My first day in Paris....

Wow, I finally made it! You couldn't even imagine how excited I was. What an unbelievable feeling to be in Europe and having no one else to share this with. "How could I say this" you ask? Well if you need to know, my life changed dramatically this past year and what I needed was a good vacation.....from everyone. And I mean everyone. Even myself. I felt I needed to not worry about anyone or anything. And that is just what I did on this trip.

After I arrived, I dropped my luggage off at my hotel, freshened myself up and went out on my first Parisian journey. Ahhhh, Paris. I could hear the French music playing in my head. You know that familiar French music I am talking about right? Well anyway, I had no idea where I was going but I didn't care. All I cared about was that I finally made it....to Paris! Since I was on foot and had no clue where I was yet, direction wise, I decided to head to the place I thought would be a good start for my trip, the Louvre. Now, as I was walking down the streets of Paris, I felt like a real Parisian. Did you ever get that feeling? The feeling of actually belonging in a place you had never been to before? I'm telling you, it was almost like I was indigenous to Europe. Anyway, the skies were cloudy and gray but I didn't care, why? Because I was in Paris. It started to rain but I didn't care, why? Because I was in Paris. Just can't get enough of saying it.

So, I finally make it to the Louvre and while I am walking around soaking this all in and taking lots of photos, I am wondering to myself, now where is the Eiffel Tower? I thought, like a stupid tourist would think and not having done too much research before travelling, that I would be able to see the Eiffel Tower from wherever I was in Paris. But what I found out (and as I am sure most of you already know) was that in actuality, you can't see the Eiffel Tower from whereever you are in Paris. Oh well, stupid me. Sooo, I didn't get to see the Eiffel Tower on my first day in Paris. However, I kind of did a lot as a tourist that day, I photographed, I shopped, I ate, I drank aaaand I made friends with some French people. All in all, I have to say my first day in Paris was absolutely "merveilleux"!

Continuation of...Paris

Ok, I've told you about my Louvre story but now I would like to rewind a little bit and talk to you about when I first began my journey. It was definitely an experience, to say the least. To bring you up to speed, I was scheduled to depart from New York's JFK airport on December 26th for my big trip to Paris. The facts we now know are that it's winter, we know it's the holidays and we all know unexpected things can happen during wintertime. Anyway, I am on my way home on Christmas night and what happens? I get a message on my phone saying that my flight has been cancelled due to an expected snowstorm. :( I was like "what?" This has to be some kind of mistake because I don't think they understood that I had a flight the next day. But nooooo, that's not all. I proceed to call my airline and I am on hold for hours trying to speak to an actual person but all I kept getting was a recording. Ughhhh, I thought. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally get a real human being on the phone. At this point, you would say "thank God, there is another voice on the other end". So, long story short, I get rebooked on the later flight for the 26th. Whew! Right? That's what I thought too. But thennnnnn.......that flight gets cancelled. Now, I'm like, what the "HE double hockey sticks" is going on here? So, I call the airline again and wait for hours again until I finally get someone, again. Do you know what this person decides to do? She decides to book me on a flight that has three connections and leaves out of LaGuardia airport! At this point in time, I was willing to just get on any flight outta New York because I was already in vacation mode now and had to leave pronto!

Now that you have a pretty good idea about what is going on, what decides to happen on the day I was scheduled to leave? It's not just your normal snowstorm, it's a blizzard. Of all things! Can you believe it? I kept wondering, why did Mother Nature have to go and decide to have the blizzard on the very day I was going to travel??? I mean, how rude right? We haven't had that much snow in one day in years, and then all of a sudden? I was like, WTF. But no worries right? Because I was already in vacation mode. Relaxed, laid back, like nothing in the world could bother me.....yeah right, except for this. I could not believe the audacity this weather had on the day I was supposed to travel. But what could I do? So, you know what I did? I went and got myself a manicure and a pedicure. That's right. I tried doing something to try to make myself feel better. And, it worked.

Then after that, I was determined to get myself to the airport the next day. And you know what? I persevered. Nothing could stop me. I mean I was like a freight train with no brakes. The next day I carried my luggage around the corner with the help of my friend to a car service because the city had not plowed any of the side streets at that point in time. You had to see me, the look of determination on my face said it all. No mound of snow was going to stop me. Anyway, I get to the car service and tell the guy, I made a reservation earlier and needed to get to the airport because I was leaving that day for Paris (even though the airport was still closed mind you). But, I didn't care. I knew deep down that I was going to leave that day because I had to, right? So, the guy says to me, they didn't have too many cars because of the weather but they did have a couple of trucks running. He also said that someone was already waiting for one of the trucks. So, being a persistent person that I am, I ask the potential passenger if I could share a ride with him. Luckily, he was nice and said "yes". Hooray!!! I have to tell you,that this whole thing was like fate because I waited approximately 5 minutes before a truck came, asked the driver if he could take me as a passenger also and take me to the airport. When all was said and done, I was in the cab on my way to destiny.....

The Road Not Taken...

I recently thought about the poem 'The Road Not Taken' by American poet, Robert Frost. Just to give you a little background history, I read this poem when I was in high school and it had such a profound affect on me. I mean, it moved me in such a way that I thought to myself who doesn't think of "if I could start my life all over again..." or "if I would have just...."? I believe we all wonder what "could have been" at least once in our lifetime. C'mon admit it. You know you've done it. Unless, of course, you have built the perfect life for yourself. Then, in that case, I applaud you.

In my opinion, this poem displays how we all have a choice and there are always going to be different paths to choose from. Think about it, we are constantly making choices every single day of our lives. Whether it is the biggest decision you have ever made in your lifetime like buying a house or just making an everyday decision like picking out what to wear. Everything is a choice. But remember, it's your choice. I read once that in order to find variety in life you should take a different route to work. So, I am. I am taking different routes all over the place. And the thing I love the most is that I always choose to take the road less travelled because that is who I am. I feel like an explorer trying to find my next adventure or are the adventures finding me?

Anyhoot, with the recent events that happened in my life, I am reflecting on this poem once again and I would like to share it with all of you. Whether you have studied this poem as I did in high school or are experiencing it for the first time, enjoy!

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Realizations

Since I last left you, I was talking about the French city of love, Paris, and how it was such a life changing experience for me. I say this because not only did I travel alone for the first time in my life but I also realized certain things about myself that I have not recognized in a very long time.

So what were the realizations that occurred, you ask? I'll tell you. I realized that I like escargot and foie gras whereas most people cringe at just the words being spoken. I realized that I am very good with directions even with a map turned upside down. I realized that I could walk into just about any restaurant, sit down and order a nice meal...by myself. I realized I could smile and start up conversations with just about anyone I encounter. And of course, I realized that you simply just cannot see all of the Musée du Louvre in one day. It is just impossible. I have heard people mention this before and thought, we'll just have to see about that. So, I put it to the test and well, I have to say...they're right. No....just kidding. I didn't put it to the test because I booked a tour for myself prior to my arrival in Paris and knew I was going to get completely lost in there. I mean, how does one get lost in a museum? My Dad used to say to us with his Brooklyn accent, "gettt lost", so if he said that to us when we were little kids and while in the Louvre, we literally would have gotten lost. They might have had to send a search team in there to find us because it's just that big. Holy smokes! I'll say it again, this place is MASSIVE. I could probably spend a week in there and still not see everything there is to see. How is it that there is so much artwork in one place? It makes my head spin just thinking about it.

Now, mind you, I didn't too much research beforehand for this trip so I was almost completely in the dark and basically did everything spur of the moment (which I also realized I like doing). I say "almost" and "basically" because except for this tour and the Paris city tour, which I booked for myself prior to travelling to Paris, I did everything else spur of the moment. Not bad for not planning. So anyway, while I am at the Louvre, I learn that it was originally built as a fortress. That's right, the Louvre was originally constructed on the banks of the Siene in the 12th century as a fortress by King Philippe Auguste (French for Philip II Augustus) to help protect Paris from Northern invaders. And then later, a couple hundred years later, part of it was built as a royal residence. But, can you believe that the Louvre was opened as a museum of art in the year 1793? Who would have thought? Pretty interesting right? Ok, so, I see Egyptian art, I see Roman art, I see Italian art, I see beautiful sculptures everywhere such as the famous Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace , aaaand I see what everyone wants to see while visiting the Louvre, the piece de resistance (said with a French accent) - the Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, otherwise known as.........wait for it........the Mona Lisa. This visit to the Louvre can be summed up in one word - stunning.

I can go on and on and on about all of the artwork I have seen at the Louvre but what about the artwork I haven't seen yet? Does this mean that I ought to plan another trip back to Paris?

A Valentine

How do I love thee, let me count the ways...ok, let me stop there. I have to say that I have a personal love......for travelling, as if you couldn't tell from the personalized Valentine's card I just posted. Just so you know, I made it from scratch. Ok, maybe I didn't make it all by myself, I had a little help from Shutterfly.com's easy to use templates. But back to my original thoughts. As you can tell from my personalized Valentine's card, I travelled to Paris. But what you couldn't tell was that I travelled to Paris this past New Year's and had the experience of my life. Ahh, Paris, the City of Lights, such a beautiful city, such a romantic city. Seems kind of ironic though because you would think that I would be travelling and experiencing all of this romanticism with my significant other but alas, I went there by myself. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would be able to travel to some foreign place alone especially to a city known for its romanticism. I mean, you hear all these stories where couples go to Paris and then what happens, BAM, the guy pops the question right by the Eiffel Tower. How romantic would that be? Or is it just so commercial now? I found some interesting information on some random website about Paris. There are an estimated 175 marriage proposals at the Eiffel Tower every day. That's 1,225 proposals a week, about 5,250 proposals a month, and about 63,000 proposals a year. But, get this, the first floor of the Eiffel Tower has a post office so you can send your announcements and wedding invitations at the same time! Now how efficient is that? So nice of the French government to think about that for all the lovers over there. Talk about not wasting any time. Normally, the girl is surprised by the proposal. So do they mean to tell me that the guy has this proposal all planned out with wedding invitations and all? hmmm....just makes you think.

Valentine

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