From South Africa to....France?
After I missed my flight in Joburg I spent the next couple days waiting for a flight to London to open up. Everything was fully booked, and so I had to get creative. Eventually I flew from SA to Ethiopia, sat with a 12 hour layover. Then from there to Germany, where I sat another 24 hours waiting for a connecting flight to London.
London, by the way, is not at all what 101 Dalmatians had prepared me for.
My reason for being in Paris is a still in works. Once that is over, whatever the final outcome is, I may be able to share it. For right now all you need to know is that I am in France for an indeterminate amount of days.
Paris, surprisingly, is actually pretty cool. I honestly didn't have it on one of my top places to visit, but I am glad to be here. Of all the languages in the world, French is one of the toughest for me to grasp. This doesn't help the image French have on English speaking folk. The flat I am in is on a beautiful street, very near a small forested park. Truly, I have never seen such a city that attempts to add living green to buildings, along sidewalks, on the boats, everywhere. Many complexes include green roofs and terraces. It really makes the city feel more comfortable. Paris also is committed to its citizens and visitors. The parks have "sport trails" with checkpoints for various fitness activities. Even along the Seine River, where a lot of the attractions are, the walkways have games painted on the pavement, tables sprinting tracks for runners, wall for everyone to trace sea creatures with chalk and draw, a guy was giving free boxing lessons for kids, net styled hammocks for lounging, and on and on. I couldn't believe the creativity to encourage people to get out and play.
Today I began by walking 5km to the Eiffel Tower. Not far into the walk but there is a spectacular botanical garden. The greenhouse displays consisted of the most kewlest succulent and cacti collection. Chris Chirafis, if you read this I want you to know that I appropriately oogled the Sansiveria collection on your behalf.
I didn't really stop, except to buy a chocolate pastry, until I reached the tower. It was....eh....okay. Not really the bedazzlement I thought it was going to be. I think I was more impressed by the karst cliffs of Thailand or the five foot termite mound in South Africa. It's taken those termites possibly centuries to make a mound that size, whereas the Eiffel Tower took two! I'm quite sure that if I saw it with a special person, having a picnic on the lawn with wine and cheeses would have changed the perspective completely. But I sat alone taking pictures of Adventure Andy and eating my chocolate pastry. Yummmm.
I left E.T. and headed 5km to Notre Dame. The walk is lovely. The architecture of Paris is something classic. Most enjoyable is that there seem to be few enforcements of small laws. People can skateboard, they can sit on walls, they can do odd things. But no-one is around keeping a tight watch, which most seem to respect. There was a peaceful freedom to do as you please.
Eventually I landed in the Louvre, without even realizing it. Which is silly because IT. IS. MASSIVE. Bejeezus I can see why it's the best art museum in the world. One day I will return to Paris and have the means to pay to explore the inside of these places. The Louvre is gracious enough to allow peeks through windows at some of the statues but it's really just a tease. There are a handful of popular sights along the Seine toward the big Dame. Notre Dame is another beauty. There are few things I queue up for, but religious buildings are one of them. Free samples of fudge is another. I imagine what Paris must have been like in the 1200s when Notre Dame virtually had no comparison in height or gothic style, with its bells ringing far without impediments of traffic.
The weirdest thing I've seen thus far happened yesterday during my walk in the "woods." At one point in the trail, I came upon a scattered group of middle aged men, dressed in suits and other nice attire. They looked lost and nervous. I wouldn't have thought more of it if a biker hadn't stopped and looked back. Following his stare I noticed a black tarp hung up to act as a curtain on three sides. Through the opening was a woman, dressed in a bikini (possibly was topless) and doing poses for the men. I looked for a photographer, or someone with a video camera. Nothing. Some men were looking at her, others wandered as if to pretend that they weren't there to look at her. Then I glanced to my right and saw another tarp set up with the same thing going on! I told my host I'd never seen it before and he said he hadn't either, although he goes for runs there.
Hopefully tomorrow I will visit the Moulin Rouge and replay the entire movie from memory.
London, by the way, is not at all what 101 Dalmatians had prepared me for.
My reason for being in Paris is a still in works. Once that is over, whatever the final outcome is, I may be able to share it. For right now all you need to know is that I am in France for an indeterminate amount of days.
Paris, surprisingly, is actually pretty cool. I honestly didn't have it on one of my top places to visit, but I am glad to be here. Of all the languages in the world, French is one of the toughest for me to grasp. This doesn't help the image French have on English speaking folk. The flat I am in is on a beautiful street, very near a small forested park. Truly, I have never seen such a city that attempts to add living green to buildings, along sidewalks, on the boats, everywhere. Many complexes include green roofs and terraces. It really makes the city feel more comfortable. Paris also is committed to its citizens and visitors. The parks have "sport trails" with checkpoints for various fitness activities. Even along the Seine River, where a lot of the attractions are, the walkways have games painted on the pavement, tables sprinting tracks for runners, wall for everyone to trace sea creatures with chalk and draw, a guy was giving free boxing lessons for kids, net styled hammocks for lounging, and on and on. I couldn't believe the creativity to encourage people to get out and play.
Today I began by walking 5km to the Eiffel Tower. Not far into the walk but there is a spectacular botanical garden. The greenhouse displays consisted of the most kewlest succulent and cacti collection. Chris Chirafis, if you read this I want you to know that I appropriately oogled the Sansiveria collection on your behalf.
I didn't really stop, except to buy a chocolate pastry, until I reached the tower. It was....eh....okay. Not really the bedazzlement I thought it was going to be. I think I was more impressed by the karst cliffs of Thailand or the five foot termite mound in South Africa. It's taken those termites possibly centuries to make a mound that size, whereas the Eiffel Tower took two! I'm quite sure that if I saw it with a special person, having a picnic on the lawn with wine and cheeses would have changed the perspective completely. But I sat alone taking pictures of Adventure Andy and eating my chocolate pastry. Yummmm.
I left E.T. and headed 5km to Notre Dame. The walk is lovely. The architecture of Paris is something classic. Most enjoyable is that there seem to be few enforcements of small laws. People can skateboard, they can sit on walls, they can do odd things. But no-one is around keeping a tight watch, which most seem to respect. There was a peaceful freedom to do as you please.
Eventually I landed in the Louvre, without even realizing it. Which is silly because IT. IS. MASSIVE. Bejeezus I can see why it's the best art museum in the world. One day I will return to Paris and have the means to pay to explore the inside of these places. The Louvre is gracious enough to allow peeks through windows at some of the statues but it's really just a tease. There are a handful of popular sights along the Seine toward the big Dame. Notre Dame is another beauty. There are few things I queue up for, but religious buildings are one of them. Free samples of fudge is another. I imagine what Paris must have been like in the 1200s when Notre Dame virtually had no comparison in height or gothic style, with its bells ringing far without impediments of traffic.
The weirdest thing I've seen thus far happened yesterday during my walk in the "woods." At one point in the trail, I came upon a scattered group of middle aged men, dressed in suits and other nice attire. They looked lost and nervous. I wouldn't have thought more of it if a biker hadn't stopped and looked back. Following his stare I noticed a black tarp hung up to act as a curtain on three sides. Through the opening was a woman, dressed in a bikini (possibly was topless) and doing poses for the men. I looked for a photographer, or someone with a video camera. Nothing. Some men were looking at her, others wandered as if to pretend that they weren't there to look at her. Then I glanced to my right and saw another tarp set up with the same thing going on! I told my host I'd never seen it before and he said he hadn't either, although he goes for runs there.
Hopefully tomorrow I will visit the Moulin Rouge and replay the entire movie from memory.
Comments
Post a Comment