32. Some Last Day Tears and Eiffeling!

You can't expect that I would be able to get through the last day of this incredible trip without a few tears, can you? I mean, it's me afterall.

I started the day with a croissant, the way any sane visitor to Paris does, and then carried on to try and figure out my plan for the day. Most things are closed on Sunday here, but I remembered that the lovely folks I'm staying with recommended a cemetery where some famous people are buried. 

I wasn't so interested in the famous people, but wanted to see a Parisian cemetery.

This is weird, perhaps, to talk about on a blog, especially one celebrating the last day of a mind-bendingly life-changing trip, but I think it applies...

Cemeteries, specifically tombstones and monuments (as you will see) are a period on the end of a life. The person buried in the ground lived, had people that loved them, people that they loved, and they're now gone. They lived, as we are currently doing, reading this post, and then they didn't anymore. The reason that it was the perfect thing for me to do today is that it reminds me that this is the only one of these things that I get. That we get. We don't get to do this all over again (at least in my belief system). Cemeteries are painful reminders of that, but they are also wonderful reminders that we all get a chance to live!

A tombstone is a final reminder of who you are/were. They are the thing that people visit that reminds them that you were here (even though I'd like to be cremated, after donating my organs to people in need of giant organs). They're the synopsis of a life, and seeing thousands all in one place today makes me want to absolutely guarantee that mine is lived to the fullest. 

Things are going to happen to make some days, months and years worse or better than others, but I would like my brain to operate in such a way that it's always thinking about that tombstone. That sounds dark, but what I mean to say is you only get one tombstone, one final statement, and I intend to make mine friggin' awesome! 

And from there, you know, the crying alone in a Parisian cemetery part, I took the Metro all over the place! I ended up, though, at the Eiffel Tower. You can't define Paris in a better way than the Eiffel Tower. She's beautiful, outstanding, demands respect, and represents a city that is truly full of beauty and grace. 

You'll be happy to know that Paris has agreed to take my hand in marriage, though oddly, the wedding will take place in Bermuda. Keep an eye out for your save-the-date. Hint... it's a croissant, shoved in a baguette, wrapped in a crêpe, with a cherry on top for good measure (and colour balance, of course)!

I digress...

I knew I wanted to stay until I saw the Eiffel Tower lit up again at night, but it was only 3:30pm... so I decided to take a boat ride of the Seine. It was this tour boat (that originally autocorrect as "goat", by the way. I WISH it was a tour goat!!!) that takes you to all the main attractions and you can hop on and off. I stayed on. It was an hour and forty minutes of beauty, and landed me right back at the tower, not 20 minutes before the damn thing started shining in the moonlight. 

I've shown these pictures before, but these are new ones from tonight. I won't bore you with the over 100 from the same angle that I took, but here are my few favourites from tonight. 

And no, this isn't the same as the first one... it's about 5 minutes later. 

I'm obsessed.

And folks, now it's time to go to sleep. It's my last sleep on this trip, and we all know that isn't going to go well. Tomorrow is a long day of airport-getting-to, flying to Iceland, hanging out there for an hour or so, then flying back to my dear friend Toronto. All in, it's going to be a 16 hour day, just to the point when the plane lands in Toronto. I didn't allow any jetlag to get me in London, I just fought through it and didn't let myself sleep for 36 hours, and was good. Not sure I'm going to have that power in Toronto. Especially because I will be sleeping in my VERY OWN BED!

Alright folks off I go to fake that I'm at all able to sleep. I have a post prepped for tomorrow night about the excellent lessons I've learned here, so keep an eye out for one final one tomorrow night!

31. Museums, Relaxing and Packing!

You guys, tomorrow is my last full day in Paris! What the hell? I'm not saying that this month has felt short, but it seems so crazy that it's all coming to an end.

The good news, now I have a few months to plan the next one! The plan is already in my head, but I need to leave way for the world to do it's thing, and see what the next year holds. 

Anyhow, today was quite simple. I woke up, chatted with the lovely folks I'm staying with, ate a croissant with butter (yes, I added butter to a pastry that is already almost only made of butter, and I've done it every morning since I got here!), and then made my way to the Anne Frank Garden near by, followed by the Musée de l'Armee and the Musée Rodin. 

This is the love little garden that a food friend of mine told me about.

Then, I stopped for some lunch, because I was getting the dizzies. That croissant, while outrageously good, was not enough to sustain me for the whole mid-morning into afternoon. I went to the first place with food that I saw, if I'm being honest. It turned out to be a really pretentious place, with gold everywhere and rich people in gold everywhere as well. 

I am not those people, but I have to eat too, so I did.

This was the salad that I got, and it was pretty good! It's cucumbers, tomato, onion and avocado, with a very light dressing. It was offensively expensive, but I managed to order it in FRENCH! I mean, for sure I sounded like I didn't speak French, but I made the effort. 

From there it was on to the first museum, Musée de l'Armee. This is an old army hospital turned into a museum, and in it is Napolean's tomb!

From there I went to the Rodin Museum, a lot of which was out in have beautiful garden. 

This is one of his most famous sculptures, The Kiss. It's very lovely in person.

And this one of course, The Thinker. I bought myself a little necklace that resembles the thinker, not to be pretentious/presumptuous, but because I think too much so it seemed fitting. Plus it's lovely and understated (the necklace, that is).

This is the sculpture.

And from there you guys, I didn't do much else. I was happy to stroll along the street, get a grilled salmon baguette and a Nutella banana crepe for dessert, head "home" and start packing. 

It's crazy to me that I have been able to travel for a whole month in Europe. For years it had been something that I always wanted to do, but never imagined I could. It's just that... who gets to do this? This is an amazing experience that I am very aware that I am extremely lucky to have been able to do. 

Anyhow, more on that tomorrow, but right now I'm going to get some sleep so that I can fully appreciate my last full day tomorrow. I think the best way to end such a mind-bendingly amazing trip is to get a baguette, some cheese and meat, maybe a little sweet treat and sit by the Eiffel Tower with my own little makeshift picnic. 

Hopefully some more adventure will find me as well, but we shall see what the day brings. Until then, have a great night!

(This is a picture of a paper bag that I got a thing I bought in. I had to throw the bag out as part of my travel light plan, but required a picture. It's so wonderful.)

30. Pompidou, Frog Legs and Paris by Night!

Today was a great day. I mean really great. It was one of those self-reflection, learn some shit type of days. 

The day started off with me not getting up early at all. It was a lazy morning, and while some may think that a waste of vacation, I stayed out today for nine solid hours, so in still feel good about not wasting the day. Plus, sleep is amazing too! It makes my brain a happier place to live.

First on the list, and the largest part of the day, was the Centre Pompidou. I'm staying literally one small block away from this place, and I was saving it. I finally got there, and I absolutely love it. It may be my favourite exhibit that I've seen in all of my European travels. Bold statement I know, but look at the stuff I took pictures of, and it will make sense.

This is the exterior of the building. I won't take you through all of the art that follows, but it's sure to be sprinkled with comments here and there.

This room was all chalk drawings from visitors. Only five people allowed in the room at once, so once the space was clear, I went in.

That little blue thing in the middle there is what I drew. It's a little bear face that my mom taught me when I was a kid, and I still remember it. That's what I left behind in the Pompidou!

This was some odd tiled room thing that was odd but caught my eye.

There was just one tiny piece, maybe 6" x 8", and then a huge, huge wall covered floor to ceiling in the wallpaper. 

I obviously love this!

This was a huge wall full of globes that had been covered and altered with packing tape, etc., I believe as a social commentary on how war and destructions are eroding and changing the shape of the earth, both literally and figuratively...?

I mean... I'm likely not correct, but that's what I got from it.

The room where dreams go to begin.

Spheres from small to large.

And from large to small.

This was odd. The room was full of this stuff, but the chairs flailed around like absolute lunatics. You can see they're in movement in the shot. It was loud in there, some storm soundtrack with grumbles, and the lights went on and off. 

I don't know...

That's a bottle of protein powder at the top. So... use protein powder at your own colour blob explosiony risk?

These are all bottle caps!

This is a nail in a piece of wood on a wall.

So... this exists.

This I am obsessed with! Obsessed.

Uhhh... all I have to say about this is that as I stood there one of the empty fingers of the glove fell down. It creeped me out and then I walked away.

The next few are just fun!

Sculpture made of wound metal, making jazz hands, anyone? YES PLEASE!

Then it was time for lunch. I walk into this place, and soon realize that I am NOT cool! The woman at the front desk welcoming people was hot as hell, and wearing a knit dress with three vertical mesh bits from top to bottom in the front, through which you could see her underoo's (proof of cool lack right there). I mean, live it up, do your thing, but it made it pretty clear that this is not a place that I would usually frequent. And not because she was showing me her underpants, but because that takes balls, like, uber-confidence!

Also, I have never seen so many good looking men in tuxedo's in my life, and they were the waiters! I'm just saying, my eyes were not in pain during my meal.

And either was my stomach, this club sandwich was perfection!

Then I bought a ticket (special exhibitions aren't covered by the museum pass that I have) for the Marcel Duchamp exhibition. They didn't allow many pictures, but these two fun things were allowed to be photographed. One is Duchamps, and another is a different artist, I believe. And no, the urinal wasn't there.

After rocking some of that fun stuff, I decided that I had no clue what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. I was in there for four hours! I'd run out of time to get to the other two museums (Rodin and Musée d'Armee), so it was free time, time! I walked east instead of west, and north instead of south, and found myself in super-fun territory. 

It was time for dinner, so after walking along for about an hour, reading menus, I decided to go here, to Au Caveau. I've just looked it up, and it apparently means The Vault. Sure!

All I know is that it was delicious, and the woman who worked there was an absolute dream! We chatted for a bit, as I was the first one in (you're insane here if you eat dinner before 8pm... it was 6:30pm. Ooooh well!).

It's so lovely and cozy inside. And then I did something I really didn't think I would do, and I ordered...

The FROG LEGS!

You guys, they were really good! I ate them all! They were kind of like a calamari texture mixed with a sole texture mixed with chicken texture. They were fried with garlic and butter, so they were delicious.

And because it took a slight amount of convincing to order them, the lovely woman I mentioned earlier insisted that she get a picture of me eating them to prove it to everyone. It was a good idea, the picture of the frog legs could have belong to anyone!

So here I am, posing for a picture, something you all know I love doing so much. (Look how adorable and excited the woman is taking the picture in the mirror. What a delight she was!)

And then there were the lamb chops, and cheesy scalloped potatoes. 

You guys. Wow. Those potatoes were the BEST, and the lamp chops, man... I literally think I'm going to go back for dinner there again before I leave, and I only have two nights left. 

And as with every night, then came the time to figure out where the hell I was from all of the random walking I had done. As I tried to find my way, I found this guy. He was for sure a little nuts, but aren't we all?

He had his whole set up, including self-made lights, a water fountain that worked, some prayer sheets, a personalized flag, a rug and a music stand. The greatest thing was that he was reading poetry with so much passion, I stood there and listened for ten minutes. I had no idea what he was saying because it was super-French, but it was wonderful. There were about eight people who'd actually just sat down on the street (closed to cars) and listened to him. 

It was just so damn enjoyable. This is why I wanted to go to Europe. This type of thing is the experience I wanted, and I have been so lucky to have the feeling that I had watching this, many times over the past month. 

When he finished his book it was time to find my way home. I was able to spot Notre Dame, and I know how to get "home" from there, so was good to go. But not before I took some pictures of Notre Dame lit up. 

This is also the reason I wanted to go to Europe. You guys, in person, this is so breathtaking, I can't even come close to describing it. The lights, the shapes and shadows, the gargoyle's. It's too much for my brain to manoeuvre. I took so many pictures, it was just too much perfection all in one place.

And that was the day. I have to say, it was one of the best days I've had on this trip. I don't think it can be compared to most others, as they were all so packed with amazing, but maybe that's why it stood out. It was calm. I did what my gut told me to, and ended up having an amazing afternoon, followed by an even better night.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to experience more surprises and excitement, but with both of those museums I mentioned tucked in as well. 

Until then!