I Got My Parents in Paris, and They're Going Gorillas

Actually, they've been quite calm. But still, we're all here in Paris.  My folks planned this trip a year ago and since you could say I'm currently between things (just finished HiA fellowship in Amsterdam, I'm still a week away from my orientation in Italy to teach English at summer camps), I tagged along.  On their pocketbooks :)  We booked a relatively inexpensive hotel (perhaps the price reflects the lack of Internet and surplus of hookers) and have done the standard touristy things: climb the Eiffel Tour, check out Notre Dame, visit graves of famous dead people at Pere Lachase, etc. 

Also, I've had several crepes -- banana with Nutella.  Much better here than in Hel.  Though you really can't go wrong with such a recipe.  Looking back at the few days I spent in Paris with my friend Pete back in 2009, I'm just now seeing how much we missed back then.  World famous landmarks, popular dining spots, and various historic sites we just had no clue existed.  But, then again, for being so clueless we also did a surprisingly great job of actually checking out much of that stuff, too.  So this time around I've been able to re-visit some places with a new appreciation and without any unrealistic expectations of some romantic, exotic city.  And what I've found is that this is actually a pretty romantic, awesome city.

This time with my Lonely Planet guide in hand, I have been able to enjoy the background info on Hemingway's and Joyce's favorite coffee shops, see where Louis XVI was beheaded, and simply walk around town and know when I'm standing in front of Notre Dame, and when I'm in front of some other cool looking church that actually isn't Notre Dame at all, but just  a local Parisian church.

Now my folks are packing and getting ready to fly to Poland tomorrow, and I've just secured plans for southern France, Avignon via train.  There I'll be staying with my friend Fab for a few nights.  We met hitchhiking on the Carretera Austral in Patagonia, at what I consider to be the geographical and definitive end of the world map.  This type around, I'm hoping for a little more civilization.  Although sometimes, the less people, the better.

Sunday I start my orientation in Sanremo, a small town on the Italian riviera.  It's yet another location to add to my list of "Places far too fancy, exotic, or expensive for me to visit...that I've somehow visited (by accident)."  It's a good list.  It's my list, it's full of stories, and it seems to be growing at a good rate.

Hopefully some pictures of my summer thus far (Amsterdam, Sarajevo, Polska, Paris) to come soon.  One day I'll sit down and figure out how much of all this traveling is due to good planning, how much due to hard work, how much due to my family's financial support (a good amount, but looking at our bank accounts certainly not that big of a contribution), and how much of it all is due to plain ole' dumb luck and circumstance.  Something tells me most will fall in the last category.

-Paul (but with, like, the French pronunciation and stuff)