A EUROPEAN HOLIDAY 2017-18 VOL.15

FIRST CLASS TRAIN, FIRST CLASS HOTEL, ANOTHER UNDIES STORY

Here's where I did plan ahead. I'd decided it. would be nice to try one more means of transportation before we left Europe. We'd done planes, cars and taxis so I thought we should try a train. We hadn't done a train ride in a long time but as I made the reservations I somehow remembered to calculate in the luggage issue when we were about to board a train with our seven pieces of luggage and three personal items. Why I didn't do that with the car rentals still baffles me.

For our trip by train, I reserved first class from Brussels to Paris. It's a short ride, about an hour and a half but it comes complete with a hostess who reserves a taxi for you in Paris and then serves you lunch. They also took care of our luggage. Not a bad deal for a price that would have been about the same as flying.

We've been to Paris several times and stayed at several different hotels but we always seem to gravitate to a collection of hotels near the Pantheon and the Luxembourg Gardens in the Latin Quarter.

Our favorite, the Hotel du Pantheon, was recently renovated and renamed Les Dames du Pantheon. It's now the crown jewel in this hotel collection with award winning design, a strong interest in photography and room prices that exceeded our budget.

But next door is another of their hotels the Hotel des Grands Hommes.

Housed in a building built in the 18th century the Hotel des Grands Hommes presents itself with a  restrained elegance, a quality the French are so good at displaying.

Our room was decorated with a quiet sophistication in an array of eclectic antiques.  Emmy fell in love with the embroidered fabric covered walls.

When your bath includes a kidney-shaped soaking tub where the hotel has placed fresh towels covered in rose petals and a set of lush robes hanging nearby you know you are about to be treated well.

For us, this hotel was perfect except for one minor flaw. Most hotels will include an iron and ironing board in your room and if not they will usually produce one upon request. Emmy had run out of underwear and leggings. We didn't want to have to waste time with a Laundromat so we decided to wash out a few things in that beautiful soaking tub and then hang them on the heated towel bars to dry. They didn't dry fast enough so I went looking for an iron and ironing board. When I couldn't find one I called the front desk and requested one for the room.

They explained that they didn't do this but that they'd set up an iron and board for me in the basement. Not my ideal situation but I didn't have a real choice we wanted to get started on our day and Emmy wasn't about to don wet clothes to do it. So I bundled up her underwear and leggings and headed down to the basement. I was hoping for some kind of maid's quarters where I could iron in peace and privacy...not the case. Although thoughtfully done the ironing station had been set right at the base of stairs and in front of the breakfast room. I had to think twice about doing this. I asked myself do I completely embarrass myself or do I make Emmy go commando and in a dress for our walk into Le Marais section of Paris on a potentially rainy and windy day. I shook back my head, cast off my pride and carried onward ironing panties and thongs with my head held high as hotel guests and staff wandered down to breakfast. I smiled as best I could as they passed by with their "bonjours" doing a double take at what they assumed might be my choice in clothing. What a parent will do for their child has no limits or bounds of integrity.