A vegetarian and vegan in Paris...
Trip Start
May 12, 2006
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2
Trip End
May 24, 2006
Paris, France
Monday, May 22, 2006
It's hard to believe that my trip is nearly over. I've set a personal record for John's shortest overseas trip ever! By the same token, I've managed to cram in a lot over the past 7 days (it's a week tonight!) and feel like I've satisfied my travel urge for the time-being. I've seen some amazing historical buildings, monuments, places, etc, and met some great people as well.
The highlight, for me at least, was definitely the architecture and the food! My breakfast this morning consisted of a croissant and an eclaire (doughnut) filled with great cream! For lunch I had a very balanced diet: crepe with apricot jam, followed by an ice cream from Haagen Daz for "dessert"... This is the life. Thank goodness I'm only here another day or else I truly would become obsese.
Thankfully I've been walking a LOT, so I'm burning off a few of the calories. We've had some interesting experiences here with food, especially since I'm a vegetarian and Kris is vegan! We went into a japanese restaurant last week and ordered some fried vegetables. I ordered "zucchini" and "cheese" as two separate items that were on the menu and appeared exactly as I just wrote them - nothing else (not even "fine print")... what do I get? I had a stick of cheese wrapped with Bacon (it was impossible to remove), and my zucchini managed to get all mashed together with a nice ball of chicken - literally impossible to pick apart! I think it's safe to say that a meat-friendly diet has yet to catch on over here.... ;0)
One of the highlights has definitely been my daily walks throughout the city. I never know what I'm going to find, yet have a rather vague idea as to where I'm headed. Everywhere I turn I'm just amazed by the detail everywhere. It's honestly as though I'm in some fantasy land. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up any minute now (well, I suppose I will in about a day!)
Kris and I visited the infamous Louvre the other day (for free - definitely go on Friday evenings!) and were astounded by the enormity of it. i've heard stories, but nothing can really prepare you for it until you see it. We managed to spend 3 hours in there and we were moving fast. We probabably covered about 1/10th of the museum. We were the typical tourist and bolted directly for the Mona Lisa (she's strangely more impressive impressive "in person", even though we've seen her portrait everywhere!), and then we saw the statue of Aphrodite, and toured the Ancient Egypt exhibit as well. We haphazardly stumbled upon the French sculptures exhibit and were taken aback by how remakrable the statues actually are. Their fingers and toes look almost too real to be stone.
Unfortunately I've managed to spend nearly every penny I brought with me, but fortunately I exaggerated my initial budget and brought more than I thought I would need - so I haven't run out of money, at least! How's that for some logic? This is definitely an expensive place to stay, and keeps up my tradition of travelling to expensive countries. I really should find a cheap place to visit for my next adventure. Perhaps the next time you'll receive a travelpod update I'll be in Thailand...?
This is probably the last (and only second!) entry for this venture. I've had a great time and definitely recommend Paris to anyone who's thinking of coming over here.
Until next time...
John (and Kris!)
xx xx (french "bissous" - kisses)
P.S. Sorry there aren't any pictures here - I've taken around 400, so I've definitely been busy! I've lost my usb connector though so have to wait to buy a new one in Canada before I can do anything...
