{"id":2664,"date":"2013-10-13T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2013-10-13T10:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=2664"},"modified":"2013-10-12T15:15:14","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T19:15:14","slug":"a-tale-of-two-cities-london-and-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=2664","title":{"rendered":"A tale of two cities: London and Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: medium;\"><em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/UTKellyRev2Column1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-2666\" style=\"margin: 4px;\" alt=\"UTKellyRev2Column\" src=\"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/UTKellyRev2Column1-250x300.jpg\" width=\"175\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/UTKellyRev2Column1-250x300.jpg 250w, https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/UTKellyRev2Column1.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 175px) 100vw, 175px\" \/><\/a>Bring your appetites, but maybe leave those sunglasses home<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><strong>By Kelly Hockenberry<\/strong>, <span style=\"font-size: x-small;\"><em>Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Our anniversary trip to London and Paris was AMAZING!\u00a0 However, such a grand adventure does not happen without a few pitfalls.<\/p>\n<p><i>It was the best of times, it was the worst of times\u2026<!--more--><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Kelly.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" alt=\"Kelly\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Kelly-300x300.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>BEST:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The most picturesque views we have ever seen!\u00a0 Paris (especially) was like a fairytale.\u00a0 The architecture was breathtakingly beautiful.\u00a0 I literally screamed when we rounded the corner and saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time. \u00a0J\u2019taime!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>WORST:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I feel queasy\/nervous on an airplane.\u00a0 I do not like flying in the dark over a very large ocean.\u00a0 Airplane food is yucky.\u00a0 I had a cocktail of Dramamine and Xanax that did not leave my system for about 36 hours.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>BEST:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The food!\u00a0 I was so worried about the cuisine (or lack thereof) in London, but was VERY pleasantly surprised!\u00a0 Of course, we had fish &amp; chips and they were fried but light as air!\u00a0 The French clearly do not have any gluten sensitivities as our daily meals consisted of at least 80% bread.\u00a0 I\u2019m not one to turn down a warm croissant.\u00a0 Nope. \u00a0Not this gal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>WORST:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is no cream for coffee in either city. \u00a0They looked at us like we had two heads when we asked for it.\u00a0 The options are \u201cskim or not so skim\u201d.\u00a0 And, \u201cnot so skim\u201d is NOT cream.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>BEST: <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The fashion!\u00a0 Not so much in London (with the GRAND exception of Harrod\u2019s, which may be where I request a portion of my ashes to be scattered) but PARIS!!!!\u00a0 The women (and the men, but I was really focused on the women) were SO CHIC!\u00a0 The key to dressing like a French woman is menswear.\u00a0 Seriously.\u00a0 The clothes are exquisitely tailored and body conscious so as to remain feminine but, the outfit itself has a masculine element.\u00a0 Whether it was a blazer or an oxford shoe or a crisp, white button down shirt, the influence was there.\u00a0 Every time.\u00a0 The nails are painted either red or left naked.\u00a0 The lips are red or naked.\u00a0 I saw no pink, orange, or wine color that is popular Stateside.\u00a0 The hair was dirty but in a good \u201cI\u2019m French and I have tousled, sexy hair\u201d sorta way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>WORST:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No one wears sunglasses! \u00a0Not in London (where, I suppose they enjoy squinting when they get the rare opportunity) OR in Paris!\u00a0 I stuck out like a sore thumb every time I put them on\u2026until finally I was peer pressured into keeping them in my handbag. \u00a0Don\u2019t want to appear like a tourist!\u00a0 Speaking of blending, I refused to wear big, white American sneakers and may have permanent foot damage from walking 51 miles in ballet flats as a result.\u00a0 #itwasworthit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see, my \u201cworst of times\u201d list is not without a little poetic license.\u00a0 Everything was pretty awesome.<\/p>\n<p>Our flight home was an absolute nightmare\u2026.but that is for another article as I am still perfecting the terms of my lawsuit against our travel agency (NOT kidding)! \u00a0Overall, this 20<sup>th<\/sup> wedding anniversary celebration with my husband was one of the best times of my life!\u00a0 C\u2019est magnifique!<\/p>\n<p>Happy Weekend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bring your appetites, but maybe leave those sunglasses home By Kelly Hockenberry, Columnist, The Times Our anniversary trip to London and Paris was AMAZING!\u00a0 However, such a grand adventure does not happen without a few pitfalls. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times\u2026 &nbsp;&nbsp; Send article as PDF &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[1967,1219,1968,1969,1970],"class_list":["post-2664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-featured","tag-cuisine","tag-fashion","tag-london","tag-paris","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}