It has been my experience that September is a great month to visit Europe. The weather is mild, the college kids are all back at school, and generally, lots of people are back at work dreaming about next summer.

Our favorite way to travel is the “Rick Steves” way. With the help of his books, we make our own itinerary, book our airline tickets and even our cute little hotels. And when we get to our destination, take ourselves generally where his guide books lead us. My husband and I are not seasoned travelers, but we adore the adventure of depending on each other, exploring on and off the beaten path, and celebrating with high-fives at the end of the day that we actually make it back to our hotel!

Last year for our 40th wedding anniversary we traveled to Paris, the City of Lights. Did you know that the Eiffel Tower puts on a glittering light show starting at nightfall during the first ten minutes of every hour till 2 a.m. in the summer, 1 a.m. in winter? Basically, the tower is grand during the day and breathtaking at night!

Paris a very walkable city and also home to the imposing Notre Dame Cathedral and The Louve. I still pinch myself when I think about attending Mass in Notre Dame. Did we really do that?

And yes … we even learned how to use public transportation! I’ll never forget purchasing our Metro tickets in the underground subway station. Half of the tickets didn’t work and the Metro dude in the cage just shook his head at us like we were the dumbest tourists he had ever met. I remember sitting on a bench on one of the Metro platforms. The Metro map was incomprehensible. We had no idea how to get to Notre Dame from our hotel until we befriended an English-speaking family of four. I could tell by his haircut he was military. Turned out the husband was stationed in Germany and traveling around Europe with his wife and two children. After he gave us our subway lesson we were experts, only getting off at the wrong stop once the rest of our trip.

Next time … our favorite hotel/neighborhood in Paris!