In August 2006, I traveled to France with my mother, grandmother, great aunt, and second cousin. After we spent an amazing week in Paris, we traveled to Toulouse in Southern France. When planning our trip, we decided to drive the 586 kilometers (roughly 364 miles- the distance from Phoenix to Los Angeles) from Paris to Toulouse. This was a serious road trip. We took two days to travel the route because there were so many places to see along the way. This included more cathedrals than I can count. As day one of our road trip came to a close we decided to spend the evening in Limoges, France. We found a quirky boutique hotel that defined "shabby chic".
Limoges is famous for one thing- French porcelain. So after our night's rest in the shabby chic hotel and breakfast next to an original RCA phonograph with the signature RCA dog listening (above), we headed to the porcelain factories. It was at the Royal Limoges factory that I fell in love with French porcelain.
My Aunt Kathy and I outside the Royal Limoges factory.
Here I am pointing to the plate pattern I like.
I now know what a china shop looks like. This picture doesn't accurately portray the factory. It was huge and there were so many beautiful patters to choose from.
Finally, I made a purchase, larger than I would have liked at the time, but not nearly enough since I returned home. I returned home with a rather expensive tea cup and saucer and a few other pieces. I fell in love with the Gilda pattern. I have since learned I cannot purchase this pattern in the United States. Sigh.
And so, I have a hobby that I do not believe a single one of my friends know about. I collect French porcelain. Not all of my pieces match, but that doesn't matter to me. Someday I hope to visit Limoges again and purchase the remainder of the Gilda set. But for right now I am loving the vintage dishes from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I'm really having a great time browsing the antique shops for Limoges treasures. So, next time you see a vintage plate flip it over and admire where it came from.
Friday night we checked into the Venetian and barely made our dinner reservations at San Marcos. Luckily, we arrived five minutes before the kitchen closed and were still able to order dinner.
Then we spent the night dancing at Tao. We had to work our way through he jungle of people and up to the VIP area. Seth MacFarlane (super-cute creator of the Family Guy and American Dad) hosted the night at Tao and even came to dance with us- happy birthday to Rachel.
Saturday we made our way down to the Bellagio for a late late breakfast next to the garden. I love the Bellagio, it's beautiful and has the most delicious restaurants.
Saturday night we dined at the recently opened Lavo at the Venetian. I don't think any of us knew exactly what to expect. I would describe it as a sort of Mediterranean tapas. It was pretty dang good. While the restaurant was fantastic, the night club, not so much. The age group 28 to 35 seemed to have disappeared from Vegas last weekend. But there was no end to the AMEX black-card carrying college senior that claimed Vegas was "....just what we do...." when we asked if they were there for a special occasion. Typical. 
We moved on the JET fairly quickly after Lavo. Supposedly, Justin Timberlake was supposed to be appearing at JET, but we only saw some Privilege stars.
We had a fabulous 36 hours in Las Vegas. Happy Birthday Rachel!
