Great Things Never Came From Comfort Zones : France

"Qui n'avance pas, recul" is a French saying that means there are no standstills in life, only choosing to advance. To be stagnant is to decline. My big move forward this week was to leave for France and Switzerland, by myself. I have never spent so much time on my own...I go hours without speaking more than a few words and fall into the web of anonymity formed by hustling Parisians rushing to make it to work on time. There's a new freedom in not knowing anyone while touring the city and there's a new pressure in that each decision is solely my own. I'm here because I know I won't learn and grow in the ways I want to if I'm around what I'm used to, or comfortable. Through all my travels I've learned that great, and I mean truly great, things never came from comfort zones. The times when my heart skipped a beat in fear of my next adventure now mark the beginning of a great story...

June 6

I found myself arriving in Iceland for layover at midnight their time... The sun was only beginning to set. It was probably 35 degrees Fahrenheit while walking off the steps of the plane. I definitely want to return.

My first day I was super jet lagged and could barely keep my eyes open on the train from the airport. I'm staying in Paris with my good friend Julie, who lived in the French house with me during her year at UVA, and her boyfriend Marouane. Both of them are incredibly busy this month. Marouane is taking L'agregation, a series of rigorous oral and written examinations to allow him to teach in the French school system. He has concentrated in philosophy and must translate philosophical texts from Arabic tomorrow morning. Julie is working on her PHD proposal presentation which will decide whether she will be in school for the next 3-4 years at la Sorbonne. Despite their current obligations, we have still had lovely dinners together at their apartment and will spend time together this weekend.

I started out my trip with an aimless walk around Paris. The French actually have a term for walking with no direction: "flâner." 

Due to the recent flooding of the seine, many of the Access points are closed off. Here's some French people disregarding this entirely and I loved it.

A man admiring the pigeons in Jardin des Tuileries 

.....The pigeons flying on me

This woman at Place de la Concorde is the definition of "French"

Brief stop at La Durée

Tuesday I started my day trying to access les passages couverts, or la petite ceinture. These abandoned railways in Paris are now able to be explored. I got all the way to the entrance of one at Rue Jean Moulin.

Next I went to Marche d'Aligre, the oldest street market in Paris.

Covered in flowers

And I found Rue Crémieux, this beautiful street:

While taking photos, a Frenchman came up to tell me he has lived in Paris his whole life but never seen this street. 

Notice the animals painted on the building 

The French are perplexed by American breakfasts. For them, breakfast is some bread or a croissant with Nutella and espresso. The American "eggs and bacon" breakfast seems bizarre. Here's a restaurant dedicated to the debate:

Next I returned to Shakespeare and Company, a truly special bookshop at kilometer zero of Paris where writers such as Hemingway and James Joyce used to write. It's the only English bookstore in Paris, and by English I mean the workers are from England. Located just outside is the oldest tree in Paris. You might remember this bookstore from my study abroad adventures with my friend Leah when we ended up walking across the city at night with a new friend we made at the shop to see a "dream machine."

 

listening to a man playing Beethoven on the piano

I took some time to appreciate the view of Notre Dame from a nearby park

Children dancing to the accordion

I loved seeing these couples

Next I went to a taxidermy shop called Deyrolle which my friend Sam suggested. Have you ever seen a flamingo wearing a tophat? Or a bobcat with a bow tie? 

Thursday I started my day by climbing the Eiffel Tower. This is my second time doing so, but last time it was raining and hard to have a good view of the city. The weather was perfect! 

Next, I met at the louvre with some friends I met in Dulles airport who were backpacking in Europe as well. They're two brothers who grew up in Richmond, and although we have mutual friends we never knew eachother. 

We ate lunch on the terrace inside the louvre and began to explore the largest museum in the world. This was my third trip there in my life and I hardly saw anything I have previously. Apparently there are eighth castle-sized floor levels of storage below the 3-4 levels of museum open to the public.  These storage levels were cleared out only a week before I was there due to the flooding in Paris. 

At 3:00 my friends Sam and Bart joined us. Sam is studying abroad at Sciences Po in Paris this year and lived with me in the French house at UVA. He does research in Africa for months each year and enjoys playing competitive polo in the US, but currently does competitive horse racing here in Paris. His lease for his apartment ended in May, so he is currently living with monks in a monastery in Paris. He also happened to book the same flight as me back to the US! 

Bart was the exchange student/language advisor living in the French house the year I wasn't (He lived there the year before Julie) He does research and actually wrote a book on the Louvre. 

Bart gave our group a "hidden secrets" tour of the louvre and we spent a lot of time in Napoleon's apartments.

We saw the outside of the ancient castle in the basement of the louvre, including the moat, that was only discovered in the last ten years or so during excavation. Apparently this was the first ancient castle of Paris, which they knocked the upper levels off of to build the louvre palace (which used to house the royals). They're still finding hidden secrets, like new closed off dungeons. 

Apparently they used the Napoleon apartments for the ministry of France until the 1990s, they continued to use these rooms for parties and balls that were as old as the 1700s. 

The minister of France lived here until very recently when the apartments became a part of the museum. 

I wouldn't mind eating dinner here 

After this we met Julie at Les Grands Voisins, a French commune. Within it there is a bar with an outdoor garden/ courtyard to lounge in. All the workers are volunteers and the bar proceeds go to the homeless and disabled who live on site. It was total hippieville and I loved it. Things to note include the camping/tent area, the laundry machine that worked by bike, and the shower with no walls out in the courtyard.

You have to "bike" the laundry machine