My Paris Experience

I just returned from the BEST vacation of my life!  Let me tell you, it was amazing.  Words can’t describe the time I had but I will try my hardest for you…

I initially had from Tuesday September 12^th – Friday September 15^th to enjoy the city.  Not nearly enough time!  So, I missed my flight on Friday and was able to extend until Tuesday of the following week and I’m so glad I did.  My flight was from Atlanta, to Chicago, Germany and finally France.  Which I enjoyed seeing each and every airport.  Most people would complain of the layovers but to me, it was another learning experience.   They rode bikes in the German airport, how cool is that?  And there were lots of windmills in Germany.  How could I have learned that without my layover?

I arrived in France at around 5pm Tuesday and headed towards the cabs.  Recalling the movie “Taken” I was scared to death of all the cabbies and told one particular shady cab driver “no thanks” after he directed me to an elevator with some other tall, 6’5 character that was smoking a cigar.  I went back out to the cab area and found another guy whom seemed legit and got a ride from the airport to my hotel.

The ride was amazing!!  The interstate, signs, cars, people, everything was so different.  Cars were whizzing by, in between lanes!  Mopeds too!  I’m surprised I didn’t witness someone getting smashed.  They were all very much in a rush to get where they were going.  The cars were all very compact and I don’t recall seeing one pickup truck and just a few SUVs.  It was something else riding down an interstate, with two strangers, not knowing their language or where exactly you are going.  All I knew is that I was in Paris and was about to have the best experience of my life. 

Upon exiting the interstate, the first thing I noticed is that all the buildings are older – no new pop up office buildings or rows of subdivisions.  Everything looked so romantic and original.  My cabbie dropped me off by my hotel and I drug my enormous pink bag towards a tiny sign that read “Hotel Nord.”  I was terrified at this point!  Praying that the front desk lady would understand me, I inquired “do you speak English?”  She laughs and says, “par lay voo Francais?”  I just shook my head, no and giggled back.  She then started to speak in almost perfect English; I believe she had a British accent.  She checked me in, gave me my key and instructed me on where to go.

I get in a TINY elevator, about the width of a medium sized bookcase (I could barely squeeze in this thing with my giant pink bag) and press the button to the top floor.  I take my key and enter.  I’m astonished at this little room.  It is not at all what I expected!  Twin beds pushed together, strange toilet I didn’t know how to flush, even the knobs on the sink were different than in the U.S. but I now had a place to lay my head and shower.  Thank goodness!  I called my mom, a little scared still and explained to her how the room was.  She just laughed and told me to be careful.  I unpack very few things and decide it’s time to go explore!

I knew I had to meet J at the Eiffel Tower at 8 and I left the room around 6ish.  I walked for about 30 minutes and couldn’t see the Eiffel Tower from anywhere so decided to hail a cab.  I had spent 55 of my 80 Euro on my airport ride so I showed the next taxi driver my 15 and he nodded his head and agreed.   On the way he cussed in French, shook his fist at other taxi’s and almost ran down 2 pedestrians.  I thought wow, what a way to begin the first day.  He got me to the Eiffel tower and I bid him farewell! 

My heart skipped a beat when I first beheld that amazing work of architecture.  It was much larger than I had ever imagined it to be and there were so many people gathered under this beautiful creature.  Yes, she had taken a life form of her own!  I felt like I was dreaming as I strolled along under it.  I walked and thought and walked and thought, “am I really here?!”  I felt dizzy so I headed for a nearby bench, feeling something wet splatter on my pants I look down to notice a pigeon had gifted me with his white stain.  Laughing about it I thought, “hmmm… welcome to France Lindsey!”  I sat on the bench and stared for about 15 minutes and then walked the little strip behind the Eiffel Tower to get a broader view of it. 

After returning from my walk, I stole a post at the base of the tower, the front left base.  I sat on a stoop with a Spanish girl awaiting my bah-cooh to come along.  Boy was it good to see him!  A friendly face in a new and strange place.  We immediately headed for the top.  The view was breath taking and I will never forget that moment for as long as I live.  I felt as if I were on top of the World.

I won’t go into this much detail about my entire trip as I would like to keep some of my experiences private but I will tell a few…

Pigalle is a fun area!  All pigs go to Pigalle…
The Louvre is truly gorgeous and the building itself, to me, was the most amazing work of art.  Amongst the Mona Lisa and Venus Di Milo. 
Escargot isn’t half bad!  Neither are frog legs.  Duck pate sucks!  Twizzlers rule! And chocolate monsters.
Notre Dame gave me chills, Sacre Coeur had a prettier view though.
LOVED Versaille, city & the palace
Never, never, never accidentally leave a book bag w/ laptop + $600 camera inside on a bench as you wave goodbye from a train.  You may not have a bah-cooh to get it back for you!
Get fruit and croissants for breakfast.  Best strawberries I’ve ever tasted!
Mont Marte is one of the best sections, in my opinion
Bring warm, stylish clothes!!!
The metro (subway system) will start to suck after a week but it is nice to have & cheap
Stay at least a week, if not longer.  It would be a shame to have to cancel a flight and stay longer

And I’ll never forget Evelyn from Maine.  I met her in Washington and she had a heart of gold.  She had just returned from a 6 week vacation in Germany, her husband had passed away 5 years ago and she was 80 years old.  What an inspiration!!  She didn’t complain about her journey a bit, she was just eager to have someone to listen to her story.  Her best piece of advice was LIVE, cause you only get to do it once.  And I did.

I present to you, Paris!

Versaille Palace - The hall of mirrors

Me at the entrance to the Louvre

Drunken Serb that sketched my portrait - whilst enjoying wine

Our frog legs & wine

Bar hopping, France style!

The window panes told the stories of the bible

At Cafe Richards enjoying a fine cup of coffee and listenting to music

The beauty by day...

 

And in the blink of an eye *POOF* She was gone...

Conjecture ce qui?

Hello World, guess what? I am going to Paris, France! Yes, I know its crazy isn’t it? I bought my ticket last week for a week in the gorgeous city and I can’t wait to explore and engulf myself in the French culture. In my clutch of excitement, I’ve been reading tourists books on things to do, see and eat. Language books and even studying a map of the city to familiarize myself with it beforehand. This is going to be the biggest vacation of my life thus far and I can’t even explain with words how excited I am! I have some major layovers and it’s gonna be almost 24 hours travel time but I got a great deal on my package, just $940 flight + hotel on Expedia.com Most flights are that price so if you’re looking for good deals, try them. Also it helps that all of my travel days will be on a weekday.

Some of my friends have been joking with me about going solo (maybe meeting up with someone while I’m there) and telling me that I’m gonna end up like the girl in “Taken.” I’m hoping the cut-off age for sexual enslavement is 16 but you never know. I’m an old woman compared to their standards… and if I am “taken,” send Bill Clinton. If he can get two girls outta North Korea he should have no problem saving me. It’s gonna be so much fun!! My plane goes to Chicago, Germany then to France. I wish I had enough time on my layovers to go out and enjoy Chicago & Germany a lil’ bit but I will just have to save those for another vaca. I was telling J yesterday, I’ve already started thinking about the next city/Country I’d like to visit.

This World isn’t as big as some people claim it to be, I’m gonna see it all! I will definitely be bringing back lots of gorgeous pictures of this notorious romance city. And the Louvre! Oh my God, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa and the Monet museum. This city is rich in history and art. I may just end up moving there. Alright, I GUESS I should get back to work… blah! Have a terrific day everyone, I’ll be blissfully daydreaming about my upcoming trip.

p.s. I finished reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and it was a magnificent book! I can see why it’s gone down in history as a classic piece of literature. I felt like I knew Anna and eerily enough, our lives have been somewhat similar. If you truly appreciate a brilliantly, sophisticated book, read it.

Au Revoir!

Santa Rosa

This past weekend I had a last minute vacation to Santa Rosa Beach, FL.  I’ve always stayed around Panama City area (my family would vacation there every single summer) but this place was gorgeous! It was more quaint and private than P.C.  The weekend started off a little rough with some heavy rain but the weather eased up here and there, especially on the last day of course, and we were able to enjoy some time on the beach.

We ate at a few different restaurants while in Santa Rose my favorite being a little place called “Stinky’s.” I ordered a Crab cake benedict from the brunch menu and it was amazing!! I would definitely recommend that and the clam chowder soup.
http://www.stinkysfishcamp.com/stinkysfishcamp/default.htm
Another tasty place was “Goatfeathers.”

But the best story of the trip comes from an elusive toothbrush and a pillow fight gone bad. Gather round everyone and let me tell you the tale of the most disgusting injury. I was brushing my teeth after lunch and walked into the bedroom to find my sweetie was lying on the floor with a pillow and playing with his dog. I jokingly said something and we played around for a few seconds (all the while I’m brushing away) and he pretends to toss the pillow up at me.

My hands go up in front of me to block it and I leave the toothbrush in my mouth, biting down with my teeth to keep it in place. It was a fake toss but the next toss caught me off guard. The pillow hit the toothbrush causing the damn thing to launch towards the back of my throat/mouth and thus leaving a gaping hole (probably a little over a quarter of an inch) in my soft palette RIGHT by my throat. 

I immediately knew something was wrong and my fingers went in my mouth to discover a small hole and blood. I realized my breathing was fine so there was no larynx damage but I was scared and crying of course. The bleeding didn’t last very long but we were still worried so we headed off to the emergency room where we spent 3-4 hours of our Saturday night. Nothing like an emergency room trip while on vacation! And boy was there some characters in that Ft. Walton emergency room!!

I was released with nothing more than a poking with a cotton swab (which hurt badly!) and some pain meds/antibiotics.   And how lucky am I that it was just my soft palette?  My boyfriend felt so bad but I told him that it’s just an accident and a cool story to tell for the rest of my life.  How many people can say they’ve had a toothbrush puncture their soft palette?

Overall, I had a good time and I can’t wait to visit FL again! Hopefully next time there will be no emergency room visits.

Anniston

This past weekend I got to visit Anniston, AL.  While it may not have the excitement and flashiness of a big city, it sure was nice to go and just relax and enjoy a delicious country dinner from the sweetest lady in Alabama.  I had no clue there was mountains in that part of Alabama, they were very pretty rolling along in the background as the sun set behind them.  The entire place took me back to my own childhood, playing barefoot in the yard, bright green cow pastures, gardens, climbing trees and playing on railroad tracks.  I felt like a little girl again and I think that may be the best feeling in the World.  And the best part was that I got to experience it with my big adult playmate.

 

It made me miss my own family; I can’t wait to see them for Easter.  No matter what you may do in life, or where you might land – there’s really no place like home.

Best Deals in Town

If you live in the Atlanta area and are looking for some awesome deals on flights check out Clark Howard’s website:
http://clarkhoward.com/travel/atlanta_travel_deals.html

This is where I found my tickets to CO for $150 roundtrip (taxes + fees not included). Also, SpiritAirlines.com has some awesome prices and a $9 fare club you can’t beat.

Have a good weekend everyone,

L

Colorado

Here I come!  I finally get to scratch my travel itch.  I’m going to be visiting Steamboat Springs (Ski Town USA) a cute ski resort located in the Northern Rocky Mountains named for it’s abundance of hot-water springs.  Early settlers would hear the bubbling of the Springs and said it sounded like a steam engine.  I can’t wait to attempt to ski!  I want to frolic in the snow like a bunny, bust my ass on ice and get my fingers as numb as possible from snowballs.  But most importantly, just enjoy being in that beautiful place.  I bet the snowy landscape is extremely peaceful and tranquil.  I’ve gotta get gloves, ear warmers, socks, etc.  I’m only going to be there for a few days but at least I will get to see it.  I’m soooo excited!