European Cities Tour of Texas - September 2021
It was our 30th anniversary and for a year we had been planning on taking a nice trip somewhere. We looked at Europe and then at all of the COVID restrictions. Some countries were not even open for tourism yet.
So we booked airfare, car and place on the beach for a week in Maui. Then the Governor of Hawaii got on TV and said “Tourists please stay home”. So we cancelled out on Maui trip.
Next, we decided to go to the Canadian Rockies, where we have been several times. Canada had just opened up for tourism. We booked travel and a stay at the Chateau Lake Louise near Banff. Very pretty and cool temps. But we were overwhelmed by all of the COVID rules for travel to Canada, including showing we have a place to stay for 2 weeks of quarantine in case we got sick.
So we were bummed out that our 30th anniversary was days away and we did not have a trip planned. We had the idea of driving around Texas and going to the towns that were named for European cites. We made a list and planned a route from Richardson to Dublin, London, Fredericksburg (Germany), Florence, Italy and Athens. We stopped in West for some Czech food and heritage. Paris was too far out of the way, maybe another weekend
Click on any photo to see a larger view
2 years after we took our trip, someone sent this to Felicia. They show Moscow, Berlin and Vienna. I have never heard of these Texas towns! Now we are going to have to go on another trip!
Our first stop was Dublin, Tx. Famous for old Dr. Pepper bottling plant that still used real sugar. Plant is now closed. There were a lot of nice parks and historical sites to see in Dublin.
There was not much to see in London, Tx. It is pretty small and it was hard to find any signs besides the post office to show we had been to London.
These are the same glasses that we used at our wedding 30 years earlier. My sneaky wife saved them for 30 years and then took them with us on our drive around Texas. She surprised me at dinner with champagne in our old glasses. That is one reason why I love her so much!
Next stop, Richardson. Paris comes to mind when talking about European cities in Texas but it was too far out of the way.
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Wait! On a Sunday in October, Felicia told me that we are driving to Paris today. So we picked up Carrin and drove to Paris, TX for some sightseeing and good home cooking.
