Le Pique-Nique, Part Un.

We were very fortunate to have been able to take a trip to France (and Switzerland!  And Italy!) last fall.  Adults only.  That just made us even more fortunate.  My in-laws volunteered - VOLUNTEERED - to come stay with the boys so we could take a vacation.  It was our 10th anniversary and I still had my engagement ring so we figured, let's celebrate!  Seriously.  I lose jewelry like it's nobody's business; this was celebrated along with hitting the 10-year milepost.

We talked and talked (and also talked) about where we wanted to go.  Carter had about a gazillion frequent flier miles, so ticket cost wasn't an issue.  We had taken a trip to London and Paris the fall we were married and had a blast.  What engineer loved the Chunnel train?  What engineer excused himself saying he wanted to "look around" and came back 45 minutes later after making friends with the conductor?  God love him.

So we were thinking Europe again.  I'm not big on non-direct flights.  There are too many variables.  Our time was precious and I didn't want to spend it in the Atlanta airport (which I've done previously).  But there was a daily Detroit - Paris flight that left at a decent time.  "Book it," I said, "and we'll figure out the rest."

Best trip ever.  We cashed in hotel and AmEx points to get free nights in Montreaux, Switzerland (my new favorite hotel in the world), and Cannes, France.

Le Palais Montreaux.  Please may I go back to there?  The bed was like sleeping in a puffy cloud of puffiness.  Plus our AmEx night included a crazy good breakfast the next morning in an amazing room with a full wall of windows looking out on Lake Geneva.  I think Carter maybe had a tear in his eye it was so gorgeous.  And I might have had seventeen courses at breakfast but some of them were fruit so I'm not judging myself.

One of the nights we didn't have a reservation booked we ended up in Vichy, France, at this amazing spa hotel (Hotels.com!).  In the morning we awoke to a gorgeous day and tried to visit the spa but, as it didn't open until 10 a.m. and we were there at 7:30 a.m., one of the staff directed us to the rooftop pool.  It was a swim-out jobber and out was about eight stories high overlooking some lovely 18th century homes and gardens.  And also we were the only people there.  Later we discovered there was some Russian women's sports team of some sort staying there too.  It's pretty much a diet hotel, but it was beautiful.  And we dined out.

The pool.

The view from the pool deck.

Later we left in our rental car to make our way to back Paris, with a stop at Versailles, because Carter needed to see Versailles.  We stopped at a Boulangerie (bakery) on the way out of town.  It was the kind of place where the locals went every single day to get their bread.  I queued up and got some good looks, as I was clearly an outsider, but I persevered.  When I reached the front of the line, I made my request in French and even understood when the matron asked if I wanted my baguettes "bien cuite" (well done).  I replied, in French, "Not so much," and got approving nods all around.  I paid for and gathered by bread to calls of "Bonne Journee" (good trip) from everyone in the joint.  It was fantastic.

I WON FRANCE.  The end.