After Croatia, I spend three days on the naturist (naked) island, Île du Levant for three days. Afterward, after a road trip through Bourgogne, Baune, and Dijon (highlight: I ate an entire bottle of dijon mustard — delicious — using a gas station sandwich) I settled into Reims, France, the capital of the Champagne region of France. I was supposed to stay 10 days before heading to Paris, but I ended up extending my stay on account of a heavy work schedule, an ugly sinus cold, and the happy, healthy routine I fell into in Reims. I worked from my Airbnb rental apartment that had the best city view of any I’ve had so far: a view of the cathedral and a beautiful fountain with a golden, valkyrie-looking woman on top. My gym had an oyster stand out in front of it and I made a habit of visiting each day after exercising. A local boulangerie owned and operated by a very sweet woman and her daughters captivated me — my daily breakfast order came to be “duex crossaints s’il vous plaît” as well as the only French that I spoke. Nevertheless,, the locals were gracious and made it a […]
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I met my sister, Tracy, and her family in Paris while they were vacationing for four days of wandering and site-seeing. It was my first time to Paris and it was great exploring with her because she studied in Paris for a year in college, knows the city and speaks very good French which took the stress out of ordering croissants. I was surprised to discover that no one I encountered in Paris wanted to speak in English which without my sister made everything incredibly awkward and embarrassing for this tourist who didn’t want to speak French. In this city – the local Parisian hipsters out-hipstered me — English is apparently too mainstream. Living up to the hype of Paris is no easy task. Since the 1940s, American popular culture has oozed idolatry of the romantic café culture, art, historic architecture, food and “Frenchness” of everything: elegance, sophistication, history and glamour. When expectations are so high, living up to the hype is almost an impossible order and I expected to be underwhelmed; but I loved my time in Paris. It helped a great deal that my sister played the role of French-speaking tour guide who explained the significance, history and […]
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