This is an update of the amazing trip I took to Europe last summer. Slowly but surely I’m posting about every day I spent on that excellent continent. To read earlier updates, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. And here. And here and here and here and here and here and here.

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I think I forgot how to blog. Maybe it was all the Evian™ I drank in Europe. Or maybe all the chocolate croissants and second-hand smoke. Whatever it was, it wasn’t healthy, and it had near-terminal side effects. Thankfully I’ve been back in Canada for two weeks now and the fresh mountain air seems to be clearing away the cobwebs in my brain. I’m back and ready to go. So, Paris: I already wrote about my first harrowing day getting to and navigating the glorious city of love, and you can read up on it here if you so desire. If not, here’s a succinct update in exactly two photos and fifteen words:

I left for Paris looking like this:

And I arrived in Paris looking like this:

Pretty self-explanatory, no? The reason I look so awful is because even though I am a very good traveler, I am not a very graceful traveler. I try to be. I always see beautiful, perfectly coiffed women at airports with matching luggage and manicured nails, and I am inspired to try again the next time I fly. But invariably I get to the airport and become immediately frumpy. I am a frumpy traveler.

Anyway, I looked awful most of the time I was in Europe despite trying really hard to look French and beautiful (redundant, that).

It was okay though because there was beauty all around me:

How many contrasts can you see in this photo? Light and dark, old and new, fun and work…

There’s my greasy mug outside the entry to Notre Dame.

The amazing flying buttresses on the south (I think?) façade of Notre Dame.

Gothic barreled vaulting inside either Notre Dame or the Cluny museum.

The first French food I paid euros for on the trip. This sandwich had goat cheese, golden raisins, delicious greens, honey, and sundried tomatoes. It just so happened to be the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.

There’s my mug by the Seine.

I love the French national motto (is it their motto?). Liberty, equality, and fraternity (a little sexist but I forgive it on account of it being French).

Okay, and I started doing something on this trip that I really loved. Maybe you won’t, but this is my blog and I can do what I want. You can choose whether to participate or not.

Here’s the thing: I took little video clips of anything I thought was interesting. To me, video clips capture the essence of places so much better than photos. I have so enjoyed going back through them since I’ve been home. I can remember exactly where I was, what I heard and saw and smelled when I was taking the video, and I am so glad I have them all.

I will share some of my favourites here but I fully understand that sometimes travelogues can be tedious and you weren’t there so you might not care as much as I do. Feel free to ignore this bit of the recap if you want.

For those die-hards who want to see it all, here they are:

A courtyard with two different musics wafting through the air and down the street (which is where I was when I heard the eerie sound and had to go investigate). I never did find the source but it was cool anyway:

And a French elementary school field trip getting a lecture on tapestries (in French of course) at the Cluny museum: it’s dark and not the best quality but I guarantee it will make you wish you’d been born French:

So that’s the end of my first two days in Paris.

You sick of this yet?

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