Switzerland and Paris

June 27, 2023

Over 5.5 weeks in April and May, we had an incredibly busy stint of travel. The three of us headed to Switzerland for a quick night in the lakeside city of Lausanne and then reunited with Greg and Marcia in Basel.

This was a trip the three of us originally planned in 2020 to visit my cousin Mike, his wife Sylvia, and their two great kids who have had their home in Basel since 2017, so we were thrilled to make it there. My parents landed in Basel after a celebratory week-long cruise on the Rhine and the five of us stayed in a great hotel in Spalentor that was walking distance from Mike and Sylvia's and gave us easy access to hop on the tram as well. Mike and Sylvia were incredible hosts and we enjoyed touring Basel and enjoying the buzz of spring in the city, a day trip to Lucerne, and celebrating Easter at their home.

After 4 nights, the five of us (Greg, Marcia, Noah, Shannon, Zalina) said our goodbyes to the Basel McMorrows and took the high speed train to the City of Lights. Paris had also been part of the ill fated 2020 itinerary, so Z was especially excited that we were able to make it this time around. We arrived before the sun set in Paris, but it was dark, gloomy, and raining. The forecast suggested this might be the only weather we would experience over the next five days, but we shook it off (literally shook the rain off) and decided it didn't matter- this is Paris!

We rented a large- by Paris standards- AIRBNB in La Marais, a bustling, eclectic neighborhood in the 3rd and 4th arrondisements of the city, which was just wonderful. We immediately felt like locals as we walked to the numerous bakeries, cafes, wine shops, and Laudrée- a beautiful chain shop selling only macarons. Z was in heaven! The trip was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities for Z, Greg, and Marcia to experience Paris for the first time and all 5 of us to experience it together. We packed in so many sights and walked thousands of steps each day.

It was only 4 full days, but we covered the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, a family photo shoot at the Eiffel tower, which included seeing the sunrise over Paris, a fabulous dinner cruise on the Seine, a rainy day in Montemartre including Sacré Coeur and an Irish pub, a walk over to the Bouquinistes where we couldn't resist buying a few prints and seeing the progress on Notre Dame, a visit and first time meeting Zalina's Uncle Juliene (Bruce's brother) who came over from Brussels just for the day, and even managed down time in the AIRBNB with wine, cheese, and a movie. And of course there was amazing food. Our last night included a ladies happy hour for Shannon and Marcia and all of us enjoying dinner at the perfect, quintessential Parisian Cafe, Cafe Charlot, which was directly across the street from our AIRBNB.