#to think that the last time I went there was to buy Notre-Dame de Paris

[isadelt]

Montparnasse had always liked this place, liked the creaking floorboards, the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, the smell of old books. He’d always liked the nook of French books—the ones just classified as “literary fiction”. French publishing houses' design choices gave a certain appearance to shelves when books were classified by genre. While the white of the spins was perhaps a tad pretentious, it also made the bookshelves—all filled with white books—aesthetically pleasing. ... Something about the literary fiction and how it was in a corner just by the cash, a little hidden from the rest of the store, pleased Montparnasse in a way he couldn’t exactly pinpoint.

Mixture of markers and colouring pencils. From this Jehanparnasse thing I wrote where they both study literature.

That passage actually describes a real second-hand bookstore in my hometown. I really love that place and used to spend summers in there, browsing classics (though I rarely go there anymore because I’m trying to reduce my book purchases and I’m also living abroad, so this was drawn from memory). Technically there’s a CD shelf that would have hidden Montparnasse...

I’ve fallen off the wagon with my sketches because I basically received a yarn order. Plus exams are coming up and I’ve been travelling.

[ahmeddocuments]

Day 1, (Cairo/Amman/Paris), 25-9-2019

Written by Ahmed Hassan, edited and corrected by Aya Ashraf

Well, this is finally it. The moment I've always procrastinated to do. I'm finally documenting my biggest trip to Europe to date!

The trip started from September, 2019 from France passing by Italy, Vatican, Austria, Prague and ending in Germany. The trip raised my travel achievements from 5 cities, 4 countries to 15 cities, 8 countries in a total of 13 months, with a total number of 33 traveling days.

When I'm documenting my trip, I'm documenting personal experience, personal observations and opinions. it also might reflect my passion for Architecture, Art and beauty of how I see things, and how it reflects from my perspective. And to be honest, I've thought a lot about ideas of how I can show my trip well, and blogging somehow was a winner. Blogging sounds like a classic idea of how things should be documented, and I'm someone who's always nostalgic and feels classic about the present and the future.

Well, Where do I start. it's 9:00 PM on a Tuesday, On 24th of September 2019. i just had a haircut and heading home after one of the strangest days of my life. it's the day i had an emotional roller coaster; I'm getting ready to travel a the biggest planned trip ever, just a few hours after knowing I've took a hit in my career. Or at least that’s what i thought at the time. but after a few hours of Anxiety, I've decided to let all of such thoughts stop, I'm going to travel! I'm literally a few hours away from doing my most favorite thing in the whole world! I started double checking my belongings; Passport and tickets, Cash money, devices and luggage.

My plane takes off at 6:45 AM. I made sure i had arrived earlier for documentation. I finished everything around 3 hours before the flight and I'm sitting there at the airport bored and bored waiting for the time to pass, still having glimpses of anxiety from time to time.

The moment has come, I hear the call for my flight. Unlike the past year, that wasn't a direct gate to the plane, but it's a shuttle bus taking us directly to the plane near the runway. It’s my first time on Royal Jordanian airlines, I gotta say the plane looks decently vintage from outside, I liked the color pattern of the fleet because you don’t see darker planes every day. as below, the plane appeared mostly black with mixed colors of blood red and gold yellow.

i picked royal Jordanian because of two factors; their cheap economy tickets (Cairo/Amman/Paris and Berlin/Amman/Cairo for 6900 L.E), their luggage policy  (two 23 Kg pieces + the carry on). But I gotta say, you get what you pay for. As someone who’s been on Air France's Joon last year, all I could do is compare the seats’ quality, friendliness level of the staff and the quality of food. The three weren’t that bad at all on the RJ planes, but yeah, that was something to mention.

So the plane is prepared to take off, flight attendants are giving us instructions about safety and emergency, then we’re taxiing the runway. When people usually describe their point of life when they feel absolutely free of any restrictions, I always think about the moment when the plane is on the runway accelerating, leaving anything behind -even if temporary- and rising above the clouds, above anything that previously caused any kind of insecurity. It’s me feeling superior and feeling good about myself.

That was my first time passing over Sinai by plane, I’ve seen a lot of beautiful scenery, like the gulf of Suez and the Suez canal and its ships lining up one after the other.

Also scenes of Sinai mountains, that looks small but great from above as well

I’m now entering the airspace of Jordan. And I got to see the river of Jordan and glimpses of the dead sea.

Just a few minutes after capturing the above picture, we were approaching Queen Aliaa International Airport in Amman for my transit. The plane was landing, and that was my first time to set foot in another Arab country. My transit was almost two hours long so it wasn’t that big of a deal, the airport was extremely clean with very fast free WiFi service, I didn’t feel bothered at all by the waiting time cause I kept exploring the airport. I wanted to buy a snack or a small meal but it was weird because of my zero understanding about the Jordanian currency in terms of what's reasonable and what's expensive. Minutes passed fast and I boarded the plane for a longer flight to Paris.

Passing over the occupied lands of Palestine gave me a special scene I won't forget, a glimpse of the dome rock mosque and the Aqsa mosque. It’s that glowing gold item in the middle of the below picture.

The flight to Paris lasted about 6 hours, passing over the Mediterranean, central Europe and then finally entering the French air field. It was a matter of time before hearing the announcement that we’re reaching Charles de Gaulle Airport, I’m landing again in my favorite city in the world, one year after saying goodbye back in 2018. Took my luggage and stayed in the airport for a few hours till Islem, the Algerian friend I’m staying with, finishes his work at 6 PM, so that left me in the airport for about 4 full hours.

First things first, I had to top up my French mobile line package so that I can communicate during my trip, then had a McDonalds sandwich at the airport. Also had time for a drink till I received a call from Islem to move to Aulnay-sous-Bois. Meeting Islem became one of Paris’s landmarks for me now, he’s a very nice Algerian, 2 years younger and shows a great hospitality each time I request to stay over. After my arrival at the platform, I found him right there. He guided me to the house, which was like 1 minute walking distance from the station which is a GREAT plus for a tourist. The neighborhood was actually built around the 1940s, and it's all about classic villas and buildings. My building is a great example of how the neighborhood looked.

I was actually staying on the fifth - and last - floor. Anyway it was almost 7.30 and I put my stuff at Islem’s, we're going to have an outing together. Islem suggested I should have like a metro pass to all the 5 Paris districts, which came in really handy for my whole stay, and it included Versailles and Disney which were planned items.

We decided to go over the downtown and launched that plan from Châtelet, stepped out of the station to Rue de Rivoli, passed by Tour Saint Jaques.

Then we passed by Paris's official city center, Hôtel de Ville. The place looked amazing as that was my first time to see it at night all lit

Also had my first look at the seine by crossing Pomt d'Arcole and its beautiful scenery over the river.

I also wanted to check on Notre Dame, as I was really devastated when the fire took place in April 2019, but it looked better than expected. But still it's a great loss to France and Europe.

For those who don't know, Notre Dame was my favorite place to visit in Paris, and it was the place that I've seen first in Paris during my first visit in 2018. I will never forget that feeling of seeing this building in person. Now it is in a really bad condition, only hoping for it to restore its previous glory soon.

I made sure to check the building as much as possible, passed by it from almost all sides. A very important funny part though: it was raining before my arrival and I didn’t notice a small water puddle behind Notre Dame, which resulted my socks and shoes all soaked with water, making me walk like i’m walking on hot rocks for a while till it started to dry out. We later reached Saint Michelle Fountain.

Had the opportunity to see one of the best seine river scenes in Paris, with Notre Dame looking so fine like it was untouched.

We Also passed by Pont Neuf, Paris’s oldest bridge with a construction date back to 1578. The term “Pont Neuf” means the new bridge, because of all the modernity that it embodied in the Middle Ages back then. The building, which spans the Seine at Ile de la Cité, was built during the reign of Henry III but was inaugurated in the early 17th century.  At that time, it was the very first stone bridge in Paris and also the first in the capital to have sidewalks to protect pedestrians from the mud projected by horses and carts.

After crossing Pont Neuf to the other bank of the seine, we’re right in front of the back side of the Louvre museum. Islem thankfully made me enter the Louvre from the back entrance, allowing me to see the famous modern pyramid centering the 18th century old Château from a new angle.

And now with the main stream angle, which I really love by the way because there’s no enough of how beautiful this place looks! I was actually surprised to see that much of people still hanging out there, later i realized the place is open till 9:45 PM on Wednesdays, and it was just 9:15 PM the moment I took the picture.

We were really starving afterwards, and we couldn’t pick a place to have our dinner. So we decided to eat in the first affordable thing we see in our way. We walked down Avenue de l'Opéra heading to the Palais Garnier (Paris’s grand opera house). and as much as it always looked fantastic with its golden statues, it never looked as beautiful as I saw it that night.

We were right in front of the opera when Islem suggested we go for pizza hut since it’s just around the corner, there was no space for me to say no as the last meal I had was almost 8-9 hours earlier. We went inside and we picked a chicken pizza that we shared with a drink and appetizers. and I gotta say there was no much of a difference comparing to the pizza hut we have in Egypt, only cleaner place and more expensive lol.

We were finally full and we decided that I should welcome Paris in the best cliché way possible: watching the Eiffel tower at night. We moved via metro from  Opéra to Trocadéro. For those of you who don’t know, Trocadéro is the best place in Paris where you can actually view the landmark and remain absolutely speechless till you realize you spent a lot of time there and should leave.

It was the most crowded place I visited that night. Needless to say how worthy it was, I’ll just let the below pictures speak for themselves.

After spending some time there, we decided to go home and rest, as Islem is working the next day, and I have to visit Chateau Versailles which I’m really excited about. Using both Metro and RER, we reached home and I was getting ready to sleep before it started raining outside.

I was sleeping right under a roof window which allowed me to see the sky and the rain hitting that window and I instantly started thinking about how lucky I am that:

- It started raining right after I’m back home and right before I arrived, I really felt welcomed :)

- I’m visiting the city I love the most twice in one year! Spending so much time there while having a very good trip planned ahead.

To the next day tomorrow, I’m visiting Chateau Versailles ,La Defance and Arc de Triumph. can’t wait to start going into details about that.

Bonne nuit!

[airariaira]

Quatrième - 04/03/2020

Alright, strap yourselves in lads, because I left the writing of this about a week later than I usually do so this post will probably be a bit of a long one. First of all I’d like to say again that yes, I feel that my French is improving quite a lot with each day here - even if I’m not perfect, but confidence is growing and I’m definitely more confident in saying the things I say often.

Now, let’s go back to the 13th of February. My journal entry from that day seems a bit of a negative one, because I was writing about my conflicting feelings that sometimes pop up - whether I should allow my classmates to approach me first and thus seem like the quiet and awkward exchange student, or whether I should approach them first and feel like I’m pushing myself on them. It feels a little overwhelming sometimes to be surrounded by so many cool French people when my language skills often can’t keep up (and perhaps a bit the same with my social skills too 😂). Sometimes it feels like I’m wasting the opportunity right in front of me when I don’t have the confidence to strike up a conversation. As mentioned by Alex in his blog, I know I shouldn’t keep myself at a distance from my peers, but it’s so hard not to fall into the trap of doing that when 1. I’m leaving in only a month (oh my goodness, it’s so soon 😱), and 2. the past two weeks have been holidays and I haven’t seen any of them at all (reasoning for that is distance, being busy, and/or the fact that the week following the holidays - this week - is their BAC blanc exams, which is prelim exams for all you NZ ppl).

The 14th was a better day. Of course it being Valentine’s Day, the Cœur de Troyes is a major attraction on that day. I should have wandered by it to see it all dressed up. That morning I was late to school (great first time French school experience...) I was close to catching the bus, but just not close enough.. How frustrating it was to watch that bus leave without me right before my eyes. I caught the next bus, but it turns out that my bus card had run out that day. However, the bus had already left so I took that ride without a working bus card (oh heck, is that police sirens I hear?) So all in all, that was a day of many bus hardships. Because of all that, I walked home and it was actually really lovely to take the chance to admire the city again. Sometimes I find myself getting a bit comfortable and I have to remind myself that omg I really am  a c t u a l l y  in France right now! 

On Saturday the 15th I went to the market with Marie. The market here is so cool. Lots of bustling people buying all the things they need for the week, there’s live chickens, cheese of course, clothes, a whole lot of other random stuff... The market is a pretty big thing in French culture so I enjoy going and seeing it. That afternoon we drove to pick up Antoine from a friend’s house, who lives a few towns over. It was a really nice day, so the sun hit the rolling countryside really nicely that day. We also drove through some small towns I hadn’t seen yet, and they were very cute. I’ll never stop being impressed by all the beautiful old buildings in France. That evening I made a silly language mistake and mixed up the words for packing bags and doing the dishes, so now whenever I hear one I think of the other. 😅

Sunday 16th had us travelling down to Marseilles for out 5-day holiday. It was a 7 hour drive, but we took the whole day because we stopped off at Marie’s sister’s place for lunch. She and her partner live close to where Alex is placed, so I took this truly wonderful quality photo to demonstrate to him whereabouts I was:

For lunch we had raclette, the weather was very nice, and so was the company. Marie’s sister’s husband’s children were there too. Last minute, it was decided his daughter Ambre would come along on the holiday with us which was nice. So we switched to a bigger car and set off again. When we reached Marseilles it was almost pretty much dark, but I could still see the countryside - different but really nice. The city is an eclectic mix of old and new, and there’s even a Hollywood style sign (like in Wellington!) here’s another definitely really great quality photo...

Some of the highlights from our trip to Marseilles:

Visited the museum (called Mucem)

Place des Pistoles

The Cathedral

The Notre-Dame of Marseilles

Picnic on the beach

Visit to Cassis

It’s very easy to get around Marseilles, because there’s a card called “le ticket” which you can access not only the Metro with, but also the busses, which is very useful. The Metro system is also a lot more simple than the one in Paris, because it only has two lines. The city is also quite pretty because it’s this nice mixture of old buildings, street art, flowers and plants overflowing from balconies, sculptures, and sunshine of course. People’s accents in the south are also a bit different to in the places further north, so that was interesting for me to experience too. The first day (Monday) was a bit rainy, so we decided to visit Mucem, which was nice. The museum was incredible. The two exhibits I liked the most were one on voyages and travel, which had a mixture of different art pieces that I really adored. One of them was this light globe, which seemed cool... Until we noticed that the rug in the foreground had left out New Zealand! Typical 😂

The other exhibit I really liked was one on the life and work of the famous and very celebrated French author/poet named Giono. He was a part of the world wars, so a lot of his work is descried as being often very haunting. I hope to be able to read some of it sometime. I wish I could have stayed in the museum for longer and committed the exhibits to memory. After seeing the exhibits, we headed outside onto the roof, where there’s a pretty herb garden and a gorgeous view all around you of the city and the sea.

The following days, the weather was a heck of a lot better, with the sun out and about I almost forgot it was winter at some points! On Tuesday we visited a pretty old part of town, and walked along the Place Des Pistoles, which is an area of streets dedicated to street art. it was very pretty, and I guess you could say it felt ... right up my alley 😏

After that, we went to the Catheral which was nice - it was very very big inside, and the weather at that point was very very windy outside.

Following that, we continued with the church thing and went to visit the very high-up Notre-Dame of Marseille. Because it’s so high up we were able to take a bus thank goodness, and there was also a gorgeous view of the city below us. 

The inside was incredibly extravagant and shiny...

On Wednesday we went for a picnic lunch on the beach. We definitely earned it, as we had many bus mishaps on the way there! It was a very sunny day, but the wind was very strong on the beach. We also amassed a small army of seagulls, pigeons, sparrows, and other miscellaneous birds while we were eating. This is the view back from the shore:

There was also this dude here across the road from the beach:

Thursday was a wonderful day. It was also the half way point of my exchange, whaaaat!? We drove out to the pretty nearby village of Cassis. It was even warmer there - so warm I didn’t even need to wear a jacket! We went on a short walk first, and got some nice views of the cliff-faces, water, and boats below:

(Cassis has always been a boating/fishing area. I can see why, with how beautifuul the water and the weather is!)

^ Ambre, Lola and I

Halfway through the walk, we stopped on some warm rocks for a rest and some lunch. It was really nice in the sun.

Lola, myself, Lola, and Olivier.

Clearly I missed the peace sign memo AND the cup holding memo!

After that, we wandered around the town a litte bit. It is truly a beautiful place - I couldn’t really believe I was seeing it all with my very own eyes.

There were also a few groups of people very intensely playing games of Petanque. I think Dad and Lisa would have appeciated that. We then had icecream while looking over all the boats. It feels very odd writing about the nice weather there when currently as I am writing it is 6pm and suddenly very rainy! That evening, we had dinner at a friend of Marie’s. It was very nice, and their family was lovely and welcoming. I did gett a little overwhelmed at one point because there was a lot of rapid French being spoken by a lot of different people all at once and it was difficult for my tired self to keep up after a big day. However it was still enjoyable. Us younger ones got along pretty well. It’s a little weird, meeting all these nice people here while I’m exchange and realising that I may very well never see some of them again... On Friday the 21st we drove back home, stopping off to drop off Ambre and to have some lunch there too. 

That weekend was quiet. On Sunday Marie’s mother joined us for lunch. We then went to the house in Geraudot for a short while, then went for a walk along a different, bigger, lake nearby. I would love to see it in the summer, when all the restaurants and things were open, people camping just across the road, the golden sand in the sun... Here’s a picture from the ride home to demonstrate why the landscape here sometimes gives me (coming from Blenheim surrounded by hills) shellshock. Tell me, am I living in that Window’s screensaver we all know and love?

On Monday evening I went to watch my first sports game ever - a French football game (sorry Kiwi rugby diehards). The Troyes football team is called Estac. The game felt a little slow at times, but other times I found myself getting pretty into it! A good experience in general.

On Wednesday evening, three friends of Lola’s came for an early overnight celebration for Lola’s birthday. We played a game called “Ta Mere En Slip”, which is a little like “Heads Up”, but with a person and an action to guess. Here’s a photo from that:

Thursday 27 February - Paris no. 2

On Thursdays, usually Marie works in Paris, taking an early train there and an evening train back. We decided that it could be a cool idea for me to travel over with her and spend the day by myself. It was an... interesting day, to say the least.

We had an early start, took the train, and then recharged my Metro card once we got there. All good, mostly, except until the card didnt work, which was a little awkward and confusing 🙄 After getting through that, Marie and I parted ways; she on her way to a meeting at work, and I on a metro to the Louvre. I had some trouble with the many confusing lines once I got there, and another tourist even asked me if she was in the riht line, to which I replied that I was sorry I was also rather confused! I hope she found her way in the end, because we were both very much in the wrong line but for different reasons. I found the correct line for me, and then I was in the Louvre! I ended up spending upward of three hours here, there was so much to see. Beautiful paintings that are so nice to appreciate in person, Greek and Roman sculpture (my inner classics nerd was wilding, it was great to see these things that I’d studied up close), some gorgeous neoclassical and otherwise French sculpture, beautiful extravagant objects from past French royalty, even Eastern and Egyptian antiquities. There was just so much and of course it was impossible to see it all (though naturally I tried - my sore feet did not thank me later). That moment of awe you feel when you see something that you truly ove is near indescribable. Here’s some photos of some of my favourite things that I saw:

A bust of Alexander the Great

Some very  impressive, large paintings

The very very extravagant ceiling in one of the gallery rooms

A view of the pyramid, the little doll people, and the not-so-great weather outside from the beautiful objects area with all the past belongings of French monarchs

A nice piece from the French sculpture area

I got pretty lucky with my trip to the Louvre for a few reasons. One was that my ticket was for the morning at opening time, so I managed to get in before the worst of the crowds. Pretty awesome being able to wander around without being hindered too badly by lots of other people also trying to get as close as they possibly can to every piece. The other reason I got lucky was because the Louvre is now closed. It closed on Saturday the 29th of February, and remains closed now, it being unclear when it may open again. This was following an announcement of a nation-wide ban of gatherings of more than 5000 people in a confined space. The Louvre, of course, falls under this category.

Anyway, after that very long musemum trip, I was happily full with appreciation for art nd culture, however I was also very hungry and thirsty (no drink bottles allowed in the museum haha). So I went outside and got myself a bite to eat from a bakery stall outside, which I had overlooking the pretty garden outside (yes it was raining a bit and the bench was a little damp too, so yes I sacrificed my rain jacket to sit on). The interaction I had with the person at the bakery stall felt like the most natural interaction all in French I had had with a customer service person so far. I think that was the proudest I’d ever been of myself simply for ordering a sandwich! 😂 It was nice to just sit down with my food and admire my surroundings and people watch for a while. I could even see the Eiffel tower fro my spot, which was nice. I then wandered all the way through the garden, admiring the flowers and fountains and sculptures and the many many empty benches. I’d love to see how it looks in the sun - I bet those benches will be pretty well occupied in the springtime. After that I went on a mission for toilets and discovered the truly wonderful and fantastic thing that is Paris’ tendency for toilets that cost money to use. After that delightful exprience I headed to see the Obelisk. I may have been walking against the wind and rain, but the area was still pretty. 

I then walked all the way down the Champs- Élysées (my poor feet), until I reached the Arc de Triomphe. It was by then only the early afternoon and I realised I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. I had options, of course, but the travel to them on the metro or busses or otherwise seemed confusing and I had the added issue of not having any data or wifi to use google maps with. (Next time I am definitely getting some data - that would have solved a whole lot of problems 🙄). Long story short, one thing led to another and I ended up stressy ugly-crying with a burger I didn’t want in a McDonalds just so I could use the wifi to try and make sense of the metro system, while messaging Marie. Then to top it all off, my bathroom grievances continued because, naturally, the bathroom in that restaurant was another one that costed, and I had spent the last of my change on that burger. Dang. Anyways, I decided to go down to the metro to try and find my way to the Montmartre church. However, my metro card problems continued, my confusion of the metro system continued, and I ended up on the phone to Marie who said she would come meet me. I felt very bad that she left work for me, she said it was all okay, but naturally I still felt bad. She found me eventually, a littel tearstained and very embarrassed, and we headed on the metro to Montmartre together. She tried to explain the metro system to me a bit more, which was good and I feel like I’ve got a liiiittle bit of a better handle on it now.

On the steep walk up to Montmartre there were lots and lots of tourist shops, and then a lot a lot of stairs, with some street art on the walls which was pretty cool. The church was very pretty. We didn’t go inside, but the outside was very nice. All the surrounding fences were cooovered in lovers’ padlocks

The viewn was also very nice. Paries views (and I think French views in genral?) are always interesting. A mix of that classic Parisian architecture, you know the one -modern buildings, well-known monuments, building cranes, oooold old buildings and monuments, and sometimes the odd bit of big street art on the high-up walla. It’s never the same view you expect to see. 

After that nice wee trip we went to grab a coffee and stop off at the cafe’s toilets before we headed home. However, toilet grievance number 3 hit us suddenly because the toilets were out of order. After that we decided to head to the train station and leave a littel earlier than originally planned. I was so tired after a big day I couldn’t help but fall asleep on the train 😂 Once we were back home I recounted my metro meltdown and we all decided that perhaps public transport (missing train stops, being confused by the metro and bus syetems...) is simply not my strong point, lol. Anyways, despite the stressy moments of that day, all in all it was a good experience, and the good moments were really enjoyable. I’m not going to letit deter me, and I hope in the future I’ll have more chances to explore the city and improve my knowledge of how to get around.

Saturday the 29th was a good day. We had gratin dauphinois for lunch, which was cool because it reminded me of my Nanna because it was one of her specialties, and it reminded me of the one time I made it for a culture project for French class. That afternoon, Marie and I headed back to the museum with the section on bonneterie, because there’s a new exposition there at the moment. It’s on the brand of socks called Doré Doré, celebratng it’s 200 year anniversary (weird that a sock brand in France is older than the entire government in New Zealand), and the factories have been based in Troyes since the beginning. It was cute, and a littel funny with all the little socks and things. There were lots of these big sock wall decorations outside the exhibit:

Sunday was the last day of the holidays. In the morning Marie, Lola and I went to the bakery to pick up Lola’s birthday cake. Her birthday isn’t until the 7th, but on Sunday afternoon there was some family coming to celebrate. It’s funny when we go into any store, every time the cashier assumes I’m a separate customer, so I’m now well practiced at saying oh no thank you we are all together. For lunch, Marie’s mother, brother, his partner, and their young son Jack-Jack came around. There was nice conversation, nice food, and then a game of ‘Ta Mere En Slip’. They’re all very nice, and it feels easier now than every for me to speak French with groups of people. It’s still hard sometimes, but it’s much better! 

Yesterday was interesting. It was sort of the first day back at school. I got up early, Marie took Lola and I to school as usual... However I had neglected to check what the case was with the BAC blanc exams this week. Turns out that no, there is no classes at all, and it is in fact just tests all throughout the week. So that was an interesting time for me, turning up there and my classmates finding it funny I was there at all. So I just headed back home after spending a little while in the school library, and sike! I have, in some ways, another week of holidays... I’m thinking I might do some more exploring, go back to the museum, I could go to the movies and try watching something in French again, I could write some postcards or things home... Today I’ve just been writing this blog entry this morning, I’ve gone out to eat pizza for lunch with Marie, but the weather today is lovely (much better than the rain last night), so I might go do something. I am in absolute disbelief that I have less than 4 weeks left on exchange. Where did the time go? I swear I must comment on how fast the time is going by at least a few times a day at this point. But wow, it really is going fast.

Until next time!

[xodaniellevictoria]

8 Days in Paris

I’ve been wanting to visit Paris for as long as I can remember. 2 weeks ago my life long dream, CAME TRUE! My fascination with the city began with my love for ballet. For those who don't know I was a ballet dancer for 16 years, and the type of ballet I was taught, originated in Paris. I have envisioned myself walking amongst the city streets for years and to finally cross this off my bucket list was an indescribable feeling. I want to share everything we did while we were there, and any quick tips to help you out if you’re wanting to visit this amazing place for yourself! 

Alright lets start with planning. I searched for EVER to find affordable flights. Typically out of California round trip tickets to Paris are around $1200 each. By some miracle I was able to find round trip tickets for $500 each. (Because it’s off season for tourism and once the weather gets colder, the ticket prices drop) I didn't use any specific sites or cheap airlines, I was just always looking for a deal. So I definitely recommend going on off season (Fall to early spring) to avoid high ticket prices. 

While you're planning, I would also really recommend staying at an Airbnb over a hotel. We really felt like we got the true Parisian experience and most Airbnbs are cheaper then hotels is what I noticed while planning.

HERE IS A LINK to the cute private apartment we stayed at while we were there. It was PERFECT for what we wanted. The iconic Parisian windows, a great view to a little courtyard, in the city center, and 3 minute walk to the subway. (Photo below for the ideal Parisian windows I was talking about.)

We decided to break up our trip by spending the majority of our time in Paris at the Airbnb, and then the last 2 nights we splurged and stayed at a hotel I’ve had my eye on for awhile now. Hotel Providence is the Parisian hotel of my dreams, and it did not disappoint. The stunning lush decor and rich color palette of the entire hotel checked off all my aesthetic points. We had champagne waiting for us in our room, and they were accommodating for early check in and leaving our bags at the front desk after we checked out, since we had some time to kill before our flight. I found the hotel on Instagram and I’m so glad I did. They have an amazing bar downstairs that was great for pre and post dinner drinks. They serve food as well but we unfortunately never got to try any. The front desk and service at the bar was amazing, super friendly, spoke great English and would absolutely recommend staying here if your budget allows. See below for pictures of our beautiful room and the outside seats of the bar / restaurant! CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO THE HOTEL

Another thing I would highly recommend is getting the PARIS CITY PASS. This pass will get you into the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Versailles, you name a Parisian attraction, and this pass will most likely get you in, and the best part is you won't have to wait in ticket lines. At the Louvre, there was a 2 hour wait to get tickets, and we literally walked RIGHT in... Sorry everyone in line! Should have done your research! 

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE SITE TO GET YOUR PARIS CITY PASS

While planning, something else to think about is transportation. Basically the entire trip, we took Paris’s subway system ‘Le Metro.’ If you have an iPhone, using apple maps is going to be your best friend. Switch your directions to transit instead of walking or driving. The apple maps directions will tell you exactly where to go for the train stations, which lines to take, and which direction you need to be heading. There are signs in English in the subway so don't worry about not being able to understand French signs. There are trains right at the airport, and everywhere you will want to go in the city. Its truly amazing and so affordable compared to trying to Uber everywhere. We honestly preferred taking the subway way more than taking Ubers, because traffic in the city is.... Intense, and most of our Uber drivers didn't speak any English. The trains were always much faster and just easier in general.

Now I want to share the things we did that were noteworthy, and that we would recommend to anyone who is coming to Paris for the first time.

1. Eiffel Tower. Just as magical as you would think it would be. Head to the Tracadero across the river Seine to get an amazing view and its a GREAT picture spot. Another amazing picture spot is on the same side of the river as the Eiffel Tower and its a little dead end street with the perfect view of the tower with some French buildings in the line of view as well. 

Heres the address: 228 Rue de l’Universite (the picture below was taken HERE)

2. Versailles. The grandest palace in all of Europe. It is breath taking. Especially if you're a history nerd like me. I got an audio guide so we didn't have to take a tour, and it was perfect. Also highly recommend renting a golf cart to get around the gardens and to see the other buildings and Marie Antoinette’s little village she created. PICTURE SPOTS: Hall of mirrors, Petite Trianon, and the Grand Trianon. Advice for getting pictures here, PATIENCE. Just wait for people to move so you can get cool shots with no one in them.

3. Crazy Horse. Ok this one won't be for everyone, but when I think of Paris I think of burlesque. Crazy Horse was one of the coolest burlesque shows we’ve seen and its a must if you're wanting a sexy night out. ( We preferred this over Moulin Rouge. )

4. MontMarte. MontMarte is the cities highest point. resting on a hill, there's a gorgeous old church, the Sacre Couer. MontMarte is also the cities historic artist district. Artists such as Van Gogh, and Renoir, found inspiration in this quaint part of town. Behind the church is the cutest little area where local artists are still paining city scapes and personal portraits. Seeing this area was a highlight for me. It felt so like what I thought Paris would be like. Good rooftop bar with the view of the city and the Eiffel Tower: Terrass Hotel, the rooftop bar is open to the public, you don't have to be staying at the hotel.

5. Le Marais. This is where you need to go if you're wanting to shop. Clothes, local pastries, apothecaries, you name it this area has it. Our favorite stores were Blue Garage, System Vintage, Luka Luna, 

6. Notre Dame. A Paris staple. Currently closed for renovations but still worth seeing from afar. The streets around the Notre Dame are covered with vintage magazine / book stands. They make for great home decor. Make sure you have euros pulled out though because they don't accept credit cards!

7. Musee d’Orsay. Paris’s second biggest and most famous museum. Is in an old train station which makes for a cool setting for a museum. (See picture below) We liked this museum more than the Louvre...Way less crowded, and more modern artists that we actually knew. Holds famous paintings from Monet, Degas, Renoir, and Van Gogh. Highly recommend grabbing a drink on the 5th floor cafe behind one of the old clocks!

8. The Catacombs. Super interesting walk through some of Paris’s old Limestone quarries that they filled with bones from the cemeteries, when the cemeteries were getting too crowded in the 1700′s. I didn't get any spooky vibes. Just felt like a museum.

9. Palais Garnier. The Opera house in Paris. Reminiscent of Versailles, this grand Opera house is soooo extravagant and gorgeous. The first real Ballets were put on here. How cool is that?

That wraps up the things to see that we loved most. Now lets move on to my favorite part... THE FOOD!

Basically everywhere you look in Paris there are little cafes. Sometimes as many as 4 on a block. Eat at as many of them as you can. They're all pretty incredible. If you're from America and have never traveled to Europe, something to note is that in Europe, slow service is good service. You have to ask for your check. dining out in Europe is an experience and they want you to relax and enjoy your time dining. There is no rush with food there. Its pretty life changing coming from a country where you are accustomed to being in and out of a restaurant within an hour and getting angry if your food hasn't shown up in 15 minutes. 

Things you need to try at any Parisian restaurant: bread, butter, wine, and cheese. They're all usually locally sourced and man let me tell you... It just tastes DIFFERENT over there. The butter is the best butter I’ve ever had. When we got home I legitimately looked up where I can buy French butter here in San Diego... The wine? INSANE. One night I had 6 glasses (which is WAY way way too much for me) and the next morning I didn't wake up with any sort of hangover... I don't know what they're doing in France but wow it is amazing. The cheeses are also wonderful. All so different depending on the restaurant, and all taste soooo much fresher then any cheese I’ve had here in the US. It’s hard to describe. 

Some of our favorite restaurants we came across while we were there:

BREAKFAST / LUNCH-

Any cafe usually has a Croque Monisuer or a Croque Madame which is basically a grilled cheese sandwich with ham and egg, they're amazing and make a great breakfast sandwich. We also ordered Cafe Au Lait’s everywhere we went for breakfast (Coffee with steamed milk.) And croissants are always a good idea.

La Terrasse Des Archives for an amazing avocado toast eggs Benedict

Hollybelly 5 for some americanized / English style breakfasts and some amazing lattes

Hardware Societie for another amazing Americanized / English breakfast

Breakfast in America is a full on American diner in the heart of Paris.

DINNER-

My favorite meals we ate in Paris were our dinners. There is endless amazing food options but here are some of our favorites.

Sacree Fleur did not disappoint. Located in MontMarte, this cozy restaurant will blow you away. We started with the cheese course, wine, and bread. Had steak and mashed potatoes as our main course, which by the way, continues to cook at your table on a hot slab of rock. SO COOL! And we finished with the creme brûlée, which actually made me CRY, it was so good.... (Terrass Hotel is walking distance away, the rooftop bar is open to the public and you get an amazing view of all of Paris including the Effie tower while enjoying some after dinner drinks, and you don't have to be staying at the hotel to enjoy the rooftop bar.)

Le Petit Italien is an amazing option if you're wanting some Italian food in Paris.

Le Sancrerre in MontMarte was another stand out. I got the beef bourguignon and it was incredible.

Chez Janou was also outstanding. Perfect French dishes, great service. Our waiter was actually living in San Diego for awhile before he moved back home to Paris so it was a super random coincidence to eat there and have him as our waiter!

[oilan]

“Bahorel! Bahorel, come, we must hurry!”

"I thought your friend set one aside for you," Bahorel said, not bothering to change his pace.

Jean Prouvaire, who kept alternating between rushing ahead of him and then jogging back to implore Bahorel to speed up, ran back to him once more. "I know, but think of how long we have been waiting for this book! I simply need to have it in my hands at last, and what if we have to wait in a line? Bahorel, please! Why must you be so vexing?"

It was the day everyone in their Romantic circle had been waiting for: Hugo's new novel Notre-Dame de Paris was set to debut at last. Prouvaire had been beside himself with excitement for weeks and had begged a friend who worked at a bookseller's on the Rue des Beaux Arts to reserve a copy for him. He and Bahorel were heading there presently, though Bahorel, through his own means, had secretly managed to procure a copy of the book in advance. He had it in his coat pocket now, having stayed up all night reading it. This, along with how greatly Prouvaire's desperate elation amused him, made him disinclined to hurry.

Despite Bahorel's pace, they reached the bookseller's a quarter hour after it opened. It was already besieged with customers, all in some flavor of Romantic dress, all clamoring to snatch up copies of the precious novel.

Prouvaire shifted and squeezed his way to the counter, behind which stood the shop owner, busy calculating his considerable earnings, and a young man who waved at Prouvaire as he saw him approaching.

"Good morning, Eugène! Do you have my copy of Notre-Dame de Paris?"

"Of course," the young man said, reaching under the counter for the book. After a moment, his face fell. "Oh, it's gone. But it was just here!" "What?" Prouvaire looked as though the sky had come crashing down upon him. "What do you mean 'it's gone'? How could it be gone?"

"We do not set aside new books in reserve," the shop owner said sternly, not looking up from his ledger. "That was our last copy; I sold it to that fellow there." He pointed across the shop at a man who had just stepped out the door to leave.

Prouvaire and Bahorel both turned at the same time. Though they could only see the man from behind, Bahorel immediately recognized the dark auburn curls and tall, broad-shouldered figure of Courfeyrac. Already, he had cracked open the book and was reading as he walked down the street.

It was apparent that Prouvaire recognized him as well, for he tore out of the shop, pointed an accusing figure at their friend's back, and bellowed, "You! That copy is mine!"

Startled, Courfeyrac turned his head, took one look at who was addressing him, and then fled down the street. Prouvaire sprinted after him and Bahorel, his speed hindered by laughter, followed behind as quickly as he could manage. It was apparent that Courfeyrac had an escape plan, for he did not hesitate to turn on the street immediately south of the Rue des Beaux Arts, where Enjolras lived. Enjolras' small, plump landlady was darning a chemise on a stool just outside the entrance and the three men nearly upended her as they rushed past into the building and up the stairs.

Just barely in the lead, Courfeyrac wrenched open Enjolras' door and tried to shut Prouvaire out, but Prouvaire lunged at him, knocking Courfeyrac back into the room.

Enjolras, who from the look of it had taken advantage of the quiet morning to finalize a few articles for a new pamphlet, leapt up from his desk at the interruption of two friends bursting through his door. Too torn between surprise and indignation for words, Enjolras turned to Bahorel for an explanation.

"Good morning," Bahorel said simply, grinning as he watched Prouvaire grab Courfeyrac by the lapels and thrust him up against the desk. Though he tried valiantly, Courfeyrac could not break free.

"I bought it fairly! Let me go!" "That copy was reserved for me! How dare you stand between me and this book! Do you know how long I've been waiting?"

Their struggle upset the candle Enjolras had been using for a bit of extra light, and it tipped over, setting Enjolras' papers alight. Without hesitation, Bahorel turned to grab the glass of water Enjolras kept at his bedside and tossed its contents over the fire. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Enjolras' defeated look at his pile ruined work.

The flames did not distract their two friends, but the landlady, who had hurried up the stairs as fast as her short legs could carry her, ended the scuffle. She marched through the open door, grabbed both Courfeyrac and Prouvaire by the ears, and dragged them away from each other. Both Enjolras and Bahorel moved sideways to block the desk from view, in case any snippets of the articles were still visible, and waited for the blow to fall on their two friends. Unexpectedly, however, she then turned to Enjolras rather than any of the intruders.

"Monsieur Enjolras!" she cried, her voice thin, but loud. "Young man, I am very surprised at you! You have always been a good tenant! No parties, no women, always polite--but this! This is too much! Do please control your associates when they come calling!"

Outraged by this unjust admonition, Enjolras opened his mouth to protest, but Bahorel could not contain a snort of laughter at the whole scene in front of him. Further incensed, the landlady pointed at the door. "Out, out! All three of you!"

They had no choice but to leave, and traipsed out, hearing their stolid leader being scolded like a naughty child until they were down the stairs and in the street again.

Courfeyrac cast a guilty look over his shoulder at Enjolras' building, but then caught Prouvaire's eye and turned away, marching off with his book in hand without another word.

The other two went the opposite way. Prouvaire's shoulders were hunched in disappointment and contrition, but he said nothing.

"You are quite vicious when angered," Bahorel said amusedly, nudging Prouvaire with an elbow. "In any upcoming revolution, all the rest of us need to do is trick the national guard into stealing your books. You would decimate their ranks single-handedly."

"I did not mean to barge in on Enjolras so rudely," Prouvaire said quietly, brows knitted. "Nor ruin all the work he has been busy with."

"Oh, he will forgive us," Bahorel said bracingly. "We will finish that work for him, possibly buy him a new desk." Prouvaire did not appear mollified, so Bahorel added, "You know as well as I do that Enjolras' earthly passions extend only to jam beignets and apple tarts—not that he would ever admit it. A gift of either is sure to chivvy him into a forgiving mood. Shall we go to the patisserie later?"

Prouvaire nodded, and then frowned. "That Courfeyrac!" he said. "I still don't have a copy of Notre-Dame de Paris, and the bookstore is sold out. Everyone will have read it before me! Bahorel, what am I going to do?"

"Luckily for you, I have a solution to that as well," said Bahorel, pulling out his copy from his pocket. 

Prouvaire gave a cry of joy and took hold of the book, and thankfully was too happy to realize that had Bahorel revealed it earlier, all of that morning's troubles could have been entirely avoided.

[eyesopen2019]

Eurostar to Paris

On the 4th June we caught the train back to London and got on the Eurostar to head to Paris. We had watched some videos of the making of the tunnel and were all interested to see what going on a train under the water would be like. The train travels up to speeds of 300km per hour and covers the 490km in 2 hours and 15 mins with 50 km of tunnel under The English Channel.  The journey is very smooth and you can hardly notice you have entered the tunnel or exited it and certainly don’t see any fish or sealife much to Lani’s disappointment.  We arrived in Paris in the afternoon and made our way to our Airbnb in Izzy. Navigating the subway system the first time was a challenge especially as I had no data on my phone and we couldn’t use apple maps!  When we arrived at our house we found a 3 storey home with views out to the Eiffel tower from the upstairs bedroom.  There was heaps of room to stretch out and the kids made themselves at home.  Hung and I opened a bottle of French champagne, one of several bottles of wine, which had been left in the fridge for us. Lani was excited to find some kids toys in the house to play with and spent ages making up games with them.

On our first day out in Paris it was overcast and drizzling and we caught the bus into The Arc de Triumph and wandered down the Champs-Elyssees.  We found our lunch of baguettes, cheese, ham and salami in a local supermarket. I enjoyed looking at all the gorgeous buildings and tree lined boulevards which reminded me of our trips to Saigon.

The next day was a lovely sunny day and we took the opportunity to head to the Eiffel Tower where we climbed the stairs to the second level then took the elevator to the top. It was a fairly easy climb up the couple hundred stairs but we took it pretty slowly.  The view from the top is amazing and it’s interesting to try to pick out all the major landmarks throughout the city.  We again bought lunch in a nearby supermarket and sat in the park under the Eiffel tower for lunch.  During our time in Paris we enjoyed the amazing baguettes bought very cheaply everywhere as well as the amazing variety of cheeses.   Each day we would buy a baguette to stick in the backpack for when Leon or Lani were suddenly starving!  Leon also especially enjoyed the chocolate croissants and I think was trying to get a record when he had 6 in one day.  

Another day, Hung and I had a day out with Lani and left the boys at home.  We wandered around the Notre Dame Cathedral which unfortunately suffered a huge fire a few months ago.  We explored the area around the Louvre and over several nearby bridges. Lani loved to checkout all the love locks which had been placed around, and see which were the oldest ones.  Hung and Lani each bought a special leather hat from a small shop down an alleyway which were all made onsite and handcut and sewn.  Hung’s hat reminds me of his Dad’s hat he used to wear everywhere and I think it will be his ‘old man hat’ now until he is very old and it will be passed down to the kids!  Lani choose a black leather beret which looks really cute and she says reminds her of Ong Noi’s hat.  We had a lovely lunch out at a little French café near the Notre Dame Cathedral and Hung and I enjoyed a glass of wine while watching the passing traffic.  Lani bought a slime making kit which she enjoyed putting all the bits together to make her own slime when she got home.

There are so many museums to visit in Paris but we only ventured to The Louvre but on the day we had planned to go we arrived to find it sold out.  We were a bit more organised the next day and bought tickets online but unfortunately when we did get inside it was so crowded and hot that it was not very pleasant to wander around.  We made a beeline for the Mona Lisa and checked out a few other areas before retreating to the open space outside again.  The kids were fairly unimpressed with the Mona Lisa and couldn’t really see what all the fuss was about.  They were more interested in the sculptures, especially one called ‘The Fisherman’.  Leon was puzzled why everyone in the paintings and sculptures was naked and why in all the paintings people had no eyebrows!

We wandered a lot in Paris, seeing many gardens, statues, palace’s and plaza’s throughout the city. It is a very walkable city and you can venture from area to area easily.  Everywhere there are small coffee shops and restaurants with an endless array of food to try.  Eating out was generally expensive, as was coffee at $7-9 a cup, needless to say we didn’t eat out much!  It was also very difficult to find public toilets and often we had to pay for them!

One of my favourite days was when we went to a flea markets which was not that great but from there we wandered up the hillside to Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris (Sacre-Coeur) which is a Roman Catholic church set on the highest point in Montmarte hill.  It was built in 1875 and since 1885 there has been constant prayers, day and night, by patrons within the church.  We had seen the basilica from the Eiffel tower when we climbed to the top and had wondered what it was.  We looked inside the church and then climbed the stairs to the dome for an amazing view of the city and saw all the landmarks we had visited over the previous week.  

On one of our last days Kai and I decided to check out The Catacombs where we patiently waited in the drizzling rain for several hours.  The Catacombs, a series of tunnels under the city which were originally dug out in the 15th century for the stone and used in the buildings of the city.  The quarrying stopped after a series of land collapses and remained abandoned for many years.  In the 1700’s when the population of the city grew and the officials were worried about diseases from the dead they placed the bones of millions of graves in the tunnels.  There are hundreds of kms of tunnels, many of which are not mapped.  You are able to explore a series of 1.5kms of tunnel which is a bit morbid but it was interesting to see how the bones have been placed and presented for viewing since the 1800’s.  

We left our lovely Parisian Airbnb on 11th June to check into a very budget hotel (IBIS budget) near the Paris Orly airport which was not very pleasant and definitely not one I would recommend.  We were due to leave Paris on the 11th June but we changed our plans so we could see a friend of Hung’s, Kevin, and his family who were in town on holiday from Colorado.  We were only sleeping at the ‘hotel’ so we survived – but only just, especially Kai. Hung and Kevin were friends in their 20’s and hadn’t seen each other for over 20 years.  We had a lovely dinner out with their family and ours and I’m sure we will see them out in Australia sometime.  

[jnometeora]

A taste of green

White_Prologue

I was playing on the terrace of our house, the stereotype of a penthouse in  New York, without any personality. It was a windy day and I remember the intense color of the sky. 

Being alone, my attention focused on a confused chatting coming from my father’s cabinet, I started  sneaking to the door in order to not be heard nor be seen. 

I saw my father sitting at his table. He was nervous and in front of him was standing a group of men. I only managed to grasp few words: “hypermedia, cognitive abilities,…, charisma, money, power,…, control, brain. “

Above all of them, brain was the mosts recurring world.

I heard my name, “Elizabeth”,  said by someone I didn’t know. I was astonished and confused by their chat and in that precise moment, somebody said again my name - “Elizabeth, come downstairs, your mother’s is waiting for you to go to the park” - so I had to leave. 

Who where them? What was the meaning of all of those words and sentences? Why everyone was so apathetic in their expressions? Why me? Did they meant me with “Elizabeth”? 

Then I convinced myself it couldn’t be me, I was only eight years old, I was just a child. 

And I forgot about that conversation. 

Few months later, I woke up one morning, it was cold and I remember that I had a bad dream, 

A detachment feeling, lights were all over, and coming from all directions, I can remember some sentences: “Connect this last synapse with the inserted one and we are done, stitch her up and let her sleep overnight; Surgical procedure last 8 hours and 38 mins.Thanks to everyone who took part.”

I remember somebody putting a mask over my face. 

A really bad headache was keeping me in bed.

Growing up I realized my father wasn’t anymore lovely as before, I had problems in communicating with others and in social relationships; facts where disconnected in my mind and nobody really liked me as before. 

I asked my father for some explanations, in the few moments we could spend together, but I never came up with an answer of any type. The only moments I felt well and completed were in my own room, reading and trainspotting my mind in my mother’s books, especially the one speaking about Paris, the city of love, and I couldn’t forget the desire of being loved also, so I started dreaming about a new life with a new family in that city. 

Black

After my father’s death I was much more confused than before; I knew that he was the only one knowing what was said about me in his office, and that all was related to my deep controversial attitude while growing up. 

I started again to close myself in my room, the only relief was thinking about my childhood and to the books all around me. 

For this reason I decided to move to Paris; I wanted to discover more of the city and deepen my knowledge based only on my readings and fantasies. 

Last time I read about Paris I felt like I was in the city; I ramble over (…) and took a general view of the city. I crossed the Seine at the Pont Louis Quinze, and walked along the noble quays as far as the Island, admiring, on the opposite side, the vast extent of the united palaces of the Tuilleries and Louvre,(…) and whether I looked up the river, towards the Pont Neuf and Notre Dame, or downwards, to the Champs Elysees (…) I had always a noble scene before me. [1]

Charmed by this memory I needed to see that bridge and walk up the Seine to widen my glimpse. Arrived at the height of “pont neuf” I decided to cross it and to reach the “Ile de la cité” ;

the only instance where Haussmanns destruction was total [2]. Passed by Notre Dame, I crossed the “Pont Saint-Louis” leading to Île Saint-Louis; a big white sign with the red inscription “A vendre” caught my eye. I immediately called the number reported on the sign.

That was really the beginning of something new.[3]

After spending some months in Paris, [4] feeling part of something, as I was building up a new life. 

I made the acquaintance of some interesting people. One of them, Edmond, a really smart guy who also seemed to be feeling lonely and was very ready to keep me company [5]

He convinced me to use the beautiful space I bought, so we started organizing parties and events to reinforce links between all the people we knew. I was so surprised about the amount of people I met in the city in such a short period, and wanted to expand those connections. In fact, the real essence of a city is its people they provide its buzz, its soul, and its spirit, those indefinable characteristics we viscerally feel when we are participating in the life of a successful city [6]

I was so satisfied with my choice of buying this property, but I couldn’t visualize something but what it was already at the moment so before throwing our first party we cleaned the entire block letting only the facades and the roof.

That night, when I entered the space, music was quaking the high walls, and lights were sparkling and reflecting on the shiny dresses of our guests. On the ceiling the light were creating aquatic reflections and for a second I felt lonely and lost in the ocean of my past. 

Edmond brought me back to reality, taking my arm and drafting me next to the bar. He was looking for someone, he was excited and in a good mood. We finally found his friends sitting around a table in the corner of the hall, wrapped in smoke and perfume. There he  introduced me to a Swedish couple, who were in the city, like me [7], looking for new opportunities, enjoying an uncommon drink they called “ Synesthesia”. 

They offered me a metallic glass which contained a viscous liquid, slightly aromatic with a bitter green apex. wait… green? Did I just tasted a color ? 

One sip after I was watching myself chatting and entertaining the Swedish couple. I could feel how cold it was, I could smell the dust around me. I was completely immersed in the memory. I could smell, see, taste, everything. This went on for some time; my mind wasn’t anymore allocated in my body which was melting in the surrounding while my mind was rising above everything. I slowly started to feel new sensation, to experience the space from another dimension, I was able to discern all layers of sounds: the chatting of people, the music, the footsteps, the sound of the empty space and to isolate the one I wanted. Then I entered another dimension, the dimension of smells and tastes, the touch dimension and finally sight. I suddenly realize that I was able to combine them at will and even more sensations were defined.

I just had the time to realize someone were pouring some more bitter greenish “liquid” in my glass, before watching myself walking back to my car and drive away.

Blue

I was enjoying my “Chateau Musar 1975” while reading in front of my fireplace; when the door-bell rung, a blond, woman on her early thirties was chaotically speaking through the videophone. 

I interrupted her and let her accommodate on the LC4 at my place; and went to the  kitchen sideboard to pour her a glass of the same wine I was drinking asking her to calmly repeat from the beginning.

Elizabeth, I discovered this was her name, start vomiting words with trembling and confused voice. She told me she went through a singular experience, which made her mind reconnect to her body, for the first time since she was a kid, and how everything was feeling under her control; her dreams became real and her unsolved questions suddenly got answers.

I couldn’t hide my surprise. My personal interest since I was young was centered about synesthesia and its limits, the potential of this sensorial experiences and how this power could have been exploited for personal empowering reasons In people with no ethical though. 

I said to her that she could never describe (…) what happened in a more accurate way [9] there is no experience of society which is not first the experience of a few individuals. [10]

I tried to clarify to her that what she just described is a neurological condition of involuntary cross-modal association[11] called synesthesia ‘abnormal’ only in being statistically rare. [11] By imagining the world that people with synesthesia perceive, we investigated the generation of spaces. [11] what kind of world do people with synesthesia perceive[11].

I tried to speak in a more reassuring way with her, closing kindly her hand around the thin glass.

Take this great wine, for example, taste it,(…) a sensorial bomb(…) If we had to set out what the wine contains, and taste  the list would be as long as our admiration of the wine was profound, the label would cover the bottle, the cellar, the vines and the surface of the countryside, mapping them all faithfully, point by point [12]”

In the comfortable silence that followed (…) Elizabeth, keeping the wine in her mouth looking for the taste of the vines, experienced that strange but widely familiar sensation of having been there before, of having had this precise exchange with this very gentleman in this location some time ago, a fleeting moment of experiencing the present as a memory. [3] But the present itself was somehow a vivid dream, she couldn’t really explain herself where she was and how she came there. 

Her wondering about that feeling was suddenly interrupted by somebody screaming “A votre santé” and she emptied her glass before realizing that the young architect was speaking about some sketching and ideas he had in developing the spaces.

She pleased me to repeat, apologizing for being absentminded.

“The aim of the proposal is to induce a synesthetic experience in the visitors, by taking both architecture and function to the limits of perception, to the critical point where synesthesia might occur in ‘normal’ brains.[11] Passion spaces here are compared with conceptual spaces (…) in the analogy of ‘logos vs pathos’.[11]”

She was excited of my proposal and immediately asked me how to conceive those spaces. 

According to my studies, Elizabeth, Sensory deprivation proves to be an efficient method: the reaction of the neurological system in absence of any stimuli is to invent its own. A brain deprived of external input starts to project an external reality. [11]

She explained me she bought an entire block in the city center of Paris where she would like to organize those spaces. 

I asked her about the materiality of the block explaining that, there are two types of skin, the inner and the outer. If the outer skin is made of hard stone, the durability of the building will be improved. [13] Elizabeth’s happiness couldn’t be greater in becoming aware of that.

“ We will organize the inner space as follow: The part next to the facade will be left [14] empty in order to perceive the facade in its integrity from the outside but even on the inside, and working as a puffer space, an osmotic membrane between the city and the inner tensions; in fact the entrance hall is the first step in the de-conditioning process.[11] This took the place of the atrium or vestibule.[15]”

If you follow my thoughts Elizabeth, I would like you to enter this floating tank, I want to discover in deep what you went through and how can we deal it in our architecture. 

Entering the tank, I attached to Elizabeth’s head approximately twenty receptors. 

The float tank works like a de-conditioning tool, separating the body from all external stimuli and normal perceptional relations with the world. [11]

This permitted me to understand what she was feeling, to stretch her dreams and thoughts about spaces and sensorial experiences and unfold them in an architectural smooth successions of spaces . I couldn’t stop writing, and sketching associating Elizabeth’s mind readings and my studies. 

And everything was flowing in my head through my hand, the idea started to materialize in the flat land of the blank sheet, how the visitor will encounter a series of chambers, located on three different levels, corresponding to the conceptual organization of the nervous system and the associative routes of synesthesia [11]

And also how these three levels should be connected by a staircase; we have two types of staircase (…) one ascended not by stairs but by an inclined ramp, the other by steps. Personally, I strongly approve of stairs; the fewer the stairs in a building and the less room they take up, the less of an inconvenience they will be.[16] We will use both of them. 

The entrance hall was directly connected to two staircase ascended by steps, one private and one public. The public one lead directly to the third floor where the pathway begins. The three levels are then organized on ascending or descending ramps more or less inclined without differing to much from this rule: an incline of one part in height along the vertical to six in length along the baseline.[16] The ramps were designed and disposed following the natural men’s flow, theirs  linger and their crossing principle. 

This organization should lead the visitor to naturally plunge throw the street level where the chamber representing the deepest level of the nervous system is located. 

And also the most intimate part of the house, a private staircase closed to the visitors and accessible only by Elizabeth, on that pathway, which was mostly organized in the nordest part of the block, life spaces and some synesthetic chamber  were organized, but only for personal or restricted uses; the two pathway crossed several times but never interchange, they fill the inner space as  a double helix, such as the DNA, where two different (but complementary) helix will intersect keeping their belonging track. The block with its facades, as the skeleton of the head, containing the brain organized in his 3 level and the staircases the connection between the spinal-chord and the brain stem. I was tired by all this drawing and drawing. 

At some point I putted my pencil down and I breathed deeply, looking for the first time at Elizabeth face, I realized I knew her, suddenly, and that my sketches were a representation of what she has been through her past, but also that she didn’t know about the operation, and that the drink was what caused the missing reaction to activate this phenomenon in her brain. Everything was clear to me, but I was also concerned about how abnormal the situation was, much bigger than someone could imagine. She started to stare at my drawings and asked me to go on. I didn’t want her to see everything, at the moment, she wasn’t ready, so I told her that she must be exhausted and to go home. I said to her to be at the site the morning after.

Once she left I came back to draw, I wanted to elaborate everything, to put inside also my deep knowledge about synesthesia. 

We now come to the opening. There are two types of opening, one for light and ventilation, and the other to allow man or object to enter or leave the building. Windows serve for light; for objects there are doors and stairs [16], doors should only be placed in accordance to the ramps disposition and windows are in our case only for light because the ventilation will be automatically regulated. I was thinking. The organization of the Pathway started to take form. The first room is 

the “TIME SEEING” chamber, which should blurring the boundaries of the interior and exterior space [11] treated as a portico where the exact view of the site is displayed with an eight hours delay, is the only part emerging from the existing building, this circular Portico shall be covered with a Cupola. [16] the covering hemisphere is perforated from small opening bringing zenithal light into the space, corresponding to the displayed moment.

Sloping further through the pathway, there will be the “SOUNDS WATCHING”  chamber: a theater in which a full orchestra is playing directed by a passionate and vigorous conductor, but nothing is heard. In order to obtain the best acoustic the length of the “scaena” ought to be double the diameter of the orchestra.[17] And the wall has a height one ninth the radius of the central area [13]. The ramp exiting this chamber is slightly ascended and leads to the “LIGHT HEARING” chamber

A chamber were lights openings are modulated and an obscure, cold, humid and foggy atmosphere makes it possible to see the small rays coming from all directions. Freely moving into the space single tones are reproduced when interrupting a light ray.

Next up is the “HEARTBEAT SMELLING”chamber: here the participant is seated in an anechoic chamber [18] were even the visual boundaries of the chamber are blurred, the participant start to hear two sounds one high and one low.’[t]he high one is the nervous system in operation. The low one is blood in circulation’ [19] The brain then compensates the loss of auditive input by heightened attention to all other senses, and at this moment the brain is stimulated by introducing into the chamber an Imput such a particular smell and a wall changing color; hallucinations can occur after only a short while [11].

Leaving the “heartbeat smelling”chamber there will be the “SOUNDS TOUCHING” chamber where the symphonies played by the orchestra are reproduced; every color is associated to an instrument, the “artist” is now called to paint what is hearing in real time. Every color is only available when the related instrument is playing. Finished the symphony paintings are collected and distributed at the end of the next chamber: the “TASTE HEARING” chamber.

This chamber is the only one accessible also from the street, is the apex of the path, a food court were finger food is served and notes are played on regular interval, or the space is suddenly saturated by one color.

Then I re-drew the floating tank in order to be larger and to accommodate more people at the same time; I wanted it to be the last chamber, the apex of the whole pathway. All of the spaces, in fact, were conceived to be lived with the body and the mind but only that one is entering the full conscious process where people can reach their deep understanding of the hypermedia community and how we all are manipulated.

During the stay in the floating tank everybody will become completely conscious of it, and exiting the structure the memory of all the pathway get slowly blurred and the desire to restart from the time seeing chamber occurs. 

Red

The day after I woke up, still with blurred mind because of all what occurred the night before. I went out to go to the site, I decided to walk there. I waited in front of it, but nobody showed up, so I directed myself inside. 

The space was empty again, only a table in the middle was occupying it, covered of plans and sketches, annotations and also a letter with my name “Elizabeth”. 

I took the letter first. 

I opened it carefully. What was written inside confirmed me what I suspected all my life: my father sold me. Or better he sold my brain capability to a society which promised him in exchange an enormous amount of money promising him the high chance of me becoming so charismatic that I would be able to control the human kind.I smiled sadly, thinking about how different the result turn out to be, but also happy because they didn’t reach the aim to control my actions. For a second a walked in the building touching the cold walls, then I took a look to the drawings. I realized the complexity of them, but also I couldn’t stop looking at all the details, and how the pathway was fundamental to the creation of the last room, the library of people’s mind. A place where the mind takes control and different experienced can be shared and lived. In that moment a hand awake me from my daydreaming, it was the hand of the architect on my shoulder. We looked at each other, suspended in this moment, imagining together, waiting for time to give us the rush to start this adventure. 

[1] Woods, Letters of an Architect from France Italy and Greece 1

[2] Kunstler, The City in Mind

[3] Hovestadt Buehlmann, Quantum City

[4] Ruskin, The Stones of Venice

[5] Freud,The Psychopathology of Everyday

[6] West, Scale The Universal Laws of Growth

[7] Hollis, Cities Are Good For You

[8] Hays, Architecture Theory since 1968

[9] Asimov, Complete Robot Anthology

[10] Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty

[11] Ascott, Art Technology Consciousness Mindlarge

[12a.] Serres, The Five Senses

[13] Alberti, On the Art of Building in Ten Books 1988

[14] Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture 1999

[15] Williams, Daniele Barbaros Vitruvius of 1567

[16] Alberti, 10 books of architecture 1755

[17] Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture 1914

[18] Broeckmann, Machine Art in the Twentieth Century

[19] Smith, Bare Architecture A Schizoanalysis

[gontagokuhara]

a lil birdie told me u like talking bout ur trip pls I wanna hear what France n Spain r like :ooo (I love ur writing btw :>)

HI!!!!!

so. like ive said, i went to france and spain a few months back and it was an Amazing Time. theres so much to talk about and i dont want to flood dashboards so ill put this under a read more :0

france:

-our group spent 2 hours in customs in charles de gaulle airport. it was hot, the middle of the night my regular time, about 9 am france time, and by the time we got out of customs it was nearly 11:30-that was like…..the only low point? th organization we travelled through groups up smaller groups into large groups (like 40-50 people?) and we were waiting on the other groups from ohio, oregon, and new jersey (remember those groups, they become important later) for another like 3ish hours? -the airport was rly interesting though! it was all of the kids in our groups first exposure to an environment that wasnt all in english, so it gave us time to practice our french listening to announcements/buying stuff/etc! there was also. a lot of green berets with assault rifles all over the place (and they were really all over france. im not sure what theyre about but theyre Everywhere)-around 2-3 we get on a bus with the new jersey + ohio groups and go to notre dame cathedral! the first thing we noticed leaving the airport was that it is hot as balls in france. its humid and the sun is oppressive as hell but the Big Plus was that there are. literally 0 bugs. i didnt see a single bug my whole trip it was fucking amazing-our first day was pretty lowkey; we basically just went to notre dame, broke for lunch, and then hung out in that general area until dinner!-our second day in france was Very Jam Packed with shit and was simultaneously my favorite and least favorite day? our plan was to ascend the eiffel tower in the morning and visit versailles in the afternoon, but the eiffel tower was closed bc of a security issue so we flipped our schedule!-we toured all around versailles palace and while it was very interesting and beautiful i lowkey had an anxiety attack bc people kept holding onto me and grabbing me and it was very hot and overwhelming. things really looked up when we looked around the gardens!-after that + lunch we went back to the eiffel tower and got to go up at night!!! which was beautiful. also, it doesnt get dark in france Or spain until like 10 pm? its very odd but really really cool! and it makes you feel less tired. our curfew was a little earlier than we thought so we couldnt make the line to go to the very top, but we went to the middle section and i have some Iconique selfies up there. when we went down again we bought some stuff at the little gift shops and i got the best slushie ive ever had and it was super fun:0-third day was a pretty long bus tour and then the louvre! the bus tour yielded like 300 pictures and the only thing me nd my mom rly cared about was seeing the mona lisa, so we hung out the rest of the time in shops and stuff!-fourth day we took a bullet train from paris to avignon and honestly the most iconic bit of that day was running around the train stop stores and buying all the french candy we could find. after that we went to pont du gard and toured the area around there, which was really beautiful! also? the toilets in pont du gard? Do Not Have Toilet Paper. dont even have paper towels. not even because theyre out, but like. theres no toilet paper holders or anything. -after that (same day!) was provence! we toured an old structure the first part of provence, and then shopped the rest! unfortunately i got really sick at the end of that day (but not before i bought Ten Bars Of Soap)-the fifth day i was nearly fuckin dead with sickness lol so i stayed behind in the hotel ;( i got to reconnect with friends on the shitty wifi that day though! (blows smooches at the jump discord)-sixth day we had like. a 5 hour bus ride from th south of france to barcelona. i listened to a Lot Of Muic. 

spain:

-we didnt have time for really anything by the time we got to barcelona, but that was okay because i think we all really needed the day to recharge!-first full day in barcelona we toured the area around la sagrada familia ! we didnt get to get that close but i have really beautiful pictures! we also went to the picasso museum that day which was…..really boring. me and my friends were dying in there. we got separated from the ohio group (aka the cool group) and we got stuck with the new jersey group which succed but whateevr! after that we hung around in the city for a while before going back-the second day in barcelona was probably my favorite of the whole trip, which is kind of weird to say because i loved paris so much? but i think my kinda sour experience at versailles ust barely edges out that day as my favorite, so! we toured park guell (which is GOREGOUS) and it was great because the heat wasnt that bad And our tour leader got to see his wife!!! me and my mom got fuckin lost lol and we had to navigate through with shitty spanish to find our group. after that we went to this giant mall (seriously, its like 5 stories) that used to be a giant arena but they converted! most of the group went to a flamenco show, but me, my friend kiya, my french teacher and his daughter passed so we could explore the mall. me nd kiya fucked off and i showed her around lush for like a half hour, she bought a bunch of comics in spanish and we bought a whole lot of other shit!!! it was super super fun and it was probably my favorite day-our last full day we went to the beach! and christ this post is long enough already but someone remind me to tell the wild fucking story that is the beach in barcelona girls in relation to the oregon girls, lack of card checking, and the yelling match between a blanket salesman and an ohio chaperone. it’s fucking nuts.-and then we flew home at like 2 am! theres a whole other layer to the light home that i wont go into detail on here becasue God This Is So Long, but if any1 is interested on some of the more minor details of the trip please shoot me an ask i love talking abt my trip:0

[junker-town]

A French summer in Lyon and Marseille

“No good.”

The ticket-taker at Paris Gare de Lyon shook his head after scanning the piece of paper that should have had me on the next train to the World Cup semifinals. He didn’t explain why my ticket to Lyon was invalid. Just that it was. I stood there, drenched in sweat, both from running to the station and that I happened to be in Paris during a heatwave.

I looked up to the sky and said, “Oh, my God, now you’re just being petty as fuck.”

But the accusation wasn’t directed at the station employee; It was directed at God.

The bad ticket was one in an already long list of frustrations on my journey. When my friend Zack first suggested this trip last year, he positioned it as a summertime French adventure of long walks, decadent food, lazy mornings mixed with work and relaxation that would give way to days filled with lightness and wonder. I couldn’t turn it down.

Zack, buying the pastries for one of our walks

Plus, I wanted to go to a World Cup.

The plan was to spend a few days in London before traveling to France, but my initial flight from New York to Heathrow was overbooked. What followed was two days of standby hell as I kept getting bumped from one flight to another until a merciful gate agent who recognized me from an earlier flight got me on a plane to Paris.

”Why does this always happen to you?” my friend, Graham, asked when I told him about my troubles.

The answer is God. God is fucking with me. Not out of maliciousness, I don’t think, but a shared playfulness that sometimes goes too far.

God puts problems in my path, especially when I travel, and my job is to find hidden solutions to get what and where I want. The obstacles are sometimes ridiculous — once on my walk home from school a bunch of squirrels blocked my path and came after me when I tried to scare them — but the solutions often involve finding compassionate helpers, like the gate agent who I wouldn’t have seen again if I hadn’t changed my flight to Paris or taken the advice of going to Amsterdam instead.

God’s game resumed soon after I landed in France when I didn’t see my train to Lyon on the departure board at Paris Gare du Nord. I learned from an employee who noticed my confusion that not only was I at the wrong station, but it would take a 15-minute metro ride to get to the right one.

Even then, I still made it — with three minutes to spare. I felt triumphant, smirking at God and thinking, “Once again, I’ve won.”

”No good.”

I’m not an anxious person, and I often enjoy these misadventures, but there is an overwhelming loneliness that takes hold when things go wrong in a foreign country. If you know the language, you can choose not to speak — you can choose solitude and silence. When you don’t have that choice, you’re trapped in silence. It’s suffocating.

The long line at the ticket counter almost guaranteed I didn’t have time to make it on the next (and last) train to Lyon. Before I could come up with a new plan, a worker who looked like a darker version of my uncle spotted me in the crowd and motioned me over. Most non-Nigerians can’t tell that I’m Nigerian — even some of my own friends still forget. But anywhere I’ve gone, the Nigerians there have been quick to spot me.

He grabbed my hand and asked what was wrong before pulling me into the ticket office and repeating my story to his coworker. His friend looked at him, looked at me, looked at my ticket, and then told us to give him some time to take care of two other customers.

During our wait, the Nigerian man told me how he ended up in Paris — the menial jobs he worked and how he eventually got a job at the station which allows him to send money back home. Before our paths crossed that day, he had already helped two Nigerian families who missed their trains.

Anyone who has ever been an immigrant knows they often have to pave their own paths to navigate societal structures lacking in compassion and mercy. Some are based on pure kindness, such as knowing the owners of an African grocery store who will let you defer payment for food when you can’t afford it. Others are based on small monetary exchanges. They help you solve a problem otherwise unsolvable within the standard bureaucratic system, and you make it worth their while in return.

This isn’t a point of privilege — it’s the reaction to not having any to begin with.

The man in the office spent five minutes looking back and forth from my ticket to his computer screen before printing a ticket for the last train to Lyon. The train that was supposed to be full.

The Nigerian man explained afterward that he told his friend I was his sister’s son. And though the terms of his help were never made explicit, I gave him 30 euros.

Missing that first train meant missing England vs. the United States, but once I made it to Lyon and was en route to my Airbnb, I took solace in soon being able to shower, eat, and sleep after such a long day.

Such a naive assumption. The real art of pettiness is denying victory when the person is almost at the finish line.

The first time the key fob didn’t open the gate, I thought I was doing it wrong. A few more tries confirmed the gate recognized the fob but still wouldn’t open. It was the middle of the night, and all I could do was sit on my suitcase outside — in a French suburb where I knew no one — laughing like a maniac.

After playing this game with God for so long, you’d think I’d know better.

Lyon wasn’t crowded despite being the concluding host city of the World Cup. Walking around it seemed most people visiting Lyon were there for their own adventures that just happened to collide with the biggest sporting event in the world.

You could sit outside a restaurant in the middle of the city admiring the architecture or absorbing the scenery and totally forget you were at the World Cup. It happened to me multiple times.

In the city center of Lyon, the day before the Final

As much as I was enjoying Lyon, I had yet to explore my ulterior motive for going on this trip in the first place. Marseille has had a pull on me for as long as I can remember— the more I learned about it, the stronger that force became. A city of immigrants and exiles. Of water and myths. A fiery place with open arms that doesn’t hide its struggles with poverty and corruption. A cosmopolitan city with people who are constantly under pressure to leave, but refuse to be gentrified away.

The only place I have ever longed for as much as Marseille is the village in Nigeria where I was born. Both have the feeling of home but in different ways.

The village is where I was born, where I became. I can feel the history of my family and my people pulling me back to it. It is in the foundation of who I am. Marseille feels like where I can live and die as an adult, and God willing, an old man. It’s where I will be at peace. It’s the place where the longing, daydreaming, and the pain of being and feeling out of place would stop.

It was made for me, which is why when I developed a heat rash on my wrist the day before I left, I was overcome with anxiety that my body was going to break down before I could see Marseille for myself.

All you can see are trees and sky before entering the train tunnel that leads into the city. It is only when you come out the other side that Marseille unveils itself in breathtaking fashion. Sprawling hills dotted with houses and ancient buildings. Boats scattered along the coastline of the Mediterranean. In an instant, you go from trees, sky, and darkness to one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Entering Marseille

I was prepared for a day of wandering with only two places in the city I considered mandatory to see. The first was Old Port. I wanted to be by the water, watching the people, the boats, the seagulls — to know whether they did follow the trawler. I wanted to sit and simply be there.

I then roamed the city with no destination in mind, from the port to the Cathédrale La Major to the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde.

I walked through Le Panier, an art-covered neighborhood of shops, cafes and alleyways and the oldest district in Marseille. There, I saw people like the Nigerian man from the train station and young African and Arab boys following the universal dress code of football shirts and track pants. I walked past people whose stories I felt close to, and I was happy to be in a city whose identity was built by people searching for a better world. Lyon was the lightness of a vacation, but Marseille had the heaviness and the force of life.

Fittingly, the city makes you work to see the beautiful nature surrounding it. If you want to see the Instagram version of Marseille, you have to walk the steep hills that’ll take you there. Long staircases are the only way to get inside many of Marseille’s beautiful churches.

Old Port

My favorite picture of the trip wasn’t of the gorgeous landscape. It was of a woman, a stranger standing outside on the balcony of her apartment overlooking a cruise ship harbor.

She was the only person on the balcony, smoking and gazing out at the water. Like she was waiting for something, or someone, or imagining a different life than the one she had. It reminded me that even in the places where we wish to be, some people there might be looking to escape to somewhere else.

After a minute or so, she looked over at me and smiled. I raised my camera, silently asking if I could take her picture. She nodded and then she went back to smoking and gazing as if I wasn’t there.

The other place that was mandatory for me to see in Marseille was the Stade Vélodrome.

Since I was young, I’ve loved three teams: Arsenal, Marseille, and Milan. Out of those three, it’s Marseille’s stadium that I had to visit before I died. Not that I don’t love the San Siro, which is more legendary in terms of Milan’s success there, or the Emirates and Highbury before it, but they don’t represent the city and its myths for me in the same way the Vélodrome does for Marseille. San Siro and Emirates are stadiums for teams; the Vélodrome is for Marseille.

François Thomazeau wrote about Olympique Marseille in Le Monde years ago:

”MARSEILLE is a city of lies of such peculiar exaggeration that the town invented a word for them — galéjades. Marseille has a knack of turning every petty memory into myth, to try to make life bigger than it really is. And its most powerful dream machine is its football club, Olympique de Marseille OM. It sounds and reads like the name of a strange cult, which in many ways, it is - the Stade Vélodrome, the temple to the only religion that unites rival communities in town.”

When I arrived, only one person was there — a man sitting nearby, eating lunch. I had a knack for finding people in public solitude in Marseille. Had I been alone, I would have bent down and kissed the ground. I would have thanked it for Eric Cantona, Samir Nasri, Hatem Ben Arfa, Dimitri Payet, Benoit Cheyrou, Lucho Gonzalez, Chris Waddle, Franck Ribery, Didier Drogba, Steve Mandanda, Marcel Desailly, Abedi Pele, Mamadou Niang, Robert Pires, André-Pierre Gignac, Djibril Cissé, and Florian Thauvin. Even Zinedine Zidane, who never played for the team, but was born in the city and was a citizen of the team.

I didn’t want to leave. I had a World Cup final to attend, but all I wanted to do was to stay at the Vélodrome. After tweeting a selfie in front of the stadium, I reluctantly made the journey to the train station where I realized Marseille’s English account had quote-tweeted the selfie with the words, “Welcome…” and the emoji for home.

I thought of Thomazeau writing about Gunnar Andersson’s death after he had come to Marseille: “Was he trying to leave town, to make it back home to Gothenburg? Did he realise you never leave Marseille once you have been lured there?”

I knew the USWNT would beat the Netherlands in the World Cup final, but I was quietly cheering for the Dutch. The U.S. is a much deeper and talented team than its competitors. They’re so good they can often overcome tactical deficiencies by sheer ability. You don’t really suffer from not playing the best players if the second-best players are still better than the opposing team’s. I wanted the Dutch to win, to give a sign of hope that other teams were catching up to America.

The United States is an ironic soccer country in that everywhere else in the world, institutional sexism had termed soccer as too masculine for women and sabotaged the game. In America, it was seen as an effeminate sport for such a long time that it allowed women in the U.S. freedom that others didn’t have. That’s not to discount the historical sexism and misogyny, both institutional and explicit, that still exists in American soccer and sports in general. Beyond the weird perception of masculinity and sport, the USWNT’s dominance in soccer can also be traced to the implementation of Title IX in 1972.

They’re much more talented than every other team, but that dominance, while deserved, is also predicated on the imbalance of opportunity that exists in women’s soccer. The hope then, is that the powers that be in other countries will start investing in women’s soccer, creating opportunities for participation, and professionalizing the game so much that the players won’t need to suffer and work multiple jobs while trying to be athletes.

It’s because of this context of inequality and sabotage that there was a sense of universal solidarity to the World Cup final I don’t imagine exists in most male tournaments. It felt as though everyone, while cheering for their separate teams, was also cheering for the sport as a whole. The competition is still there, but so is the understanding of how delicate survival of the sport is. When the final whistle blew and the Dutch players fell to the ground in disappointment, many of their fans stood up and cheered with joy and pride as opposed to a showing of sadness.

After the game, my friends and I made our way to the city to celebrate the USWNT’s victory — a relatively well-behaved party after a World Cup win. It seemed impossible to cause pure chaos in Lyon, at least as an outsider. The only thing removing me from the illusion of lightness were occasional sightings of gun-toting military forces tasked with security during the games. We passed a group of them en route to a McDonald’s, which we soon realized was closed despite being surrounded by a large group of Algerians immersed in celebration. Their display went from peaceful to chaotic as I looked up and saw what appeared to be an incoming grenade.

It hissed upon landing, clouding the air and making it instantly unbreathable. As someone who has been pepper-sprayed before, the pain of it was familiar. There was no clearer sign that the lightness of the World Cup was over, and the chaos of the African Cup of Nations had started.

I wanted to apologize to my friends when we finally got home, as it wasn’t their fault that we got pepper-sprayed, or even the fault of the Algerian fans. I wanted to tell them that God was fucking with me. And there was no way he’d let this trip end without making me play the game one more time.

[anoverseasadventure]

Paris, France

After a day long journey we got into Paris around 8:30 pm. Arriving at our Airbnb we met our host Claude. We all needed to shower but the layout of this house was strange. There one room with a toilet, the only toilet in the house, but that room had no sink. Then there was one room with a shower, the only shower, and that room also had a sink. However this room was inside of Claude's room, so whenever we wanted to shower or brush our teeth we had to ask his permission. And if his door was shut then we could not shower. This proved difficult on the days where we would leave very early in the morning, and come home very late at night. For our entire trip in Paris none of us were exactly sparkling clean.... Luckily he was awake, hanging out and watching tv when we got there so we were all able to shower that night before we went to find dinner. After our showers, we found a spot near us, ordered what the waiter said was good, and drank a lot of wine. Our dinner was delicious and so were the pastries we found on the way home. We went to bed happy and full. The next day it was supposed to rain in the afternoon and rain means you can't go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, so we made that our first stop. We took a metro and when we got off we immediately saw it. I cannot believe how big it was. The Eiffel Tower far exceeded my expectations and I was stoked to go to the top. We got in line, bought our tickets and took the lift all the way up. Throughout this trip we have all climbed countless church towers and lookout points but this is by far the highest we've been. The view was GORGEOUS and although it was pricey we all felt it was necessary to buy a glass of champagne at the very top 😊 We eventually made our way back down and spent the rest of the afternoon bopping about different main areas. First we went to St. Michaels square and saw Notre Dame. Then we went to the new love lock bridge, which really isn't a bridge at all (they made the old one lock proof and took the locks down because of structural instability from the weight of the locks!!) Then we walked across the oldest bridge in Paris before making our way to the Louvre. We didn't go inside(yet) but took some pictures before walking through the tuileries gardens, the largest square in Paris, and eventually found our way the the arc de triumph. We got to the arc right as a ceremony for the unamed soldier was going on! It was a little boring but kinda cool to see all of the veterans dressed up. From there we went back to the louvre for free entrance to see the Mona Lisa. When we left the louvre we went to my mamas favorite bar in Paris. She lived there for a little while and a place Called Polly Magoo was her favorite hangout spot. We went and it was real groovy. After that we went to acacias favorite restaurant from the last time that she was in Paris. Here we had our last dinner together, and after 25 nights of eating and sharing drinks the dinner felt a little sad. From there, since it was acacias last night with us and her last night in Paris, we all decided to get some champagne and sit under the Eiffel Tower. Finding a place that was open and selling champagne was hard and finding a place to sit was even harder, but we eventually found an area where a lot of people were sitting a drinking so we set our things down. We made some friends with a British man, a Canadian, and a Parisian and proceeded to spend much longer than anticipated drinking, laughing, talking, and watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle. We spent so long there that eventually the Tower turned off its lights entirely and we had to go home. The metro had stopped running at this hour but our new friends called (and paid for) our taxi home, how nice of them!! The next morning we all woke up feeling rather rough but had a lot to accomplish. Acacia was leaving us that morning and needed to pack, and kayla and I had a big day of adventuring. We reluctantly pulled ourselves together, got breakfast at our favorite bakery downstairs and said our goodbyes. Kayla and I then took the metro to montmartre and climbed up the many many stairs (very VERY slowly) to sacre couer church. The view was gorgeous as was the church. From there we meandered around the streets of this little town, found our way to Mulan Rouge and then to a flea market. By this time is was early afternoon and we needed to find our way back into the main part of Paris to catch a train to versilles. One of our major mistakes in Paris was not allowing ourselves enough time to walk around versilles. People told us it was huge but we had no idea it was THAT huge. I mean this place is enormous. If there's ever a reason for me to return to Paris it's to go back and spend a day or two here. I fell in love with Paris and I really didn't expect to. After my visit to Nice Two years ago didn't think much of France and with Paris being such a big city, I thought it would be too touristy and disappointing. But I was definitely wrong. Paris has a certain charm to it and it's filled with rich culture and history. I can see why my mama lived there for a year. I can't wait to go back and visit with her one day ❤️ Next stop: Normandie!! (This portion of the trip is completely unplanned)

[askfornoguarantees-blog]

Paris

This past weekend we traveled with our program to Paris for 3 days. We took a EuroStar train under the channel early Friday morning and got to Paris around 1 pm. I always get confused with the one hour time difference between the UK and Europe but at least it’s a lot easier then figuring out the 5 hour time difference between London and the US. Going in and out of Britain is a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be because of border control, customs, and security. I thought that traveling between the UK and Europe would be really easy but the UK is a lot more strict about immigration and who comes in and out of the country. Everyone says that it’s because of Brexit but that isn’t even official yet and I’m pretty sure the UK has always been like this and it’s not some new policy change. Either way, the lines to get on a train, plane, or bus to leave or enter the country are always very long and frustrating. 

When we got to Paris, our metro transportation was already taken care of in the original price of the trip which was really nice because we just got unlimited passes for the weekend. The metro isn’t as nice or clean or quiet as the tube but it was definitely efficient and ran much quicker than the tube. We checked into our hotel, which was actually really nice, but of course there was some sort of confusion and me and Maeg’s room was the only room not ready. We just left our bags in Sammie’s room and went on the guided walking tour with our tour guide David (the same one we had for Stonehenge/Bath). It was one of the most pointless tours I have ever taken. He stopped at the Arc de Triomphe for about 2 minutes and wouldn’t let us go up it. Instead he kept walking and decided to focus on some of the shops in that area including Abercrombie and Fitch- because obviously that is really important to see when you’re in Paris. We did stop at this cute little cafe for lunch and I essentially got a warmed up loaf of bread stuffed with olives and cheese for 3 euro. I still have dreams about that bread.

It was so rainy and miserably cold that we were already in bad moods but the fact that he did not want to stop at any of the “major tourist attractions” because “anyone can do that in France” was so unbelievably annoying. I spent $360 so that I could see the main attractions in France, not American stores that you can see anywhere in any mall in the US. We slowly (and I mean really slowly because this tour guide walked at the pace of a snail) made our way to the Seine where we were getting on a boat to see Paris from the water. I remember doing this when I went to Paris a few summers ago and all I can say is that it is much more enjoyable in nice weather than in cold, wet weather. We were so cold by the end of it that once we got off, we ran into the nearest restaurant we could find just to warm up. The restaurant we chose ended being a little French place in the Latin Quarter that had a “tourist menu” where you could get an appetizer, entree, and dessert for 10 euro. Of course we all opted for that and also ordered a bunch of wine for the table. That dinner was as fun as the tour had been miserable. I’m pretty sure everyone there thought of us as obnoxious Americans but none of us really cared because we were laughing too much and having a good time. It was me, Maegan, Sammie, Rupali, Constance, Charlie, and Ben that mainly hung out together on this trip.

After dinner, everyone wanted to go out but I was so tired that I ended up taking a nap and by the time I woke up I had no desire to drink anymore. We met up with our friend Allie who is studying abroad in Paris and she took us to some really cool bars (one of them, they lit the bar on fire for half of their drinks) but they were so expensive that I didn’t end up buying anything. A double vodka soda was 15 euros and I tried Sammie’s but it was so strong that it burned the back of my throat so that was really unappealing. We still had a lot of fun though and of course got ham and cheese crepes on the way home. In the morning, we had to wake up early for another fabulous walking tour. Thankfully it only went until 2pm and then the rest of the day way ours. He took us through a bunch of back streets to see a little bit of Paris but again, he didn’t even take us to cool places. At one point we ended up at a very generic shopping plaza where he stopped to tell us that it’s where all the teenagers come to hang out. Like cool dude no one cares?? Unfortunately it was still really rainy and cold too so all of us were ready to get away from our awful tour guide.

The rest of the day ended up being really fun though. We walked a total of 12 miles and went everywhere from Notre Dame to the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We ate Croque Madames and Nutella crepes and macroons (basically all carbs) and did our best to stay warm and dry. I brought the wrong student ID so instead of getting into the Louvre for free it ended up costing me 15 euro. It was kind of a waste of money because I had been there before and my friends really only wanted to go see Mona Lisa (aka the most underwhelming painting of all time), but it is one of the most famous museums in the world and who knows when I’ll be back so I felt obligated to go. Paying money to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower was absolutely worth the money though. We waited in very long lines and it took a while to get to the top but once we did it was totally worth it. By the time we got to the top it was completely dark out, but all of Paris was lit up and beautiful. I made sure to stand in the middle of the elevator on the way up and had my friends stand in a circle around me because I was shaking so much from my fear of heights. I could literally feel my stomach in my throat. Ben was just as nervous as me though so we just talked to each other as a distraction and tried our best not to look down or up, just out. 

When we finally got to the top, however, it was really breathtaking. You could see all the streets and houses and buildings for miles. At one point I caught myself asking “I wonder if you can see the Eiffel Tower from here”, which Charlie immediately made fun of me for. I tried to FaceTime as many people as possible while I was up there including my dad and brother but the connection was pretty bad so the conversations didn’t last long. I just wanted to share the view with the people back home. We stayed up there for a while taking in the beauty of everything, but at some point we started getting hungry and cold and realized we needed to eat. We stopped at a cute French restaurant not far from the Eiffel Tower where I got a truffle risotto that was literally to die for. It melted in my mouth and I’m pretty sure I finished it in about 5 bites. Since the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes at the top of every hour starting at 6pm, we decided to finish dinner early and go watch the light show. We grabbed some crepes to enjoy during it and then just sat staring at this beautiful, beautiful monument sparkle in the night. It really was mesmerizing and as Ben and I found out, if you stared at it hard enough, the Eiffel Tower itself faded away from view and all you could see were the lights in the shape of the Eiffel Tower. Those lights alone explain why Paris is called the City of Love.

After walking over 20,000 steps, we all decided that it would probably be best not to go out that night and just get some sleep for the next day. Maeg and I watched some BBC news (the only channel that wasn’t in French) and passed out. We had to wake up pretty early because we had bought tickets to get a tour of Versailles. Our tour guide told us to meet in the lobby at 9am but of course he didn’t show up until 9:30 and we didn’t leave the hotel until closer to 10. I’m not kidding when I say that this guy was the most inefficient, aloof tour guide I had ever met. When he finally got to Versailles, he informed us that the government in fact had made entry into the palace free for that particularly day so our official group tour had been canceled and we would be refunded. (We later learned from our friend Allie that Versailles is free every Sunday so there was no reason for us to pay for it in the first place). We then had to wait in an hour long line just to get into the palace.

Waiting in line wasn’t actually too bad because the weather had warmed up a little and the 7 of us were trying to come up with fun conversation topics. We talked about everything we could think of, most notably different conspiracy theories that we knew about. We finally got into the palace and made our way through the luxurious rooms. The best parts, however, were the gardens. It was acres and acres of beautiful ponds and trees and artistically trimmed bushes. We probably strolled around for an hour and a half just enjoying the beautiful scenery and the nicest weather that we had experienced in 3 days. We then slowly made our way back to our hotel (it was over an hour away from Versailles) and got ready to take the train back to London. Our tour guide said to meet in the lobby at 6pm (which we were all on time for) but of course he didn’t show up until 6:45pm. Which made us super later to the train; you’re supposed to check in a minimum of an hour before departure and we got there 10 minutes before that deadline. Once we checked in, we had to wait in a 45 minute long border control/passport check line. It was taking so long that we were actually nervous about missing our train. Luckily because the line was so bad they opened up a few more windows and things started to move much quicker. 

Once we got to the other side, our tour guide was no where to be found and we had to find out where we were supposed to be by ourselves. Right before we boarded the train, our tour guide showed up. He is literally the worst, I hope I never have to see him again. The train was then delayed 30 minutes because the checkin line had been so long so we got back to London even later then expected and then we had to take a 25 minute tube right back to our apartment. Traveling this much two weekends in a row was absolutely exhausting and while both weekends were so fun, I am really happy to be home for 2 weekends. All of us agreed that we were very homesick- not for our American homes, but for London. We are all so in love with London and it felt really good to be back. 

[greenbagjosh]

Sunday 26 March 2000 CEST and visit to Geneva by TGV

Bonjour mesdames et messieurs

Aujourd'hui va-t-on à Genève.  Avez-vous avancé vos horloges d'une heure à GMT + 2 fois?

Today we are going to Geneva in Switzerland.  Did you advance your clocks an hour?  Note that in 2000, the first day of daylight saving time was Sunday 26 March 2000, the last Sunday in March.  This applies also to the rest of Europe including Ceuta and Melilla, Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores.  Why is this important?  We have to catch the 7:10 AM train from Paris Gare du Lyon to Geneva CFF Cornavin, and I have a seat reservation that can cost about $20 to reissue.  

 I woke up around 5:30 AM even with the time change so it was like 4:30 AM.  The previous night I had bought Pétrole Hahn shampoo which had a very nice citrus scent.  I liked it better than Fructis which had a more deciduous scent which I did not like as much.  So I washed with that in the shower.  Too bad that it is nearly impossible to find Pétrole Hahn shampoo in the USA.  We are stuck with Fructis. At 6 AM I came down the spiral stairs to the ground floor to have breakfast, or at least I was prepared to go to a nearby café that would have been open if breakfast was not ready.  The staff had a few spare bread rolls for me, and they let me have coffee, so that was very nice of them to let me eat breakfast before everyone else.  

 At 6:30 AM I finished breakfast and left the AIJ for Gare du Lyon.  I went on Rue Trousseau, Rue Charles Baudelaire, Rue du Prague, Rue Abel, and Boulevard Diderot.  It was easier that time than taking the M8 from Ledru Rollin to Bastille and changing to the M1 for Gare du Lyon, as I was in doubt about the train frequency and layover. And I got exercise.  It was a good thing that it was not raining.  I made it to Gare du Lyon about 6:50 AM with 15 to 20 minutes to spare.  The reservation ticket I had, I had stamped the Gare du Lyon to Geneva portion.  You might have read at some point, that on 16th August 1998 when I went to Lyon for the day, I had accidentally validated the return ticket and not the away ticket.  I had to notify the conductor about that.  This time I validated the correct ticket.

 I was in the second class car, facing away from the direction of travel.  The train left at 7:10 AM.  It went very fast between Gare du Lyon and Macon TGV.  The terrain was slightly hilly but was not significant until Bourg en Bresse to Bellegarde and Geneva.  I was listening on my radio at times when the FM signal was at least receivable.  One song I distinctly remember hearing was "Les Marionnettes" by Christophe. It went something like "Moi, je construis … de marionne …  ttes, avec de la fiselle …. Et du papier!".  I think that day I might have recorded two hours of FM radio, spanning two C-90 cassettes.

 The last stop in France was at Bellegarde and the train arrived about 10:15 AM.  There were connections to Annemasse and Annecy without crossing into Switzerland.  At La Plaine, that is the first station in Switzerland and is part of its RER system which goes to Nyon and also since late 2019 to Annemasse via Geneva Eaux Vives.  At 11 AM the train arrived in Geneva CFF. Switzerland was not yet a member of Schengen, and as such there was a passport control for the SNCF tracks.  I received a stamp in my passport, for Genève CFF.        

 I changed some French Francs and US Dollars into Swiss Francs at the station.  Then I went to a vending machine to buy a day pass for the trams and busses.  In 2000 these cost only 5 CHF.  I ate my lunch that I prepared in Paris, mainly lunchmeat, cream cheese and soft drinks. Then I took the trolley bus along Rue du Chantepoulet and Rue du Mont Blanc to Molard.  I also had a look at "L'horologe Fleurie", the flower clock at Quai du Général-Guisan and Place du Port.  It had the 1 to 12 positions in flower arrangements and at the bottom was "MARS 2000", also in a flower arrangement.  The video if you have seen it, had those scenes cut unfortunately.  I returned on a trolley bus to the rail station and decided to take the tram 16 which went on Rue James Fazy and Pont de la Coulouvrenière.  I changed at Plainpalais for line 12 to Moillesullaz and went along Rue de la Croix-d'Or eastward to Place de Jargonnant.  I spent five minutes contemplating the scene facing Avenue Pictet-de-Rochemont towards Lac Léman (Lake Geneva).  After that I stopped filming to save battery power.  I did not have enough battery power to get all the video that I wanted, so at some stage or two I had to limit myself to the 35 mm Samsung camera that I had – do you know the Evoca 115?  In 1998 that was one of the best point-and-shoot 35 mm film cameras, problem-ridden may it have been with "overuse".

 So from Place de Jargonnant, I took the tram line to Carouge, which was across the River Arve. Geneva's city limit was right at the river.  It did not seem like I actually crossed a city boundary, as the difference between Geneva and Carouge and Lancy were very small.  I went as far as Lancy-Bachet.  I did not go as far as Palettes, though I did so on 27th April 2001 on a later visit.  Palettes feels a bit different from Geneva as opposed to the other communities in the canton. I know that there is an extension being planned to Ravières and on to St Juilien en Genevois across the French border. So I think that was about 3 PM that I took the tram back to Geneva, and Place Neuve in particular.  There was a Subway sandwich shop and I bought a snack there.  Normally I would not eat at an American chain while overseas, but since the 26th was Sunday, that place was open so I just went there.  

At Place Neuve there is the Parc des Bastions. It is also at the bottom of the old part of the city.  At the west end facing Place Neuve, there is a large place for playing chess with giant pieces, about 50 cm / 1 foot 8 inches tall.  In the winter, the ice rink is open.  Toward the east part of the park, is the Monument to the Reformers. Together stand Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, Huldrich Zwingli and John Knox.  About 3:45 PM my last video camera battery went dead.  Oh no.  I spent the last couple of minutes at Palais Eynard and that was the last thing in Geneva at the time that I videotaped.  The rest of the day prior to 5:30 PM I used the 35 mm camera.  

 About 4 PM I went to the Jardin Anglais, passing by the flower clock, and I managed at the banks of Lake Geneva to see the Jet d'eau, a big fountain that spouts water.  As it was already spring, the fountain's water was on.  My most recent visit, early December 2016, the fountain was turned off for the season.

 My train back to Paris was not until 6 PM.  So I had maybe an hour to do some more exploring.  So I took the trolleybus line 10 towards Meyrin, stopping at Servette along Route de Meyrin to explore around.  I remember there was a "Mc-Do" (pronounced "MacDough") restaurant. I did not eat there.  I went as far on the route 10 as the Bouchet stop, almost entering Meyrin.  I had my radio and I managed to record "Chan Chan" by Buena Vista Social Club and "Papa was a rolling stone" by the Temptations.  There was not much else interesting on the radio that day.

 It was about 5:15 PM and I had to get back to the rail station.  The bus got me to the station about 5:35 PM and I made my way to the SNCF platform entry.  I had my passport stamped to enter France, and boarded the TGV second class compartment for Paris.  At 6 PM the train left for Bellegarde, Bourg en Bresse and Macon TGV.  Everything was fine until I reached Macon.  There was some guy in his early 20s who insisted that the seat I was in, he had a reservation for.  So somehow there was a conflict with the reservation.  I went to the vestibule to ride the rest of the way.  That was possibly the only bad thing that happened that day, aside from the video camera batteries going dead.  The train pulled into Paris Gare du Lyon about 9:50 PM. It felt like only 8:50 PM.

 I took the Metro line 1 to Bastille and changed to the M8 for Ledru Rollin to return to the AIJ.  I was not really hungry, so I did not go out to eat.  I had whatever leftover food was in my bag, then I went up the spiral staircase back to my room and went to sleep.  

 The next couple of days were shopping days so I did not want to miss out on those.  

For the 27th I planned to visit the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Stravinski fountains, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, Trocadéro, Champs Elysées, Porte Maillot in Neuilly, La Défense and a tram ride to Boulogne and the M10 and M8 back to the AIJ.  Big day ahead.

 Bonne nuit et a la prochaîne

[jeffdonaldsons]

Our Family Trip to France

We just got back for the best trip to France and I wanted to write every bit of it down!

Backstory: For Christmas we had the intention of surprising our girls on a trip. We decided that we were done with buying a bunch of crap that they didn’t care about 3 days later and instead we would do something different. In June I saw a great flight deal for round trip tickets to Paris for $450 round trip. Did you notice I said intention?…Dylan was reading a group text message on my mom’s phone and read about the trip. DANG IT!

So it wasn’t a surprise, and it made for a little bit of a lackluster Christmas morning, buuuut we are 100% doing this from now on, I’m just going to be way more stealthy about it.

Ok so let’s talk about France!!

Why France?

We’ve done very little international travel and zero with our kids, so for our first adventure I thought it would be a good idea to do something that we were semi-familiar with. Court and I went to Paris about 7 years ago (OMG we were so young and skinny in those pictures!) so we knew what the language barrier would be like, we knew that we could get around easily, and we felt comfortable taking our girls there. I think our next adventure will be somewhere totally new, but for the first one France seemed like a safe idea!

3 days in Normandy

I think because we had already experienced Paris, I had my heart set on visiting another part of France for part of the time. Oh my heck I am SO GLAD WE DID!! This part of our trip was the best!

I went back and forth trying to decided if we wanted to stay in the country or in a town. Trying to decide on a place to stay is one of my worst qualities. In every other portion of my life I can make quick and decisive decisions with no lamenting. But omg trying to decide on a place to stay is THE WORST. I have combed through every listing on VRBO and AirBNB. The plan was to stay in a cool barn conversion or house in the country. After finally pulling the trigger, the host let me know that the barn wasn’t available. Suck. Then it happened twice more! GAHHHH! So after my first 3 VRBO selections came back with a no, we decided maybe the country wasn’t meant to be, so we booked this fisherman’s house in a city called Honfleur.

We rented a car (from Europcar, pick up was very easy) and it was the best decision that we made the entire trip. We drove all over the western side of France and I don’t think we will ever travel another way again. It was perfect. 

The reason we loved having a rental car is because we could go anywhere and explore. There were handfuls of tiny villages that we drove through, each more quaint than the last. A lot of the towns have these big signs off on the side of the road showing something noteworthy, so if we saw something interesting, we would put it into our map and go see it. Favorite part of the whole trip was driving around discovering things off the beaten path. 

Here’s a run down of our main stops and a few thoughts about each!

Giverny

Home of Claude Monet. Incredible gardens, loads of people. Absolutely worth the stop!

Honfleur

Lots of recommendations for Honefleur, it was a very charming seaside town, but we didn’t love it as much as some of the other places. It would’ve been a great place to visit for the day, but I wouldn’t stay there again. 

One of the reasons I decided to stay in Honfleur vs in the country was the convenience of having restaurants around. Unfortunately the fam was not a fan of french food, so we didn’t use them anyways. It would’ve been better to head to a grocery store, stay in the country, eat PB&J’s and save a ton of money.

Omaha Beach

YES x10000. Omaha Beach is one of the beaches that the United States landed on on D-Day. They’ve got a massive cemetery for all of the US soldiers that died in France in WW2, and an incredible memorial. We got there at 5:00 when they were retiring the flag and it was a very emotional and awesome thing to experience.

We also went down onto the beach and into some of the German bunkers. Definite must do!

Chateau de Fontaine-Henry

I was so bummed that this chateau wasn’t open for tours yet (they start after Easter so we missed it by a week!) This was a roadside sign discovery and has been in the same family for 800 years! Can you even imagine?!

Mont Saint Michel

We had some friends recommend Mont Saint Michel and I am SO GLAD we went. Holy cow, it was mind blowing!! There were a ton of people, but even so it was one of the coolest things that we saw. Definite must see!

Jumieges Abbey

My favorite stop of the entire trip was Jumieges Abbey. It was built in the 600’s and has seen everything from Viking attacks to the French Revolution. It was even dismantled and sold for building scrap, but in the late 1800’s was rescued and preserved. We were almost completely alone, and it felt like such a secret treasure. I absolutely loved it!!

Martainville Chateau

This was another roadside sign discovery that was worth the stop. The whole chateau has been converted into a museum and it was really cool to see furniture and clothing in their semi natural habitat. The one downside for me (this is going to sound annoying) the electronic guide was great, but the descriptions were so long. Like 30 minutes in each room. My girls were over it really quickly, though they liked walking around and seeing everything.

Staying in Paris a few years ago gave us a point of reference and we knew what we wanted to take the girls to see and what we wanted to skip. We stayed in an awesome VRBO (you can find it here) and were right by the Eiffel tower. The hosts were 5 star, definitely would stay there again!

Eiffel Tower

Of course yes. The girls loved it!

Catacombs

We loved the Catacombs last time and thought that the girls would love them too. We got caught behind a guided tour and I wish so badly that we could’ve joined in, so note to self, get more info on that!!

Notre Dame

We were in Normandy when the fire at Notre Dame broke out, so we missed a lot of the excitement, but when we made it into Paris we went to visit. That whole section of the island was blocked off, so we could only see it from the other side of the Seine river and there were SO MANY PEOPLE. Still worth it, and I’m pretty sure I saw Court tearing up, though he’ll never admit to it.

 Invalides Museum

Court and I loved this military museum, the girls not so much. This was a highlight from our last trip.

Louve 

We didn’t spend as much time as anyone wanted here, if we would’ve had another day we would’ve gone back. This was Ivie’s favorite stop, and I got some insop for the wood floors in Phase 2 of the Merc!

 I love to travel, but man alive there is nothing like being home! Have any questions? Leave them in the comments below And have you ever travelled internationally with your kids? What is the best place you’ve been?

  The post Our Family Trip to France appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

via Mandi at Our Family Trip to France via Jeff Donaldson’s Blog Our Family Trip to France

[satanistwhodeviatedtogod-blog]

Euro 2018

it’s fun and games until we hit the epilogue

one more sleepless night Then book the cheapest flight

earlier this month (may) we went for a short trip to Europe. We planned it for a year. we went there for educational purposes, which is Euromun. It’s a United Nation conference simulation.

We went there as a group that consist of 4 person

my hyperactive friend, J

my wild but religious friend, Ali

my grumpy bitch, Bella

and of course me

4/5 of us are selected from a very tight selection to represent Universitas Diponegoro in Euromun. With a year of preparation and well not that much time to meet and get to know each other because we have our own activity, we finally make it to Europe.

We went into separate flight. Me and Bella went there on Monday, J and Ali went there on Tuesday. too bad. It was around 10 PM from Soekarno Hatta International Airport and we went to Turkey for transit. Having a glass of coffee and a cig then straight to Schipol Amsterdam.

after we arrived, Bella and i store our luggage at the airport and we go straight to Amsterdam Centraal. Not surprised that the smell of weed everywhere. giting terus bosku!

We had a really nice Italian Pizza for breakfast. Strolling around Amsterdam was so much fun. It was unexpectedly warm there, and we wear a jacket. lot of jacket gosh

after strolling around centraal, we went back to Schipol to take our luggage and go to Maastricht. it’s a hell of a atmosphere. No traffic jam, very clean environment, and bikes everywhere. not a long after we arrived, we got picked up by our host parents there. Shout out to Mr. Untung and Mr. Adriyan!

the next day, Bella and I went for a walk in the city of Maastricht. It’s like a city for student, but sure it’s waaaay different from Tembalang riot city. We’re not actually walking but we ride bikes, just like locals.

this place is lit. even thought there are less attraction than Amsterdam, this place it’s a good place to live.

the conference start 2 days after we arrived. we gather all our stuff, research, but not our brain. kiddin’. it’s located in MECC. it’s a really good place for a conference, since it’s provide so many room that big enough to provide all the participant. I’ll be represent India in ECOSOC council under the topic of Globalization and gig of economy. I met a lot of cool person there from France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and even Israel. Surprisingly they’re so nice and very friendly to me even thought i have a very different background from Indonesia. Cheers to all of my friends there! hope to see you soon. #ecoshot

after all those exhausting day in the conference, we went to Paris. the funny thing is, we haven’t book any place to stay. But hey, where’s the fun part if we already plan everything correctly right? joke. it’s no fun at all.

we went to Paris by bus. but before that, we went to Belgium first because why not. Lots of chocolate there. too bad we went there while the avengers went by. all the roads its like on renovation, F!

oh and we went to Comic Strips Museum. we met Asterix & Obelix, total classic. when we want to get back to the bus, we almost got left behind. We went to the wrong station and have no idea which train to take. after trying to figure it out, we finally make it literally on time. living on the edge huh?

so Paris. the city of love where everything is art, including steal things. Just like Jason Mraz album. there’s so many spot that we want to see, but 3 days and 2 night are not enough. So we only went to the mandatory places such as Louvre, Eiffel, Arc de Triumph and other shit. its one hell of a adventure.

First on the list is Louvre. Because its the nearest and most reachable. There’s a lot of people there (no shit deto). We took a couple of shot and then we went to the nearest and one of the coolest cafe, Cafe Kitsune.

I even bought a mug! #kenaikanstratasosial #cheapestthingicouldafford

then we stroll to do some thrift

l̶i̶f̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ shopping. It’s kinda took time because it’s far. but worth the time. I got some Yankees tee for only 1€! what a bargain. then we had some kebab. safest food we could eat.

Tired of shopping, we went back to our list. We went to the Arc de Triomphe. its so crowded. Lots of car. Cooler version of Simpang 5 #semarangjugakeren.

Enough taking picture and embracing it, We went for a religious trip to Notre Dame. it was a really good looking and ancient cathedral. Everyone was very friendly even though we are Muslim. There are a lot of terrorist attack that triggering bigotry, and yet the security of Notre Dame still smiling and say hi to us. There’s a preacher talking inside and also people attending for a regular religious activity, and yet it remind us its time to taraweh back in Jakarta hahaha.

right beside Notre Dame, there’s a really cool river. And just so you know, that’s where Rattatoullie drowned and decided whether he want to act as a chef or just live his life as a rat. Yes. I know. Not important but still.

after that we went to the last spot. looking for a cool place to enjoy the sunset. the symbol of Paris. yup. where else. It’s the Eiffel Tower. we also meet several Indonesian there. It’s easy to recognize them. we arrived in Eiffel at around 7 pm, and the sun are not yet tired shining. The first thing we seek are toilet. The toilet are disgusting if you don’t really look. after we found the proper toilet, it was very modern and breathtaking. All automated thing makes us believe that one day the terminator will took over the world.

The Eiffel tower was amazing. lots of family, friends and also couple hanging out to enjoy the dusk. No soulmate, no problem. I still got my friends! #denialkampret

Eiffel at night are the best. All those cool lamps and the cold vibes are beyond amazing. Also with my old friend, Gudang Garam Kretek, the nights are perfect. We sit together, we gaze the star, we talk nonsense and enjoy the night like there’s no tomorrow.

after strolling from Paris, we went back to Maastricht. One funny thing that keep happen, we always get on the bus literally on time. Means that once we hop in, the bus drove away. No. That’s not a good thing.

It’s our last day in Maastricht. One more chance to live the fullest in here. No lol kidding. None of our friends from other Indonesian uni still here. So we just rest, looking for ticket to Frankfurt, Germany and go to the city for one last time. I know there are nothing there but still, Maastricht is an interesting place to discover.

we went to the bus station at noon. it was quite a long trip. we arrived around midnight with no f-ing clue which bus or train or any public transport we should take. sitting for a few minutes on the street, trying to figure out which one is our ride to Ginnheim. we’re staying at my aunt’s. Special thanks to Tante Sila & Om Jabrik. they also lead us (patiently) how to get there.

in the morning (its almost 12pm) we go to the city. we went to one and only place that we’ve been craving, Primark. There like a shitload of cheap with decent quality product that worth to buy. Wont hesitate to spent so much money there. Tired of shopping, we went to a cafe on top of a building. We can see the whole city from that point of view. what a way to spent the afternoon.

the next morning, we stroll to the city again. but its weekend, means that all the shop are closed. so, no shopping day. so we took a walk around the city. that day was a special day for frankfurt. the night before, Eintracht win against Munchen and gain victory for the German Cup since 1988. the whole city celebrating. drinking beer, marching around. everyone’s happy and surprisingly no vandalism.

later that day, we met Ale from Brawijaya to hang out. We also meet several Indonesian who live in Frankfurt. We hang out in a park enjoying afternoon with beers and fries. Also smelling other people smoke weed which is nice.

It was Ramadhan so we look for breakfasting. We went to Chinese restaurant. You know, no rice means haven’t eat. After getting fueled, we went to a bar to spend the night. it was real fun. and also cold. Never forget the cold part. We went back at 3 am. No more trams, subway and buses. Well we also cant walk tho. Strolling around for a while, thinking how to get back home, we finally manage to find one last bus that headed to Ginheim. fyuh

The next day we went to Rudesheim. Caca and Ale invited us. it was a really nice small town for a quick escape. Like Cisarua hahaha. It takes around an hour and half. We hop on a cable train. It has a wonderful view. the cable cara leads to Niederwald Monument. Strolling around Rudesheim feels like hanging out in Diagon Alley. its so chilling seeing people from young age to an elderly hanging out and dancing to a cheerful music.

After an exhausting day, we went back to Frankfurt. Catching for some dinner because you know, stomach asking for a refuel.

The next day is our last day in Frankfurt. it was Monday, means that all the store are open. Working days, but holidays for us. We go straight to the city, buying things we don’t need and spending money we don’t have. We split and go nuts for goods. We went back before dark, because later that night we need catch bus straight back to Amsterdam. We have our last dinner and saying goodbye to the Tante Sila and family. Time flies.

We also meet our local frankfurter for the last time before we hop on the busses. See you when we see you!

Earlier in the morning, we arrived in Amsterdam. we want to go to Amsterdam central to end our happy holiday. But shit happens. We bought the wrong public transportation ticket, so we can’t use it for the trains. farts. after that, we hop on the bus. Its a little bit detour but why not. Its a fancy busses and not mikrolet. The whole city of Amsterdam looks like a human size miniature. Very well coordinated. long story short, we arrived in the Amsterdam Centraal. We store our luggage at the train station and go straight to the city. Getting lost in Amsterdam for one last time.

First we need to get fuel. We stop on another kebab restaurant and have pizza for dessert. Every corner of Amsterdam smells like weed. which is wrong. and nice on the same time. Also, we look for several souvenirs to take back home. Funny things are, we only spent like only a days in Amsterdam and 16 days in Europe. Amsterdam its like Netherlands main attraction, but we don’t have times although we’re like 16 days here. There are also a lot of street artist who drew alll those vintage shops in a vintage building. Very classic. We also went back to the Red Light District for a quick stroll. Because why not right. We also want to visit Anne Frank Museum and explore the canals by boat. but we don’t have time and have a plane to catch. later that day, we went back to the airport and call it a day. Me, Ali, and Bella took a same flight. J have a solo flight. So long!

It was super amazing trips. Good friends, Good times, Good company. All leads to breathtaking memory.

ps: if you’re lookin for how i ended up with bella, just ask her. i dont even have any clue.

[itsmeghna]

Hola, it's been five weeks already. Time passes by quickly when you're busy and this week's been busy. It's been all about moodboards, moclups and illustrations. We were briefed on the different ways we want to approach the branding/naming of the new fintech company and I was doing research then I was relegated to moodboarding. Apparently I was thinking too hard on the moodboards. I was advised to "not think too much" but I am an overthinker by nature. Then came the mockups. I just had to replace the artwork on the mockups and put them on the presentation. It was quick work but they seemed surprised I finished so quickly. Last work of the week were the illustrations. We had to present different styles to the client. I experimented with different styles, in the end, one was chosen and then I further worked on that. That work continued into the next week. We also think of what to illustrate for a concept but in the end, the concept was scrapped. In addition, we also had to search for stock images for the same client and edit them to a plain background. Easy work but it took time. Thursday, after work, Falguni and I went to Le Marais and walked around. We again ended up near Notre Dame. There was an event?? called Paris Plage nearby where we were sitting. Basically, it's their "beach". There many people drinking on the "beach" and there was live music. We grabbed drinks and snacks from the supermarkets and sat by the river listening to music. I had a hard time opening my bottle and a random stranger had to help me open it. If you need help opening bottles, just ask a stranger, people are nice here and they will help you. After Paris Plage, I went grocery shopping and bought bread and cheese. Friday, we went to a friend's place for dinner. On the way we went to Jardin de Tuleries and ate our leftover fries. Then we went to La Grande Epicerie, the shopping mall of groceries, to buy paneer. We actually ended up near a Prada store and thought to ourselves that this can't be right. So I just asked the scary security where it was and found out the directions. There was even more security at La Grande Epicerie. It was all very fancy. We were suprised to hear you can buy paneer at La Grande Epicerie, it seemed like a very french shop. Everything was beautiful. Anyways, we couldn't find paneer and everything else was too expensive so we went to Carrefour and bought baby potatoes. We bought also wine and chocolate. After that, we went to our friend's very beautiful house for dinner. I had chicken makhani and Falguni had baby potato makhani. We played card games and talked into night. Dinner was great but I missed my last train and had to sleepover at Falguni's. I went back home the next day. Saturday was uneventful. I cleaned the fridge, it was so messy. I vacuumed the house. I went grocery shopping. I finished my leftover food. I watched project runway. Sunday was also pretty uneventful, I went to the farmer's market to buy sage but I ended up buying watermelon which was a great decision. It's hot as hell here. I made a chicken dinner and finished watching this season of project runway. Also, great news, Seenk has a 10 day holiday in August. My parents are travelling through Europe at that time and I will be joining their trip from Amsterdam to Italy. Next week's blog will be from Amsterdam. Till next week.

[trekswithchels-blog]

Paris, France

Bonjour, fellow travelers! Paris- the city of light, the city of love… whatever you choose to call it, Paris is beautiful. I think everyone dreams of visiting Paris one day. Staring in awe at the twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower, eating croissants for breakfast, strolling through the halls of museums… Paris has so much to offer. I visited Paris this past September from Brussels. I took the 1.5-hour train ride from Brussels for $32 (I told you trains are the way to go in Europe).

We stayed in a great small hotel called Hotel Le Relais Saint Charles. I booked it through hotels.com and we got an awesome rate. The room was clean, comfortable, AND we even had a partial view of the Eiffel Tower from our window! Also, RIGHT outside the front door of the hotel is the metro, which was insanely convenient for traveling throughout the city. I was a bit wary about the metro system but it ended up being very easy to navigate and it was really all we used for transportation. The staff were all very helpful and gave great directions on how to get around. The absolute best part of the hotel, I will get to later.

The Catacombs

We arrived in Paris, dropped our luggage off at the hotel, and we were off to the Catacombs! Being the meticulous planner that I am I did a lot of research before this trip and I read that if you don’t book with a tour company that you could be waiting in line for hours trying to enter the Catacombs, and damn, were they right! We could not believe how long the line was. Luckily, we booked our “skip the line” tour through headout.com for $34 a person and bypassed all of the people waiting in line and strolled right into the entrance. We got some dirty looks from the people who have been waiting for hours to get in which I found slightly amusing.

The Catacombs was definitely a one-of-a-kind experience. It is definitely a heavy place to visit and it’s hard to comprehend that the endless piles of bones and skulls were once human beings. There are a lot of stairs involved to get down into the Catacombs and back up to the street at the end. The tunnels are narrow but not TOO narrow, but if you are claustrophobic this place may be slightly unsettling for you. We did the audio tour so we had a headset while we were in the tunnels which was very interesting and informative.

Eiffel Tower & Arc de Triomphe

After the Catacombs we set out to see the iconic Eiffel Tower. For me, it was just as great to see it in person as I thought it would be. We did not actually go up the tower, we just walked around it and took some pictures, but I hear going into the tower is also pretty cool. From there we took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe to snap a few pictures in front of it. I definitely recommend seeing the Eiffel Tower in the day and at night. Nothing beats those twinkling lights! The Eiffel Tower lights up from sunset to 1am for the first 5 minutes of every hour. 

Palace of Versailles

We headed back to the hotel pretty early that night so the next morning we could venture out to the Palace of Versailles! We took the train from Paris which was only about an hour ride and very easy to orchestrate. Once again, my initial research indicated that this was another place we would be standing on a never-ending line unless we booked a tour with a guide. We booked our tour for the palace through viator.com for $44 a person. We reserved the earliest time slot so that we could still have time to explore around Paris during the rest of our day. Our guide was great and really knew a lot about the palace and its history. There is no way to describe the beauty, intricacy, and elegance of the Palace of Versailles. Pictures don’t really do it justice either. Personally, I could have done with a bit of a shorter tour. I tend to have a short attention span and I started getting a little antsy, but it was definitely still worth it to skip that horrid line outside of the palace.

Notre Dame & Saint Chapelle

Once we arrived back in Paris we had a jam packed second half of our day. We stopped by Notre Dame, but did not go inside due to the massive line. We had too many other things planned to be able to wait for it but seeing the outside of it was gorgeous too. From there we went to Saint Chapelle. If there is ONE church you are going to see in Paris, PLEASE make it Saint Chapelle. You will not regret it! The sky high stained glass is truly one of the most breathtaking things I have ever laid my eyes upon. We spent so much time just standing there and staring because we couldn’t get over how gorgeous it was. It was only $12 a person for a ticket to enter and we ordered our tickets online beforehand.

Louvre

After that, we decided to conquer the Louvre. My main goal was to see the Mona Lisa, so we didn’t need all day to roam around the museum. The Louvre is literally a maze. I believe that whomever designed the layout of this museum wanted to severely confuse people and make them stay longer than they planned to simply because they can’t get out of the museum. Maps didn’t help, asking employees didn’t help; I think we passed by the same piece of art about 1,000 times. Don’t get me wrong, I love and appreciate art, but we didn’t have much time in Paris and I needed to allocate my time efficiently so I couldn’t spend all day at the Louvre, even though I would have loved to. Just be prepared going into the Louvre that you may not get out at a time that you plan to because you may get horribly lost inside. The Mona Lisa was tiny, as I had heard prior to going, but still pretty awesome to see in person. There is beautiful pieces of art and history everywhere and if I am ever in Paris again I would definitely like to go back and spend more time there. After we finally found the exit (seriously, it took a while) we took some pictures with the iconic glass pyramid outside and then went to Café Marly (right in the Louvre) for some champagne. I made a reservation beforehand because I wasn’t sure how busy it would be, and I recommend you doing the same. We ordered our ridiculously expensive champagne and sat outside in front of the glass pyramid and enjoyed our drinks. It was surely a great way to end the night.

Disneyland Paris

For our last day in Paris we spent the day at Disneyland! But being the Disney freak I am, I am going to dedicate an entire blog to that. But long story short, go! It’s magical. Here’s a sneak peek :)

Boulevard de Grenelle

Ok, so now for the best part about our hotel. Our hotel was on Boulevard de Grenelle. Turns out on Wednesdays and Sundays there is THE most incredible market that just appears as if from nowhere. I woke up on our last day in Paris a bit sad. I opened the window to say goodbye to the Eiffel Tower and BOOM! There’s this amazing market! Of course we had to check it out. Anything you could possibly want to eat was there. Fresh baked goods, seafood, fruit, vegetables, meat, cheeses… literally everything! We were in awe and so upset that we had to catch our flight home because I would have spent all day eating there. I bought a croissant, which was scrumptious, but the most delicious thing I bought was a chocolate chip baguette. Yes, a chocolate chip baguette. Let that sink in for a second. It was probably one of the best baked goods I have ever eaten! The rotisserie chickens also looked to-die-for, but I didn’t have the time to commit to eating one of those. You can also buy tons of stuff, including clothes and furniture! Ya know, in case you wanted to buy a couch while in Paris. If you happen to be in Paris on a Wednesday or Sunday check out the Rue de Grenelle open air market, you will NOT regret it!

Any other questions about Paris, feel free to ask! Please don’t forget to check out my Instagram @trekswithchels. Thanks for reading!