight to surprise one on my best friends since middle school to show up at her bachelorette party in NYC. But before I get to far ahead of myself, let’s talk about customs at Charles de Gaulle.
I flew out of terminal 2 at Charles de Gaulle to JFK on Air France. This was the worst customs line I have ever dealt with. Literally all the flights were delayed because border control was so backed up. And I was flying business class so my line was shorter than those flying economy. After a mild panic I speed walked Olympic style to my gate and made it to my seat where I did not stop sweating for 45 minutes.
I landed at JFK early afternoon then headed for the metro to met my sister at her apartment. So NYC, I have always loved you but I hate how hot you were. The weather in Paris has been very mild and barely any humidity. NYC was like 100 degrees plus 90% humidity. Needless to say, I was sweating lugging my bags through the streets because I was too head strong to get a taxi. I met my sister at her apartment (which thankfully has AC) where we caught up on 4 months of missed time. We then headed to get much needed pedicures and dinner. At this point my jet lag was starting to kick in so we called it an earlier night.
30 July
I woke up early (thanks 6 hour time difference). We grabbed a nice breakfast down the street from my sister’s apartment. We started to watch Age of Adeline but when it started to get sad I knew I needed to head over to the Gavensport Hotel to surprise my friends for the bachelorette party.
I grabbed a cab (I have learned my lesson about the heat) and was on my way. I got to the hotel just after 10. I was happily sitting in he lobby with my eye on the door behind the newspaper I took from the airplane the day before (I needed someway to hide my face). Everyone was expected to show up around 11. However, the girls showed up 15 minutes later. I saw them waking in, lowered my newspaper and walked up to say ‘Bonjour Bitches’. Then all hell broke lose, screaming, crying, laughing. It was totally worth keeping this a surprise from my friends for the last month.
After the shock wore off, we headed to get coffee at Chelsea market then check in to change and get ready for soul cycle.
Soul cycle was great besides the fact my butt hurt so bad from the bike seat, that I had a hard time sitting. After our good sweat, we showered and headed over for manicures. I miss how easy and cheap it is to get your nails done in the US. It is much harder to find a palace and more expensive in Paris.
We then returned to the hotel to get ready for a night out its dinner at a French restaurant followed by dancing. It was awesome and great to see my friends who I missed dearly.
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| The ladies at dinner |
31 July
The ladies all got back together for one last breakfast at a diner (another thing that doesn’t exist in Paris, diner food). I then packed up my stuff and headed back to JFK to head to Chicago for the week for work. It was bitter sweat to say good bye but I am looking forward to seeing everyone for the wedding in November.
After landing in Chicago, I headed to my hotel. I order room service and turned in for the night. I knew the next few days would be busy with work.
1 to 5 August
Work went pretty well and we ended up having some great Chicago meals (full of steak and dirty martinis) and catching up with colleagues who I haven’t seen (but still talk to regularly) since we moved. We actually finished up early so I was able to change my flight to Thursday instead of Friday. Along with being able to do some sight seeing and shopping, I was also able to meet up with an old friend to attend a spin class that she taught first thing Thursday morning at studio 3 and catch up. Then since the early finish with work I was able to change my flight to have a long layover in Atlanta (Air France and Delta are partners). This was amazing since I was able to see our best friends new baby (who was born just after we moved) and get some Mexican food for dinner. I then got the 23:00 flight back to Charles de Gaulle where I passed out and woke up back in France mid day Friday. It was nice to get back a day earlier to get some work done, run errands, do laundry and repack my suitcase to then start our first European August complete with the next 3 weeks off!
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| Can you find me in the bean? |
-Kasey
Things I learned this week
1) I hate humidity
2) Paris is a ‘short city’ compared to New York and Chicago with all their skyscrapers
3) While Paris has better food, the US has great dirty martinis
4) In 7 days I was in Paris – New York City – Chicago – Atlanta – Paris
5) It was weird hearing English again all around me
Le tour de walker 