It's been a great trip. I'm off to the airport now. See you all soon :)

In the plane on the way to Nashville, and my final shot in Paris right before I left for the airport.

Friday

I know that you all are probably sick of hearing that it was a beautiful day and I had a wonderful time, but it's true again.

I spent all day with my beautiful friend, No. She got to the hotel at 8am and we had a little breakfast and a walk through the 'old section' of town, where I got to see a castle and cross a draw bridge over a moat! It was surreal. Then we had tapas for lunch. Walked, saw more amazing sights, shopped, drank beer, walked, ate delicious crepes for dinner...

Now I am sitting at the same little bar as last night having a very decent red wine, fretting about Oscar and my trip ending...dreading the thought of going back to work!!!

I am in Angers today to visit my friend, Noemie. I have 'known' her for better than a year now through jpgmag.com. I was so happy to meet her today. I went by bus, plane, and train to get here today. It took from 8am-6:30pm, and it was totally worth the trip. She is such a lovely person. She met me at the train station and took me to my hotel that she booked for me. It's a pub on the bottom floor and a hotel upstairs. I am up about three narrow spiral flights. I have a lavender room that can only be described as quaint. Then after I cleaned up, she took me out to my first traditional French restaurant. It was truly delicious! I had some fis with vegetables in this rich sauce a simple salad. It was perfect. I tried most of the evening to find Internet, without success. Mainly because I am worried about Oscar. I finally found a small bar after No went home that has it. Oscar is a little better. But, no pictures tonight since I'm using my cell phone..sorry. Maybe tomorrow.

Wednesday

More photos of Florence. It was another beautiful day here. I spent the afternoon with my wonderful host, Pasquale. He is an amazing photographer and a kind and generous person. He showed me areas of the city that were off the beaten path. It was a fun afternoon, but when I got back to the hotel I learned that Oscar is very sick, so now I am waiting for news.

Martedì

                                                
                                I love this place! I wonder if there are any MRI jobs available.

The video is of the check in girl at my hotel, who just walked over to the piano this afternoon and did this....

 

Monday (Oh NOOOO! It's half over)

Another beautiful day has come and gone. I spent most of it traveling.
First to Pisa, where I strolled all over the quaint cobbled streets,
visited the tower, had a slice of amazing pizza and then
hopped a train to Florence. 


When I got here, my host informed me
that he suddenly got called away for business for the next two days,
and his wife and daughter were still on the coast, so he set me up in a
wonderful little hotel.


I just returned from dinner and am going to
call it a day. 


P.S The weather
here is warm and sunny, and I just had the best pasta that I've ever had in
my life!

Ciao ;-)

Sunday

 I fretted all night last night about my luggage. I have one huge one that I am not able to take to Italy with me. So, after much ado this morning, searching for lockers at the airport and train stations that would keep them for 6 days, it turned out that the hotel that I am going to stay in for my last two days of the trip, in down town Paris, agreed to hold it for me all week. They just asked that I bring it late in the afternoon. That said...I spent the first half of my day just resting and packing. Once I lugged that ridiculously heavy bag to the hotel, I had a few hours to just rome around. I was quite surprised that most of the businesses were closed today. It makes sense since it's Sunday, but still it caught me off guard. Since I am finally starting to know the lay of the land, I decided to go to the area around the Louvre. I guessed (correctly) that there would be cafe's  open there. Here are just a few photos that I took while I was out today.

I can't wait to go to Italy tomorrow!!!

Saturday

Okay, since it's almost 2am, I am going to make this a short one.

I tried for about two hours to find Monet's home and finally just gave up. It was number one on my list today.

Number two was to go to one of the weekend flea markets. I had much more success there. I found it without a problem and had a great afternoon mostly digging through bins of old photos. That area of Paris was not the most picturesque(Port Clignacourt), but it was almost like being back in the US with a KFC on one corner and a Mickey D's on the other and people trying to sell you knock off watches, purses and sunglasses on every corner. After making a few purchases (at the actual flea market), I worked my way back over to the prettier section of town.

 I ended up eating dinner at a very old, very french restaurant, Le Petit Marcel. There was a great group of people there that I ended up spending the rest of the night with.

 I found the night life. Jazz clubs, gay and lesbian bars, a very old Jewish sector, and the 'lovers bridge',

 Le Pont des Arts, where lovers go and write their names on locks and lock them to the fence. Of course this all sounded so much better coming from the guy there with his sexy french accent :) 

Friday...late

It was pretty cloudy and cool this morning, and I hadn't really made a plan other than a vague meeting with Philippe Bourgoin (a Polaroid artist who I admire greatly).

I finally got out of the apartment around noon and headed into town in the general area that we had discussed meeting. I got there a few hours early so that I could do a little site-seeing, and have lunch. I found a cute little Lomo store that I shopped in for a few minutes. Then I went down the road to a little cafe and sat outside and had a wonderful salmon and potato quiche and a salad. I was just sitting there reading, when I glanced up and realized that I was sitting at a cafe in PARIS! I mean, it's like a movie scene everywhere you look! It's been hitting me like that everyday.

While I was there I met two lovely women who were from Australia and Austria who had just come from a  great thrift store. They gave me directions to it, and then invited me to go with them to a jazz club later. I was, of course thrilled!

Next I was off to meet Philippe, and I know that you won't believe this, but I got lost. This time I found an artist who was painting in a public square for a charity, who dropped his brushes and walked me to the restaurant where I was to have my meeting. I invited him to have a glass of wine while I waited, and he did several sketches of me while we talked.

Finally Philippe arrived. It was such a pleasure and an honor to chat with him. He was charming, and such an interesting person. He was also kind enough to spend the afternoon with me until it was time to meet up with my new found friends.

I met them at their hotel, and we walked to a cafe for dinner, This one must have been for tourist's because the food was just so so, and fairly expensive. Then we were off to the 'live jazz  club' just up the road. When we arrived, there was a band playing 70's disco music, so we opted out.



Another perfect day in Paris :)

Thursday...Tourist-day

I don't even know where to begin today. I decided last night that I really needed to see some of the famous places here instead of just roaming around aimlessly. I had a mental list of three things to do today; 1. The Eiffel Tower, 2. The Louvre, 3. A good restaurant!

When I got to the train station, there was an Australian couple there with their French friend buying tickets. I basically invited myself to go along with them on the first part of their trip since they were headed to the Eiffel tower. They were good sports about it though. They insisted on taking my photo in front of it, because 'no one would believe I was here otherwise'. So, here is the most touristy photo you will see on this blog :) I have to say, when I saw the tower that first moment, it took my breath away.

Next, I hopped onto the water taxi and made my way to the Louvre. I realized just how corny I am at the moment that I was standing there with the wind and sun in my face thinking 'I'm king of the world!"(I quickly looked around to make sure no one could read my dweebish thoughts).  I knew that it was too late in the day to try to go inside, so I opted to take a walk around the beautiful grounds. I would have spent a few hours there but a man approached me and started taking to me. He 'just wanted to practice his English and walk with me' at first, but then apparently he decided that he wanted to be my boyfriend for the day, so I had to scrape him off of me and make my escape.

Luckily I found number three on my list in just a few blocks. A cafe called La Dauphine. It was good food and wine, and better desert!

It was dusk when I finished my meal, so I jumped back onto the water taxi and rode it to the Notre-Dame stop. I had another lovely walk around the grounds (alone) and made my way back home. I only got onto the wrong train once. Today was a beautiful day.

Wednesday

 I have always realized that I have a poor sense of direction, but today I learned just how bad it really is. I suppose that at home it isn't as obvious to me because I can read signs, directions, and maps.

Today I wanted to go to see a fellow polanoider's exhibit, something that would seem pretty easy, huh. All I can say at this point is thank God for kind people!

I made my way to Paris fairly easily, and of course had to have lunch as soon as I got off of the train. I ate at Le Cafe du TRONE. The waiter suggested a vegetatian meal for me, that was somewhat like a veggie filled quesadilla. I also had a slice of apple tart.

After a few people gave me directions, I made my way to the shop/art gallery, which was really fabulous.( Here's the link http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=209505655727312&ref=ts), it was well worth the trip. The lovely woman at the shop then gave me directions through a park, into a huge cemetery (pictured).

From there I got lost again while trying to find the shop that Raul (the artist) owns. I must have looked lost because a man in the subway (pictured) started giving me directions, and I guess he found me hopeless so he actually got on the train with me and got off at my stop and literally pointed me in the right direction. He was a banker who was done for the day and apparently not in too much of a hurry.

Finally I made it to Raul's shop ("EN FACE"), and was so happy that I made the trip. He was wonderful. Very open and friendly. He shared some of his techniques with me. His beautiful wife and daughter came by, and there was another artist there who had some very interesting (in a good way) work on display. The shop was full of Polaroid cameras, and IP film for sale, but it also had one of a kind unique women's clothing and jewelry. I hope to get back there before I have to leave. He gave me great directions to get back 'home', and I made it without a problem (well, almost). I stopped and picked up a pizza on the walk home. I know, I'm in Paris and that is a sin!

Oh, by the way, I'm pretty sure that every muscle in my body is sore. Dog tired ;-)