Interlude

The easiest and most unexpected of illnesses, that will sometimes take you by surprise or slowly creep up to make you shiver: Loneliness. It has little to do with being alone, because you can feel lonely amidst people. We all have our low moments... my personal remedy is making plans. What will my next holiday destination be? Who could I surprise with an unexpected gift or a favour? What part of the city could I discover or rediscover?

For now, I am trying to enjoy my last weeks in Granada and see all the things I can before leaving. Unfortunately exams and revision are taking a lot of my time.

My first travel plans should take me to Seville and Madrid. Then I'm visiting a few friends in England before returning to the homeland France in March. Sometimes I wish that all the people I love would live in the same town, it would make it such a wonderful life! Then again, that is really unlikely to happen and it is great when it enables me to travel around!

Last week, My terrace, Granada

C'est Panam!

Now some thoughts on Paris, as I have to admit that some readers were right to argue that parts of my previous post were „boring“, „like reading a geographical atlas“. So I will try to be different from Google Maps.

It is a great city to visit. Big news! Of course, there are so many beautiful sights and interesting museums, but you can find information about them in any travel guide. I also feel that Paris is trying to sell a dream: a dream of beautiful liberated women but also a dream of couply happiness. Call me a cynic, but those padlocks on the Pont des Arts with the lovers' names on them are just soooooo ( how many vowels are acceptable?) romantic and what a dream it is to stand on the Eiffel tower kissing your loved one! Urgh.

Paris is so much more than just the postcard side of it. There are many other aspects to it. The cultural diversity of the banlieues and the many arrondissements is easily overlooked. The Paris I like is the Paris of my cousin: Young people, going out every day of the week, interested in arts and independent cinema. That's where I can imagine to fit in, opposed to being squeezed onto an Eiffel-tower postcard. All what's of interest is fashion, beauty and stylishness. Also, the social problems I associate with Paris are quickly forgotten when talking about the 'City of Love'. Of course there is a often a big difference between visiting a place and living there, but I feel in Paris the divide between the two couldn't be wider.

I also have to admit that rediscovering Paris was a great experience. I remember visiting it with Adna about three and a half years ago and I was probably the worst guide imaginable. Criticising every single thing, acting unimpressed in front of every beautiful building: “I guess it's nice”. My poor poor Adna, I feel for her now and I regret being such a terrible host. Since then I have grown up and I have gained perspective on France... and I have already told Adna that I owe her a great city visit! 

Capital Hopping

My year 2011 started with an amazing opportunity for me: rediscovering Paris. Indeed, being from Normandy, I have over the years developed hostile feelings towards this city. This was also due to fact that Paris has always been a stopover point for me: from one train station to another, or to the airport. Thus I was far from having the postcard image of Paris, that we like to see depicted in Hollywood films.

However last Monday I was off to meet two friends from Granada, Miguel and Diego, both of Latin American origin, touring through Europe during the Christmas holidays. I was going to visit Paris with them and try my best to act as a guide. Luckily I had my cousin Carole's support in that, so that we saw a lot during our first day there. When I say 'a lot', it clearly is an understatement. Those who know Paris will understand how much walking the following route entails: Starting from the Sacré-Coeur, we walked to Saint Lazare, then on the roof terrace of the Printemps to enjoy the view (my secret tip if you are visiting Paris!), then down the Avenue de l'Opéra, to the Louvre, along the Seine towards Notre-Dame, after seeing the inside of the cathedral: Beaubourg and Les Halles, back along the Seine, passing by the Louvre again, through the Jardin des Tuileries, along the Place de la Concorde with its mysterious obelisk, stopped by the Palais de l'Elysée, where Nicolas wasn't waiting for us with a cup of coffee (huge disappointment here!), further up the Champs Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe, then we walked to the Trocadéro, took the mandatory picture from the Palais Chaillot, 

then down to the Eiffel tower, then up the Eiffel tower, where it slowly got dark and we had a magnificent view over Paris, better than during the foggy day! then back to the Champs Elysées, until we found a coffee shop. This was the moment we finally took the metro to have some traditional French food (galettes, crêpes and cidre, I wasn't trying to trick them into tasting Norman food at all!).

Now for those who didn't quite grasp the distance, I checked on the map, we walked about 18 km with 3 degrees Celsius and a biting wind outside! We were truly exhausted!

Next day: The Louvre. After queuing a few times, we got our (under 26 EU Residents) free tickets and then our 6 hour visit started. I just like to point out that a lot of the things we saw were stolen, and I don't care that it is many years ago, they were still stolen. From Greek statues, to Egyptian tombs, to Mesopotamian lions, to French paintings and Italian paintings, Dutch paintings, German paintings and so on. There even was a contemporary art exhibition ( to my greatest enjoyment). If you can ever call a museum huge it's this one and after all the times I've been there, I still discover new things. What got me thinking this time is the nipple-pinching painting. Yes, you did read correctly nipple-pinching. (see below). The “Portrait présumé de Gabrielle d'Estrées et de sa soeur la duchesse de Villars” (Portrait presumed to be of Gabrielle d'Estrées and her sister the Duchess of Villars) was painted around 1594. The odd gesture still makes me wonder. The official version is that the pinching should refer to Gabrielle's pregnancy, fair enough. I am still trying to imagine the circumstances in which the portrait was painted: can you imagine posing like that for a few hours? Anyhow, such a representation would be more than shocking nowadays: it wouldn't even make it on US live TV!)

After the Louvre, it was time for me to go. My night train was leaving from Gare d'Austerlitz and was taking me to Madrid. The two (very intense) days in Paris reconciled me with this city and I was again able to see its beauty and I finally understood the fascination it provokes among visitors from all over the world.

The next day, 10am I was stepping outside the Metro in front of Puerta del Sol, Madrid. It was raining.

I only had a few hours to do all the necessary sight seeing. I realised later, that I was lucky to be there on Spanish Christmas, called Reyes Magos, (6 of January) because there were many people around even though most of the shops were closed. Full of energy, I walked from the Puerta del Sol to the Plaza Mayor, passing by really nice streets and buildings. After a little stop at the tourism office, I was on my way to the Cathedral and when I got there, I saw a lot of people crowding around what happened to be the Royal Palace. Curious, I went to stand with the people, waiting for whatever might occur. It took me little while to realise that we were all waiting for the Spanish King. I was quite impressed, first royalty I've seen, even if it was from far away. Then, once he was inside, the guards paraded around the Palace, it was very impressive!

Then I had a little walk past the Plaza de Espana, up to the Temple of Debod and then across the Plaza de Oriente back to the Puerta del Sol...

My very short stay was intense and definitely convinced me to plan a real trip to the capital, his time for a few days!

After five hours in the coach, I arrived in Granada. Finally, the familiar streets greeted me with their crowdedness and festive atmosphere. I have less than 2 months left in Granada and I really want to make the most of it!