A big birthday celebrated in a big way

February 18th, 2008 by LK - NWA WorldVacations

It was suppose to be the Taj Mahal.
I mean, if there is a full moon three days after your 50th birthday and the government of India now allows tourists to visit the Taj Mahal when there is full moon (they didn’t before), doesn’t it make total sense to spend the biggest and best birthday of your life there? Well, I thought it did. But, unfortunately, my husband didn’t. He was already going to be out of the office for one week in January for work so taking another two weeks off to go to India just didn’t make sense. And so, instead, we chose to go to Paris to celebrate my 50th — it’s where we spent our honeymoon, my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world is there, and if it was cold, we could hang in the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, or maybe Willie’s Wine Bar.

So, if going to Paris for four days in the middle of January isn’t crazy enough, we invited our parents! Now, my mother has hiked the Himalayas, hummed in a cave in India, has met the Dalai Lama, and once slept on a dirt floor for four nights in a village in Africa. So, she’s an experienced traveler, to say the least. She is also my mother and therefore has the uncanny ability to push my buttons, make me crazy, and send me into a tailspin of shame and guilt. My husband’s father on the other hand had been to Paris before — 30 years ago! All I could keep thinking is “oh boy, just what I have I gotten myself into!?”

I won’t get into all the details, but every horrific thing I thought would happen didn’t! Not one. I had the best time with my mom — in fact we are traveling together to Puerto Vallarta next month. My father-in-law sent me flowers after we all returned to thank me and tell me what a wonderful time he had. In addition, a whole day spent in the Louvre turned out to be not nearly enough. And the weather? Perfect! An unbelievable high in the 50s every day and not a drop of rain. We even ate outside, under those heater things, our first night there and one day for lunch. And my favorite restaurant, Chez Maitre Paul, was just as magical as the other four times I’ve dined there in 1991, 1993, and 1998. Their signature dish chicken in yellow wine (my favorite), is a perfect combination of cream, garlic, yellow wine, and morel mushrooms. Everyone ordered it and they all loved it. I also managed in my four days in Paris to have my other French favorites — Bœuf bourguignon, cassoulet, haricot verts, crepes, and, naturally, some real French champagne to toast the big day.

So what can I recommend? Go! And go with your parents. Who knows how long they’ll be able to travel with you.

Oh, and stop by Chez Maitre Paul at 12, rue Monsieur-le-Prince (Odeon metro stop) for the chicken in yellow wine and tell ‘em I sent you.