PARIS AND VENICE...HERE I COME

So I am getting pretty excited for my next travel adventure to come around. In a few weeks I am heading for Paris where I will meet up with a cousin who will be travelling from New York. Together the two of us are going to enjoy Paris, do some sight seeing, shop, check out the Mona Lisa at the Louvre (can't wait for this one), see the Eiffel Tower, shop (did I already say that one?), and everything else we can do that won't get us into too much trouble. I am packing light - except for a cape and mask (I'll get to that part of the trip in a bit). I want to make sure I have a lot of room for my purchases because shopping is a must and we are going to be in Paris when the sales are on. We will actually be in Paris for Valentine's Day - how romantic - the two of us girls sipping wine (no make that Grand Marnier) while cruising down the Rhine River (not quite the picture I had in mind, but it will have to do for now). Maybe we might meet some local Parisians...make the evening a little more exciting. Anyway, back to my adventure.

Here we will stay before travelling from Paris to Venice by overnight train. Although my cousin has taken the overnight trains before, I haven't. So, this will be a first for me. I hear sometimes you're sleeping with others in your compartment (once again, this is going to be interesting).

When we get to Venice is where the big adventure starts. We have booked a package for the Venice Carnival with the whole experience of what goes on during the carnival with costumes, balls, parades, gondola rides in costumes, cape and mask parties, etc. This is what I am most excited about - not to say that Paris isn't exciting, but this is a chance in a lifetime. Very few people actually experience carnival or get to go to the balls in full costume, and this has been on my wish list for many years, as it has been on my cousin's.  In Venice we will meet up with three other girls (flying in from the U.S.) who are also doing the Venice carnival experience but then they will be heading to Rome for the rest of their trip while I fly back to go Canada and my cousin will fly back to New York.

This is the costume I have been fitted for and will be wearing



My cape to go with the masks I have purchased



I am looking forward to a lot of laughs and a lot of fun on this trip. If you have ever met my cousin Lucy from New York, you know that fun and laughs are going to be the mainstay of this trip.



Lucy and me in New York

So stay tuned to our adventures as we embark on planes, trains, and automobiles, with  gondolas, boats, and whatever else we will be riding in.