Airports, That Dudes Personal Choices, and Miss Eiffel

October 2, 2015

It is with much appreciation to the universe that I post this first post from the first stop on my second European adventure.

I'll start by saying, I know. This is not the norm. This is not something that I ever thought I would be able to do once, let alone twice (and let's be honest, you know I'm gonna push for a third time sometime!). Grateful doesn't begin to describe it, and not just to the universe (whatever that means to whoever you may be), but to the people who make my life the way it is, which in turn allows me to grasp for the experiences that I grasp for. 

Thanks to all of those people, who allow me to be alone when I need to be, and surround me with authentic conversation and experiences when the time is the time.

Alright let's switch off Oprah, and switch on Haaaaayleeeeey!

Here we go folks, this is what day one in Paris (and airports) has been:

The Metal Birds
This part was interesting. People use the word "interesting" in place of, "Yeah... no." or "You thought that was the right choice / answer, huh? Yeah... no." Or maybe they mean that something is interesting... what the hell do I know.

I mean interesting as a bit of a 50/50. The planes, woot. The service on the planes, woot woot. The service on the ground in Iceland, left a little woot to be desired. Essentially, it was wood panel walls (the construction type, not the 1970's type), and a doctors waiting room like transferring of over a hundred people. You know, how you sit in the waiting room and wait, then finally get to the doctors actual office... and wait (some comedian I can't remember has that as part of their act, I feel like it's someone big, but I can't remember who... anyone know?), and then you feel like you won the damn lottery when it's finally your turn!

Well, we all strolled over to gate 15E, after disembarking the first flight, using el toileto (yeah, I am practicing my languages.... and yeah, I do know that none of that was a proper language... this trip is going to be quite interesting, bah!). We all then discovered that 15E was a cement floor, with no gate labels, that held maybe 30 people, so we were all lining the stairwell that plopped us all right at the gate door. There was a lot of huffing and puffing, many a " Come ooooon!", and then finally we were move to another line. And then another line, and then the equivalent of a Disney World people-mover that took us 10'. Yes, ten feet. Weird.

Whatever, we got on the plane, I got eggs with a bun for breakfast, and then we landed. That's really all that matters in the end.

That Time That Guy in a Nice Suit Walked By Me and Then I Realized That His Fly Was Completely Down on Purpose and Now I Know Way More Than I Should About His Manscaping Preferences

Yeah, you did read that right. A dude, a grown-ass man, in a business suite, with briefcase in hand, was displaying his junk for all the world to see. And guys, this wasn't some seedy party of town where people just let their junk flag fly, it was maybe a two minute walk from the Eiffel Tower, on a completely open, populated walkway, in the middle of the afternoon. 

I mean... look, I don't want to get into the details, but guys, what was the plan? Like... is that the Paris equivalent to a construction worker whistle to a hot chick on the street? Maybe one responds and then it's game on? Was is just a fetish that I know absolutely nothing about? 

Whatever, I found myself literally confused for a good three minutes, while looking around with that, "Soooo, did anyone else see that???" look on my face. No one did, at least not anyone ahead of me.

Fine, once I got over JunkGate 2015, I got to the Eiffel Tower! 

The Eiffel Tower
The following pictures make me want to never go anywhere else every again, especially after dusk, when this mother twinkles like my eye when I see my favourite cake on display at my favoriting bakery. I'm talking twiiiiiiiinkle!

Once I left, which was difficult, by the way, I finally got something to eat. There were crepes and baguettes by the tower, but I wanted to sit, relax, enjoy the street, and eat yummy, real food. Don't get me wrong, they will be plenty of crepe eating, just not as the only food after 6 hours of no food!

I had a caprese salad with calamari, and enjoyed some very delicious balsamic vinegar and olive oil with fresh baguette. It was exactly what I wanted!

I'm now back at the AirBNB place, writing this badboy, and feeling pretty much like my eyes are about to shut down in a most involuntary way.

That's all for today, more to report back on tomorrow. I have no idea what the plan is, but I'm certainly gonna try pretty hard to make an awesome plan!

Night everyone!

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Pretty Much I Slept Today and Made Up for It With Awesome!

October 3, 2015

4:32pm

Right, so it was last night just yesterday, and I went to sleep around 2am. That's pretty much the usual. I thought I'd set my alarm for 10am, figuring 8 hours of sleep was good, and even better for my back (seems long sleep aren't all that great for my back). So, 10am popped up and I said, out loud, "Noooope!" and set it for 11am. Still reasonable...

I got up at 3pm, you guys. I forgot that the same thing happened last year, I slept 14 hours my first night in London. I guess it's time change mixed with long day of travel, mixed with finally having time to relax from all other life things. 

Anyhow, I feel weird, kind of loopy, I'm guessing it's the sleep and adjusting to having free time. It's weird. I love it, but it's weird!

Finally I left the place I'm staying around 4pm, feeling... day wastey. I'll get over that. I'm starting to get over it as I sit at a little restaurant right near the Arc de Triomphe. It's called Casa Luca, and I just had a very, very good caesar salad, fresh baguette and what appeared to be hand-churned butter. 

The parmesan cheese was in large sheets, and there was sooooo much chicken underneath. This'll tie me over until dinner later tonight, probably very later given that it's now 5:22pm.

(Good lord, what is the deal with selfie sticks? They're everywhere! Could we be a little less full of ourselves, humanity?)

I'm thinking of heading over to a Arc de Triomphe and doing the climb to the top, but we shall see how late it's open tonight. If I remember correctly, the climb took it out of me last year, and I was in better shape then, the good news is that I have my new runners on (one of the things I changed about this year... shoes that wouldn't wreck me!), so hopefully that will help.

8:57pm

I'm sitting at a restaurant called La Caveau. I walked across the entire city-ish to get here. It's the one restaurant that I remember being amazing from last year (though all were good), and I've ordered the same thing I had last time, the frogs legs, lamb with these delicious cheesy scalloped potatoes (called something much more French than that, I'm sure), and will be getting the caramelized pineapple with citrus fruits on top. Whaaaaaaat?

Anyhow, here's what went on before I hauled myself all the way from Champs-Élysées to an island past Notre Dame.

I made it over to the Arc (which I'm pretty sure it loves being called), but opted not to go up, because there were just a ton of people. Maybe on Monday or Tuesday when people are at work. I did, however, take some pretty great pictures of the outside. What looks like this? How do they put so much detail on something?

I tried out my new camera's 30x optical zoom, and I have to say that it's rather impressive!

From there I walked, and walked, and walked down Champs-Élysées, went to a couple of stores, and bought only some treats for tonight when I get back to the place I'm staying. I found myself very snacky last night with no treats! Never again I say! Never again!

Look at how weird some of these little chip flavours are? Ox? We'll see how those taste at some point.

Then I walked again, all I could think about was the frog legs and lamb that are soon to be making their way to my table, and I ended up at Notre Dame, at night, with all the most beautiful lights ever! Again, how does this exist? Also, I downloaded the Hunchback of Notre Dame and watched it on the plane. So good, so sad, so lovely, so Disney. Though honestly, it got a little violent and pervy there in a few parts, much more violent and pervy than I remember it being as a kid! I guess when we're kids we don't clue into that stuff, but, man alive, there was some stuff that I think would scare me now if I were a kid (that makes no sense, but you know what I mean).

Oooooh man my food is here!

And then dessert came, and I almost literally cheered out loud! I wasn't what I thought it would look like, but man was it good!

Then something happened which is the real reason that I go on these trips. I'd been exchanging some little laughs with this couple sitting near the front of the restaurant, as we all watched the cat that lived at the restaurant galavant amongst the guests and outside.

We ended up chatting, they invited me over to their table as the restaurant cleared out, and they were simply lovely. I think we talked for over an hour, exchanging stories, talking about our individual experiences in Paris and other places we'd travelled. 

Their names are Marcy and Barry, and Barry told me this hilarious story (among many other wonderful stories) about him fishing in norther-ish Quebec with a group of friends, all in their own little boat. It started pouring rain, and everyone abandoned the fishing afternoon and went back to the cabin. He stayed out there, made a makeshift clothes-line, took his gear off to dry it, and then went back to fishing. Totally naked! He said there's nothing more freeing than being in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles away from another person, and fishing in the buff... sooooo funny!  I'll have to take his word for it though! Anyhow, we all exchanged information, and will hopefully stay in touch.

That's the point, folks. Human communication and connection, for an hour or for a half-second. That's the whole point of all of this. And my this, I don't mean by trip, I mean life.

Alright, it's 2:29am, I'm barely tired, and I'm just finishing that tiny bag of Strong Cheese & Onion chips. I love how nondefined the cheese is. It's just strong. Whatever, they were delicious!

Tomorrow I'm going to try to go to the top of Notre Dame, because I was sad to miss it last time I was here, and because it supposed to rain for three days after tomorrow, soooo, should get the out-in-the-open stuff done tomorrow. 

Night everyone! I'll be back with what I hope are more fun stories to tell tomorrow!

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Slept More, Mass, Top of the Tower and Some Random

October 4, 2015

Right, so I can't stop sleeping. It seems the time difference has made a much larger difference than last year. I went l sleep at 4am (couldn't sleeeeeep), and woke up pretty late today. It wasn't as bad as yesterday, but still and insane amount of sleep.

Anyhow, I got up, I got ready, and I was on my way! Today I took the Metro to Note Dame for Sunday Mass. I don't speak French and I don't speak any religion, so it may seem an odd choice, but I didn't think so.

Notre Dame is a huge part of Paris, so if I wanted to actually experience the culture, at least in a specific part, then it's something that I wanted to experience. I understood nothing. Not one thing. But the music, you guys, the organs.... wow. I'm going to try and upload a voice recording of the organs and some of the service, because it is in-tense! (just tried, won't work... booo.)

The line for Sunday evening mass.

Before I got there I decided that 17 hours without food was pretty much too much, so I stopped at a place near Notre Dame and had Quiche Loraine. From what I can gather, it was quiche with ham and cheese. French folks, feel free to clarify!

After that and Notre Dame, I decided that I would go down the next Metro opening I found, and figure out where to go. I didn't know where I was all that well, but went and figured it out. Seems to be a hobby of mine lately. 

I ended up taking the RER (train, it seems, as opposed to the "subway" as we would call it), and ended up at the Eiffel Tower, quite on purpose. I decided that if tomorrow through Wednesday are going to potentially be rainy, I should get my butt to the top of the Eiffel Tower tonight. I stood in line for about 35 minutes for tickets, and then ascended with the rest of humanity. It was busy, and boy was it chilly out tonight. The wind at the very top of the Eiffel Tower made it feel something like 5 degrees, and here I was in a dress with a bolero (luckily that covered my upper arms slightly). 

The trains all have names, all of which seem to be people names. This one was Nora, and you have to catch the name on the front of the train as it comes screaming into the station to make sure it's going where you're going. You have to cross-reference the name with the screens at the station. I learned this the hard way last year, standing there for sooooome time before I had a damn clue, and then just saying, efffff it, and getting in one. The wrong one. I have since recovered.

The next three are from the middle level

The next two are from the very top

I finally got down. Fought through the crowds, and bought some candied peanuts for a snack tonight. I'm going to warm those guys up in the microwave and watch a movie on my iPad, and reeeeelax! 

First, dinner was needed. I ended up at a place up the street from where I'm staying, called Le Marceau. It's pretty nice, but more importantly, warm. I ordered a hot chocolate, which is rare for me, but I was super-cold. It was pretty good, though tasted suspiciously like a powder pack type of hot chocolate. Oh well. Then I ordered the chicken and mashed potatoes, which ended up coming as chicken and fries. Oh well again, when in France, eat like the French!

And now, as I watch smoke come out of the noses of men and women surrounding me, I think I may settle up the bill, and make my way back "home". I finally have wifi there (it got a little weird the first couple of days), so I can check the latest gossip and pollute my mind again. Hazzah!

A side note for your perusal. Last night I watched The Second Best Marigold Hotel. I'd seen it in the theatre, and I bought it as soon as I could from iTunes. The whole thing is just lovely, but there is one line, the very last line of the movie, that I remember made me cry when I saw it in the theatre. 

It sums up how I feel right now, and how I've felt for the last little while. I think that some people perceive me to be a little nuts for travelling across the world on my own, for spending the money I have on these trips, and for making travelling such a large part of my life of late (it's actually been quite a while now, wow!). Perhaps this will help to make my current mindset somewhat more... understandable:

"You have no idea now what you will become. Don't try and control it. Let go. That's when the fun starts. Because as I once heard someone say, there's no present like the time." 

- Maggie Smith, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Still just a billion percent how I feel! Looove it!

As I head back to the AirBNB place, I'm trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. I'm certainly going to force myself awake at a reasonable hour somehow, and if it rains, it's Louvre, Musée National De L'Orangerie and the Pompidou Centre. I'll be sure to wear my runners if that all ends up coming true (though the rain may make my rain shoes a better choice... hmmmm, we shall see!)

Thanks for reading, and I'll do my best to have some more adventures tomorrow!

PS. I just ordered the Créme Caramel, and while I have an immediate stomach ache from the sugar input, maaaaaaaaaaaaaan this is good!

PPS. Here are a bunch of beautiful shots that I didn't show last night for some reason, but then saw them again today, and feel like I just have to share them!

Come ooooooon! With the flying birds too?

In person, it's like you've been drawn into your own fairytale, and can't think of another thing more beautiful. 

Alright, nighty night!

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Rain, Rain, Rain, Pompidou, Rain, Naked Metal Dudes, Rain

October 5, 2015

Right, so it rained pretty hard today, all day, until around 9pm. I had my handy rain shoes (Hunter makes shoes now, not just boots!), and my raincoat. I believe, that after a while in the closet, my raincoat has lost its, well, raincoatiness (for lack of a term that exists because that's not a thing that people say!)

It seems that the sleeves are letting rain in, though it could also be that it was a little warm today, so sweaty arms could be the culprit. I know. Ewwww. (Note to self: Do not talk about your sweat on this blog. Especially if it's about arms. Those aren't really supposed to sweat unless it's under one, so... you may have a condition that's worth looking to...)

Anyhow, I took the Metro on over to the Pompidou Centre, my second favourite place.... third favourite place, in Paris. It's beaten only by the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. The good news is that the most of the exhibits were new, and there were an absolute ton of Kandinsky pieces, only my favourite artist!

I'm just going to inundate you with pictures now, let them tell their own tale (except some which... you'll see), and then I'll be back after them to chat some more:

Naked metal people! They're in the rain. Better them than me. Better them than me!

 That's Notre Dame on the left, with the front white pillars and the steeple!

And just when you thought you were a grown up and were incapable of nightmares... this.

It's made of friggin' baby doll bits and pieces! Look closely. I understand if you can never return to this blog again! Yeeeesh, this is weird, and it's taller than me in person.

Come to think of it, clothes are impossible for me to find in Paris. Maybe I can borrow her dress!

I take it back... I just saw a single baby leg!

Different artist. More baby dolls. What the hell, Paris?

Some beautiful glass work. Sans baby doll.

A short film where a dude drew on his hand for 10 minutes. So. You know. Art.

I feel like I want this door (which is not an art piece) to be saying, "No issues behind this door!"... I have a feeling that I am incorrect.

A metal and wood spider and wool art.

So that was that! I walked for a while after, decided that dark rainy weather wasn't the best idea, so took a cab back to the place I'm staying. It was then when I clues in that I'd totally been ripped off by a cab driver last night. I suspected, but only really knew tonight when a cab ride cost me 14€ from all the way across town in traffic, and last night from four blocks away in no traffic cost me 18.5€. 

Ugh. I don't like that feeling. Over and done with though, I'll know better for next time, one of which I hope there is not.

I ended up at a place near the place I'm staying and having one of the best caprese salads of my life. No pictures, I inhaled it before my camera had a chance!

Now I'm typing in a dark room at "home", anticipating the Warhol exhibit I hope to go to tomorrow! 

It's my last full day in Paris tomorrow, so I'm pretty sure I'll be headed back to the Eiffel Tower for one last glimpse of my soulmate in architecture form!

As I did last night, I will leave you with a quote. Don't worry, this isn't going to become a regular occurance, because I've run out of Exotic Marigold Hotel movies to reference! Hahah.

This one is equally as resinatey (not a word) with me as the last. Because it's just true!

"You can have anything you want Sonny, you just need to stop waiting for someone to tell you, you deserve it."

- Dame Judy Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

With that, good night, and will do my best to report back with more fun tomorrow!

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Warhol, The Thinky Thinks, Shopping, and Yummmm!

October 6, 2015

As I mentioned last night, this is my last full day in Paris. I return for a day and a half at the end of my trip because I'm flying out of here, but that'll be in November, and very likely not a as nice out as it is these days. 

Today was a brilliant day, weather-wise and stuff-doing-wise. 

I noticed the other day when I arrived, as I walked down to the Eiffel Tower, there is an Andy Warhol exhibition on at the Musée d'Art Moderne, right up the street from the place I'm staying. Obviously I had to go, and today, a day with a wee bit o' rain, I timed it perfectly. I walked into the museum five minutes before it started raining, and it was just finishing up as I walked out. 

I loooove it when a plan comes together! Here are some pictures of the things I was allowed to take pictures of in there, and then the outside of the back of the museum. The back looks incredible, it's a wonder they didn't make it the front. You'll notice my building husband (aka. The Eiffel Tower) in the background. I, of course, had to go say hi to hubby too.

This star is made of marble, and a dude who worked there came over to tell me that. There were a bunch of other marble moon-shaped things, one for each phase of the moon, on a gold-leafed table, but apparently it's so off that people walk by and think it's just an intermediary room before the next gallery. I was apparently one of the only people to stop and actually pay attention to the space. I find that odd. This is a modern art gallery, I find it hard to tell whether the vents in the wall are art or not!

Why so blue? (come on, I had to!)

I've decided that my favourite area of Paris is the Marais, and the areas surrounding. I stayed in this area last year, and will be for the couple of days I'm here in November. There's an island right next to the island Notre Dame is on, called Île St. Louis (hell yeah I put the effort in to get the accents right! lol). It's just... it feels like Paris to me. It feels like all of my preconceived notions of Paris. Tiny streets, chocolate shops, the smell of freshly made crepes everywhere, fresh meat and cheese shops, a fruit and vegetable vendor who doesn't speak any English and was very kind to gesture with me as to what I wanted.

If I am lucky enough to come back to Paris again, this is where I will stay. With the dude in the fruit and vegegable shop. Juuuust kidding, I will stay in this area though. And if it costs a lot, which I suspect it will, I will just have to save up for a bit longer. 

I had gone four days without buying anything to send back home. Today, I bought enough to send two whole packages back. Oy vey. That'll be on my list of things to do tomorrow before my flight. It's a late flight, so I'll be sure to leave enough time to make it to La Poste, not have a clue what I'm doing, try to decipher the way it works, and get something shipped back to the correct addressed. 

I may need some luck!

Here are some of the things I bought. Selfishly. The things I bought non-selfishly will not be shown, because they're for other people, and they should remain a secret! Also there are some daytime pictures of Notre Dame because I walked by it on my way to my new little island bestie. 

Made. Of. Paper!

Is this (x2) not amazing? One for oil, one for balsamic! Yeah. I know.

The larger book is full of huge sheets of 1970s wrapping paper / pattern sheets, and while I fear I'll find this at Swipe or Indigo upon my return, I couldn't risk it.

While walking around in my favourite part of town, just drooling over the crepe smell before I'd had dinner, I passed by the La Caveau place that I had that delicious meal the other night. They saw me, waved, we both smiled, and I carried on. You guys, did I just find my French Cheers??? Oooh hell yes!

However, I decided to not go there, because.... this is Paris, and while they make delicious food, and have a very cute cat (I know, I wondered about the cleanliness factor too... I got over it pretty quickly though, ha), I am travelling to experience different things, so I opted to try a different place for dinner tonight.

You guys.

It's just...

Holy. Hell.

I ended up at a place I'd walked by an hour or so before, called Sorza. It has eight tables total, four of which are two-person tables, can't measure more than 600 square feet, and it modern while still being quaint. I ordered the "menu" option, which is a three course meal at a flat price, with a few options for each course.

I ordered (have actually just finished my main, awaiting the dessert menu, even though I know what I'm going to choose):

Appetizer - Mozarella di Buffalo atop, tomates cerises, basilic (speaks for itself)

Main - Souris d'agneau braisée, purée de pommes de terre, huile d'olive (in no way speaks for itself... braided lamb shank, potato purée, olive oil)

Dessert - Créme brûlée à la vanille (speaks for itself)

Ummmmmmmmm... whhaaaat? Look.

After that I fought off the idea of a crepe, and won. I have not had one crepe in my time here! I know! I'm as equally shocked as you are. I know I won't be getting one tomorrow due to the immediate stomach ache the sugar will cause, and I have to get on a plane. Comfort is king, especially because I know the level of seat to leg and hip ratio is going to be the opposite of in my favour tomorrow.

Anyhoozle, then I went walking around, ended up, shockingly, at Notre Dame. Just, y'know what, just bare with me, I leave here tomorrow!

Right, so then it was "home" time, and I decided that I'd spent enough on cabs, and that I would find my way home on the Metro. Yeah.

I got to the correct entrance, got to the place where it said the yellow line was, but the effer was only going one way, 'cause there was no option for the other way, which, you guessed it, is the one I needed. So fine, I found another line to take which would then lead me to that first line. Did that. That first line wasn't going my way again. What the hell, you guys? Fiiiine then, I took a train instead of the Metro, got to the Arc de Triomphe, and managed to walk home from there after stopping in and getting three macaron for a treat. If I'm not going to have a crepe, you'd better be damn sure I'm having a Parisian macaron! 

Alright, to bed I go, ready for a big day and a new country tomorrow. I'm very excited about Amsterdam, we shall see how it goes, and I will do my best to be back tomorrow to report some excellent findings.

Nightaroonydoony!

PS. Here are some shots of the place I'm staying in Paris, before I forget.