Paris, continued.

Before I continue, let me just mention that my darling Emmett said he wouldn’t read my blog unless his name was in it. I think this can easily be arranged if I substitute his name for a certain word. I won’t tell you what that word is, but I’ll give you a hint by providing a contextual reference. For example; A shepherd who spends far too much time in the pastures might think to himself, “I want to Emmett the sh** out of that goat.”

Good. Now let’s move on.



Yesterday we continued our success that started with the Eiffel Tower by conquering the Arc of Triumph. Well, I did anyway. Julie sat this one out. I don’t blame her. I don’t know what the Emmett I was thinking jogging up another few hundred steps after all we did the day before, but when I got to the top my legs were Emmetting shaky.

It was worth it though. The view was fabulous. It was the beginning of a thunder storm so the sky was cloudy as the sun set, which provided for an amazing skyline.



Unfortunately, since I went up alone, the only picture of me at the top was taken by yours truly:


For you history buffs, the Arc of Triumph is a tribute to honor those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

I totally just googled that. It’s copy pasted from Wikepedia. You’re welcome.

We also did something that every tourist has to do when they come to Paris: the “Bateau-Mouche.” Julie was, once again, less than enthusiastic about this, but I thought it was amazing! It’s basically a boat that goes around the Seine river, also known as the “artery” of Paris, and allows you to see all the major historic monuments. For you unfortunate souls who might never have a chance to do it in person, I’ve provided a video to tease you:




Right now I'm stuck in the airport in Paris. We had to leave early because Julie's flight was at 12, but mine is only at 7pm tonight. And tomorrow I will arrive at Bangkok before her because she is doing a detour and a connecting flight whereas mine is direct, which means I will wait another 3 hours in the airport tomorrow.

Ugghh. Emmett.




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Day 2: conquering the Eiffel Tower.

This was the longest day of my life. We got up at six a.m. and were not home and in bed before 12:30. The first thing on our to-do list was the Eiffel Tower. We arrived not long after it opened and already there were line-ups to go up. When you get to the Eiffel Tower there are two entrances at the two back pillars, one for those who want to take the stairs and one for those who want to ride the elevator. What do you think I chose?

Stairs!

Yup! Julie was less than enthusiastic, but being the extremely accommodating hostess that she is, she humored me and tagged along.

She nearly fainted. No jokes, she had to sit down and recuperate. I was on cloud nine looking down and smiling and being annoyingly happy while she secretly cursed me. (I think)

I couldn’t help but wonder how this would have went down with some of the other leading ladies in my life. This is what I imagined:

Kayla: We would have arrived in between two pillars and I would suggest taking the stairs. She would stop walking, look at me with big eyes and firmly say, “Tasha, no." Then she would proceed to the elevator line and ignore me till I joined her.

Joelle: She would come, but stop for a cigarette break and possibly swear throughout. Haha :)

Tara: She would run to the top and wait for me there.

Nacaca: She's a tricky one. Depending on the day she can be either exactly like me or exactly like Kayla. In my imagination though she's more like me :)

Audrey: I imagine her saying something like this; “EH?! Tu veux prendre les marches?! Tasha. Tu m’niaises?! Non. Tu m’niaises?! T’es folle.” Then she would join Kayla in the elevator line.*

*for proper effect, imagine that the italics represent a significant elevation in the pitch of her voice

As it was, Julie and I took the stairs up to the second level, which is the most they allow you to go by foot. (668 steps, f.y.i.) From there she was ready to go back down, but I bought us both tickets to ride up to the top. I can be an annoying person sometimes. However, in the end I think she enjoyed it. I know I had fun!

I've provided a few videos for your entertainment.

Paris Day 1

So much to say about Paris!

First of all, Julie’s family is amazing. No one could be more welcoming or accommodating than they have been to me.

This picture was taken during a family supper that I attended at Julie’s uncle’s house. Her family is Laotian in origin but do not be fooled, they are very Parisian people. Most of the supper was spent asking me about Quebec expressions and laughing (in a friendly way) at my Quebecois accent.

Things that Parisians do not understand:

“Tire toi une buche” … They thought this was HILARIOUS.
“Souper” I’m assuming this is an Anglicism derived from the word “supper”, because they don’t use this word and hearing provokes extreme fits of laughter in them.
“Y fais frette” Proper French equivalent: “Il fait froid” In Montreal people are not as bad as in Val d’Or, but all the frogs where I am from know that when it’s really cold it isn’t “froid” it’s “FRETTE!”

Also, Julie has a little cousin that is quite possibly the cutest thing on this side of the planet. (As opposed to the other side, in which case it would be Jordan followed by a close second place held by none other than The Biebs)

Ever since my nephew has been born every little boy reminds me of him, which is ridiculous because he is only four months old. Nonetheless, this 8 year old asian cutie reminded me of Jordan and melted my heart. And I think he liked me too, he kept calling my name and asking me questions and asking me to sit on the hammock with him. Awwwww :)

The Flight

I walked into the plane and looked at the people hustling about and talking excitedly and thought to myself that these strangers were my partners in adventure for the next six to seven hours. If anything should go wrong, these would be the people whom I would suffer with, survive with, fight with, and, in extreme circumstances, eat. Just sayin.

I sat down and began the flight that can only be described as 6.5 hours of pure bliss. Not only did they feed me pasta and brownies and give me wine, but I also got to watch the Justin Bieber movie. It made me cry.

I think that this would be a good moment to point out that Snoop Dogg has some solid advice to dole out. I’ve provided a link for clarification:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmov8l_CauA

As you can see, Doggy Dog here has not been singing about bitches and weed all these years because he had nothing better to say. Turns out he’s been holding back on all of us.

Things I learned today:

If you leave your tray out in the airplane while you’re sleeping you wake up to marvelous things. (A muffin)

I love Justin Bieber. HAHA, just kidding! I knew that already.


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Airport

Sometimes I have to pretend to be the courageous independent woman that I am. The airport scene of my departure was one of those moments. As soon as my parents left me at the gates to go through customs I felt a sudden urge to cry. I wasn’t sad really, just overwhelmed. I took a deep breath and reminded myself I’m going to Paris and smiled. However when I looked back at my parents waving to me and realized how much I love them and can’t picture my life without them, tears actually welled up in my eyes, though I didn’t let them go down. I love you guys :)

After going through customs and finding the wing of my take-off I sat down to do what any modern worldly traveler does: update my status on facebook. After that was done I refreshed the page to see how many notifications it generated. Ah, modern distractions.

I looked around me and saw that most people are distracting themselves with variations of reality television. I felt immensely superior. But only because I’m smart enough to save those for Laos. Nothing like watching The Bachelorette get called an ugly duckling on her own show to get rid of any feeling of home-sickness.

When I first decided to go on this adventure I actually thought I could make it, or even, that I would enjoy it more if I didn’t bring my computer. I pictured myself in a third-world country, somewhat like Rambo, cut off from the world, serene and wise but immensely fierce. “Fo sho”, I thought, (I think in ghetto) “I can do that sh** fo sho.” Travel half way around the world far away from everything I know and everyone I love and not bring any means of communication? “No biggie. It’s called a vacay yo.”

It only occurred to me later that I might miss my mommy.


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