Our trip to Paris

The anniversary card said, "If I can't sweep you off your feet and take you to Paris, France, how would Paris, Texas do instead?" My wonderful romantic husband set it all up. He found the Bed & Breakfast, and he had his Mom and sister set up for taking the boys one night each.  I needed to get away SO much that I felt like I was going to the other Paris.  Plus I didn't care where we were going.  I was just really happy to be able to spend some time with him.

We left Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend.  Our first stop after dropping off the boys:   Starbucks!

It wasn't a long drive.  THIS was the house.  Isn't it lovely?  I had some mediocre expectations based on past Bed and Breakfast experiences.  They were blown away.  Old Magnolia House is run by two sisters.  Debbie cooks breaksfast and makes wonderful baked goods to snack on anytime you want.   Sherri takes care of guests, decorated the inside and maintains the gardens outside.

This was the staircase leading up to the bedrooms.  There are three bedrooms, each one with its own bathroom.  We could never hear any of our neighbors.  The house was built in 1871, and was the only house from that era not destroyed in the big fire that Paris had in 1916. When Debbie and Sherri decided to buy it and renovate it to a B&B, it had been vacant for over 10 years.

Here is one of two stained glass window panels that just took my breath away.  This one was in the parlor over one of the front windows.  I have seen Victorian way overdone.  But this house was so understated.  Every corner of every room is arranged just perfectly.  Sherri mixed old paintings with actual old photographs, which resulted in making the house seem authentic.

Here is our dining room.  See the fireplace in the corner?  Nice.  This was the room where we came for our two fantastic and unique "Southern gourmet" breakfasts.  The first morning we started with a homemade cinnamon roll and one piece of perfectly cooked bacon.  The main course was scrambled egg cooked in a pepper half with melted cheese on top, with an avocado and tomato relish and more bacon.  The second morning our opener was custard with sauteed cherries, blueberries and raspberries on top.  The main dish was homemade croutons with fried eggs on top, a potato pancake and more fruit with cream.  I was stuffed like a tick when I walked out of that room each morning, but very, very happy.

The 2nd stained glass panel, which is over a side window in the dining room.  The pictures don't do them justice.

Here's a view looking down one side of the house.

I loved this and want to find one like it.  It's a tower herb garden.

There are two tourist attractions in Paris.  The first is this statue adorning an eccentric Paris resident's grave.  Some say it is Jesus, but it looks more like a female to me.  Whoever it is, he or she is wearing cowboy boots.  The Evergreen cemetery in Paris is the biggest one I've ever seen.  It holds 40,000 people and that number will grow for at least 15 more years.  It took us awhile to find this, even though we'd been given some shady directions.  I could have spent all morning just wandering around looking at gravestones and listening to the birds sing.

We spent our second morning browsing books and CD's at Hastings.   Ahhhhh.  Time.  A precious resource we don't have much of back home.

It was a little strange to see this beautiful Italian fountain in the middle of the Paris town square.  There are antique shops and restaurants around it, but nothing but boarded up windows and dilapidated buildings in the next blocks.  Really sad.

We didn't think about the fact that everything in small towns closes up for Sundays and holidays.  It was a little tricky to find open restaurants.  But we succeeded in finding a Mexican restaurant called "TaMolly's"  Food was not that great, but at least we didn't have to eat dinner at the DQ.  

Here's the second tourist attraction in Paris.  Pretty self-explanatory.

Since it was Memorial Day weekend, it was nice to stumble upon this in-progress monument to service members, past and present, alive and deceased.  It was really pretty and nice and quiet next to an open field.  But I'm not sure it I would have placed it so close to the Eiffel Tower monstrosity.

Here we are saying goodbye to our relaxing weekend, and to two of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten.  Thanks honey.  I couldn't have had a better time in France.