Weary traveller

We got to hour hotel in Avignon, France at 10pm.

We set our alarms for 4:45 am so Matt and I could shower and pack.

At 5:45am, we checked out of the hotel.

At 6am, we took a taxi to the train station.

We caught a 6:30 train. Matt got off in Leon, I rode a total of 3 1/2 hours over to Paris. I got off the train at the airport.

Once I made it to the airport, I used their shuttle system to navigate from the airport train station to the airport terminal.

I waited through endless security checks at the Paris airport due to some sort of "security incident" that had me waiting in passport and security lines for nearly two hours.

I flew 8 1/2 hours to Washington.

I cleared customs in Washington, had to re-check my bag and go through security again.

I sat through a two hour layover.

I boarded another plane and flew 3 1/2 hours to Denver.

I landed in Denver, got my bag, and walked to the car in the back of the long-term parking lot.

I drove home for an hour.

I got backed up an extra 30 mins in a construction-related traffic jam on the way home.

I FINALLY made it home at 10pm.

That's over 24 straight hours of travel to get home from Avignon, France. I don't think I need to see another airport again for quite a while. I love to be a tourist, but the process of getting from one place to another is pretty darn exhausting.

Must sleep. Blog later.

Sacrebleu!

We came back from dinner tonight, and something was different in our hotel room. Our bed had been made, the garbage had been emptied, and.... How do I say this delicately?

It reeked.

It was seriously smelly. Like sewage. We looked around and became convinced that someone from the hotel had come into the room to turn down the bed, but then had taken a gigantic poop in our bathroom right before we got home.

It seemed impossible, but the lingering aromatic evidence was irrefutable. Then, it hit us.

THE CHEESE!

We had left the camembert out on the table. It had funked up the entire room, big time. No Bathroom Bandit. Just cheese.

Cue laughter.

Exploring Reims

Matt and I arrived in Reims last night, and took the long walk from our hotel to the center of town. It was a beautiful, warm night, and the city was very quiet. Most of the shops and restaurants are closed in Reims on Sunday, and the people that were out walking around the city center were there just to relax, stroll, lounge around, and talk. It was a very charming welcome to the city.

Reims is beautiful... It's bigger than I expected, and amazingly picturesque. There are quaint little botiques and cafes, and much of the city center is pedestrian-only. There is a wonderful grand opera house, many lovely and ancient buildings, and a cathedral more beautiful than any other I've seen.


While Matt was at his conference in Reims today, I had a really lovely day walking around and exploring the town. Photographic evidence to follow:

Reims is most famous for its champagne vineyards. Accordingly, we've had quite a bit of champagne during our stay. There are many different types from many different vineyards, and everything we've tried has been absolutely delicious. As I sit in our hotel writing this blog entry, I'm sipping from a bottle of "Charles de Cazanove Brut Azur" and cutting off big hunks of camembert. Pretty darn perfect.

The surprise of the day is that Matt is being asked to attend a meeting in the south of France on Wednesday, so we have to cut our stay in Reims tragically short and instead head three hours on the train down to Avignon. We'll stay in Avignon on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then it's home to the states on Thursday.

I don't know anything at all about Avignon, so it's going to be quite an adventure! Looking forward to exploring a bit more of France, though. So far, I'm really loving it here.

Shadow of the Eiffel Tower

Before we left Paris today, I asked Matt to take me to the Eiffel Tower. I saw it the last time we were there, but only from an open-top bus. I wanted to get a chance to actually walk under the tower and see it up close.

It's really magnificent. It's hard to do justice in words to the sheer magnatude of the Eiffel Tower. There's just something kind of awe-inspiring about it. Even though the long Metro ride and the walk in the hot sun was a little exhausting, it was worth it to be nose-to-nose with such an icon. We took the obligatory tourist shots, of course.

It was a good day, but a long day of city walking. Sunday is a very crowded day in Paris, too. There are several outdoor markets that open up on Sunday, and it seemed as if everyone in the city was out for a walk. Compared to Saturday, there seemed to be twice as many people out on Sunday. So, I enjoyed our last day in Paris, but by the time we hopped the train to Reims I was pretty much beat.

I'm looking forward to getting some sleep, and waking up refreshed and ready to explore the town.

Twilight in Paris

That song was totally stuck in my brain as Matt and I wandered around Paris Saturday evening. It was such a beautiful night. We walked from our hotel to Notre Dame, and down the Seine. Pictures? Oh, we got em!

Saturday at The Fleas

Matt and I had an amazing Saturday. We spent most of the day at Les Puces (The Fleas) looking at all of the amazing, weird, and beautiful antiques that were laid out at the weekly market. It was a very relaxed, Parasian kind of day. The weather was beautiful, we were in no hurry, and just strolled along the venue drinking it all in.

The Fleas is an absolute labrynth of winding streets, alleys, and dark passageways. It's pedestrian only, and not clearly mapped out. The effect is that you basically choose an alley and start wandering back and fourth, round and round, getting lost, re-orienting yourself, discovering nooks and crannies you never knew existed, then.... Poof! Three hours have passed.

These are snaps of the basic layout of a typical Fleas passage:

Many are like small garages. Twice a week, the vendors throw open the garage door and let passers-by peek at the treasures they've collected. It's not like an American flea market, though, where every booth is a hodge podge of all kinds of disconnected collectables piled in disorganized heaps. Here, everything is delightfully (almost obsessively) organized. For example, the next two pictures are of my favorite vendor's shop. She was amazingly organized, down to the most minute detail. Everything that could be classified as a certain "type" of collectable was put in the same area of the store, then sorted into clear plastic boxes that divided them further by color, size, or shape. For example, there was a wall with a glass case at least ten feet tall. In the case were hundreds of clear plastic boxes, all numbered. Each box contained a different type of vintage brooch or pin. There was one box for fish pins, one for geometric pins, one for astrological-themed pins, etc. All you had to do was look at an alphabetical chart that comprehensively listed the categories of pins that they had been sorted into, then check the corresponding box number.

It's hard to explain, but trust me... It was cool. The sheer volume of merchandise this woman had boggled my mind. And that it was *all* catalogued, differentiated, and shelved according to category was amazing to me. Even Matt had to give her props.

Although not all booths are that obsessively organized, most of the booths seems to be organized around a specific theme or obsession. There are booths devoted only to nautical antiques, booths devoted only to mid-century modern chairs, booths devoted to medical oddities, to taxidermy... You name the obsession, there's probably a booth for it. It's almost like throwing those garage doors open was like throwing open a window into the owner's soul... You could see their obsessions, what they loved, what makes them tick. It was really fascinating.

I saw quite a few things at The Fleas that were so odd, they blew my mind a little. Here's a sample of a few of the things we looked at:

1) a desk made from an airplane wing
2) a disarticulated (or "exploded") human skull
3) a box of assorted human bones
4) a taxidermied ostrich

5) an actual mummy
6) terrifying dental drills from the turn of the century

Oh... I could go on. But pictures are way more fun!



 

Afterwards, Matt and I had an amazing, leisurely lunch. We ate the best escargot I've ever eaten in my life, leek and potato soup, and a shaved parmesan salad. Everyone was nice and friendly, the sun was shining... It was magic!

After that, we went back to our hotel and strolled around a bit. I loved the unhurried pace of the day. It made me fall in love with Paris even more.

Afternoon Snack