Leche Vitrine- Watching the Window Watchers

Today was our first day to be in Paris as a family. Although, I would call it half a day since the first half was in the air, or in transit, or napping to catch up and recover from jet lag. So, after our “introduction” to Paris, we found ourselves maneuvering the rainy streets and puddles of "our" street- Saint Germain des Pres, in the sixth arrondissement of Paris, on a very gray first day.

 I tried my best to look “Parisian” but despite my best efforts and to my great frustration, apparently, I was spotted as American even before I opened my mouth, and even though I tried to instigate and carry on French conversation. I asked my boys about this later, and M said it was because I was too nice, and didn’t carry my “Bonjour!” greeting with a bored face. LOL. If I’m too friendly, well, then so be it.

This evening, we headed home with our meats, cheeses, pastas, wine, and yes, the quintessential and necessary baguette- to make dinner at our “home” apartment. As we entered, I decided to move a chair towards the windows, which open up out onto the street, overlooking some very pricey shops with extremely creative window dressings. Currently, our unit façade is being renovated, and therefore, we were able to negotiate a better deal on the week’s stay. However, the netting over the scaffolding still affords a clear view of the street, the shops, and people passing by.

 I found myself completely absorbed in people watching. TV off, phone put away, nothing in my hands, but a glass of red wine. As I watched the people passing by, I noticed that even in the rain, they slowed down to peruse the shop windows. After watching a while, I pondered it aloud to Martin- remarking that I had read somewhere, in preparation for our travels, that there is a slang saying in Paris (“leche vitrine”)- “licking the window”. When I read this, I immediately pictured the moment of “licking a bowl” of the dish that appeases your senses but leaves you wishing for more.

 As I watched the Parisians walk by, I noticed that not just one, but two, then three begin to slow their steps to peruse the window and/or the one next to it, obviously “leche vitrine”. The one window had a blue/gray background, and a set up that looked a bit like a kitchen with the blue/gray counters behind the mannequins- both dressed in men’s clothing- one with some very trendy narrow legged French jeans, and a dark blue puffy vest. Nothing too striking, in my opinion. I laughed aloud and commented to the boys that it was funny to watch the people walk by and get “caught”. After a few minutes I started to notice people not only slowing their steps, but doing full on double takes, slowing down, and going back to look at the displays. A few actually followed up by going in. What in the world was so effectively catching their eye? I wondered aloud that this must be some kind of art form for them to stop what they’re doing and look at a set up of clothes, because in the US, well, we run past this stuff without a second thought. We talked about how de-sensitized we must be to walk past all that beauty and intentional art, and not even see it. How we always have heads down, mission on, and miss things around us.

 After a while, I was laughing and laughing, because it happened over, and over and over. It became such a spectacle that the boys became curious and came over and sat by the window and started to watch, and laugh…. “Here comes the next victim!” We laughed and laughed as over and over the passerbyers became caught in the “web of the shop window”. At one point, I had to leave my spot at the window, and the boys said, "don’t worry mom, we’ll keep watching!" One of the last victims of the night was a guy riding by on a unicycle, who elected to double back, stop and pause at both windows….. that became a highlight of the night’s spectacle. We lost interest at some point, but decided that the next day we would watch to see if candy and chocolate displays garnered the same respect as fashion.

In the days that followed, I slowed down at the shop windows- letting my eyes take in the vibrant colors, well-made products and intentional art that had been created for me. And while I soaked it all in, I will say, I’m pretty proud of the will power I exercised at only “licking the window” and not buying what was in it. Well, with one exception…. You’ll hear about that later.

 I’d like to challenge you to slow down, double back, take a look around you; and let me know what commonplace, every day things you begin to appreciate and see.

Come and take hate away- written 7/8/16

Do you know what? I've lived very few places, but none like Texas. If there is anywhere that is more multicultural, mixed religion, more worthy of pride- I just can't imagine. We are a melting pot of northerners, southerners, Asian, Indian, Muslims, Baptists, black, and white.  

These officers lost their lives in a horrible, political, and wasteful way- and, you know what?  No. It's not acceptable here. They embodied the Texas spirit, and charged into the chaos... This is Texas. They are Texas.  We don't hide behind hashtags, because, (and I'm adopted in),  and while most are raised north, south, Asian, Indian, Muslim, Baptist, Catholic, Jew, black or white----- You're All In, or nothin here. Because, at the end of the day- we are Texan. (I will be mocked in my birth state for that). Those lives will count, do count, and we will remember, and they WILL ALWAYS count, because you know what? You can't bring that hate here- #comeandtakehateaway because, We will bless your hearts all the way back home, and turn hate to love, and bless your heart. I'm not a native Texan, but I claim it, and some things are welcome; and some are not. Hate- is not. #blessyourheart #comeandtakeit 

Now onto the fun part....

After I’ve booked our rental or hotel, I move on to itinerary planning for our trips.

Some choose to take the easy-going, meandering type approach, but in my experience- that is tough to do with kids. They want to know where we're going, and when, and what it will be like. There are few kids that I know that enjoy the unexpected. That being said, you could always save one of your stops as the "surprise" of the day.

Itinerary might be a strong word, and you might be picturing me marching my tribe through the streets at an exhausting pace- but that is not always the case (except, yes, in London- but in my defense- that might've been their one shot at seeing London). In my opinion, it’s always good to have at least a loose plan- so that A) you don’t miss the main sites and B) you’re not jetting back and forth from one end of town to the other- wasting precious sight-seeing time.

I usually loosely plan our itineraries based on “days” that can be moved around to fit the weather, our mood, kid melt-downs, etc. I usually try to put a “museum-ish” day between action packed adventure days so that it’s more low-key and the kids don’t get over-tired OR over-bored. For this, I use a website/app called- www.tripit.com. TripIt allows you to add in your rental confirmations, etc- if you choose, but I just mainly use it to “map” our sights. If you’re heading to a city you haven’t explored before- this is great to get your bearings and make getting around easy once you’re at your destination. I made sure to copy and paste lots of info on pricing, hours, etc. into the notes on the app, so that I wouldn't have to keep burning data when we were out sight-seeing. Here's a copy of the rough itinerary for Colorado Springs/Divide, CO.

Again, check Trip Advisor for reviews of destinations and things to do, and Googling the city will lead you to the city’s/chamber of commerce’s website, and you can check the community calendars to see what’s coming up. Many smaller towns have free events and festivals to show off local color, and I always check those for freebies. For instance, when I googled Colorado Springs, I found a free visitor’s guide I could order, a community calendar, as well as a listing of free museums, etc. that were low cost/free. You can visit their tourist website here. Some of these things are lesser-known gems- one being the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum, which my older boys were surprised to admit- they enjoyed.

Once you've created a loose itinerary, if you are traveling internationally, or where cell/internet service will be a potential problem, then I recommend printing or writing these things down along with addresses, hours of operation and prices. This was extremely helpful in London, where wi-fi was not always easily accessible.  You can do this, by clicking on the "print Itinerary" icon in TripIt, and then selecting print, or print to pdf for a nice, clean copy.

Don't feel chained to your itinerary! For example, the first day, we decided to skip the Air Force Museum and added in the local Airplane restaurant (mediocre food, but a must-do for aviation fans). We also had to book an appointment for the Wolf and Wildlife Center, so we ended up moving that to another day. The point of this Itinerary is not to make this regimented, but rather, just having all the information you need in one place, at your fingertips, and having a plan that maximizes your site seeing time. We ended up switching out a few of these places in order to squeeze in local things we found on the fly, or to slide in more relaxing down time. Regardless, we always knew our options, and what it would take out of the budget.

We absolutely loved every minute of our Colorado trip, and yes, I would go again. I would chalk this vacation up to one of the most relaxing, and one of my very favorites, and I think that the good planning process involved definitely contributed to our great experience. Do you have places you love to visit in Colorado? I would love to hear about them!