So, where was I? Oh, yes, we were soaking wet in our red touristy ponchos at the Eiffel Tower…

After the soaking wet fiasco at the Eiffel Tower, we made our way back to the hotel via Metro. We were poor travelers, as we had not read the hotel’s information notebook that told us where we could find the closest metro station. We went back to the Arc de Triomphe and walked over a kilometer (yes, folks, they do use the Metric system in Europe!) to our hotel. On our way back, we were really confused. A lovely French woman with her children in a stroller was kind enough to help us find our way to the hotel. We were simply three blocks away. If we’d not met her, we’d have given up, I’m sure, and tried to take a taxi the three measly blocks!

Double Expresso - a life-line during our trip!

After changing clothes and looking at a map of exactly where we are (duh!), we decided to find a cafe to sit in and to explore the area close by. It was still drizzling, but we switched our ponchos for the travel jackets we’d brought with us and the umbrellas. Much less touristy, and we fit in much better! We walked down the street that was an open-air market (marche) and I picked up some fruit; Dave picked up some pastry. We were dry and happy, finally. We found a cafe. I had my first cup of double expresso (double) with no soy milk. Over the week, I became much more accustomed to getting my caffeine in a quick shot, rather than slowly with a leisurely soy latte. Tastes less sweet and smooth, but I sure did cut down on the calories!

After the cafe, we walked a bit more to find a spot to eat. Now, the thing about Paris is that all the cafes serve some food – at least pastry – but at a certain time, they become restaurants and you can’t just sit and have a coffee. The market area had quite a few different places that looked like restaurants, but they were lunch places or places to “take away” food like we do in the US. With our (at this point, at least) limited knowledge of French and the words used in signage, we had difficulty understanding that. We did find a place to eat.

Eating in Paris was fairly easy, even though I have a ton of allergies. I think I mentioned before I left that I had created an allergy card that translated my list of food allergies. We would spend some time looking at the menu, translating it with software in our Palm-based phones, and then the server would come. I’d hand him (usually a male) the card and say, with a smile, “Je suis allergic“. And, for the most part, they were able to look at the menu and tell me what would be easy to prepare. I urged them to go to the chef with the allergy card and make sure. I ate a lot of “bar” a sea-bass like fish that is locally caught and readily available. Only a few times did the chef have a different option for me, since some things were prepared in advance with something on my allergy list. What I found was that the allergy card was taken much more seriously than my comments to servers here in the US. So, I’ve printed out some in English to carry when I go to restaurants here. We’ll see how that goes!

The Louvre, Paris, France

The next day, Wednesday, we went to the Louvre. we took the Metro, which required several changes and many stairs. By the time we got done with the trip itself, I was already tired. But I perservered. It was the only museum Dave was willing to go to with me. (Though he’s supportive of my art, he says he can’t appreciate art or museums in the same way I do.) And so, we went. We went through an airport-like screening, with my bag and cane needing to be x-rayed, we took the escalator down, we stood in line for tickets. And we found out, after 20 minutes of waiting in line that, since I’m “handicapped” (their word), I get to see the Louvre for free, as does my “companion”. So we headed in.

Mona Lisa - From about 10 meters away and through 3 panes of glass

Upon entering the European art wing, I noticed an unwelcoming scent. It was a mixture of mildew and sulfur, best I could tell. I hoped that as we got to the floors with the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo that we’d find it dissipated. Not so. And, honestly, Mona and Venus were so crowded and kept so far from easy viewing (a rope was around the double layers of glass that surrounded her and kept us about 10 meters away from Mona, for example), that I could not enjoy it very much. I was disappointed, but also had a headache from the smells. We figured that since we saw the two main attractions and paid nothing, it wasn’t too bad to leave. I knew I would visit another musuem on my own later in the week on my own. We then went to a cafe to see if my headache would go away and to decide on our next step.

Illustration of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France

The headache dissipated and we decided to head to the Notre Dame Cathedral on the Ile de le Cite, located in the midst of the Seine. We took the Metro to the “Citie” stop and then walked to Notre Dame. There we encountered our first Gypsy beggars and saw a lot of tourists. We took a seat along the outside front and I sat and drew. I started with a blind contour, so Notre Dame is a bit off-kilter, but I did take a lot of photos to look at and paint later. To the left is my rendering on-site. Not my greatest work, but oh, there was so much detail to capture… And, I had fun!

By the time I had done as much as I could with the drawing, Dave and I were getting hungry and ready to find a place to have lunch. We walked along the streets of and crossed over to the Ile de Saint-Louis. We found a bistro and sat down for lunch. From there, we walked down the cute cobblestone streets of Ile de Saint-Louis and headed back across the bridge to the Right Bank. We were headed to the Jewish Quarter of Paris, which we had been told was well-worth our time. We were going to spend about an hour there and then head back to the hotel.

Well, it started raining just as we crossed the Seine. We did, however, learn from our mistakes the day before, and I had to small umbrellas in my day pack. We had just passed a Metro station and ran into it for shelter. We decided that since I was tired and it quickly went from not raining to pouring, that we’d head back to the hotel. It wasn’t raining by the time we got to the hotel, but that was fine. We were tired and I was really trying to manage my energy. We went to the room and rested up for a while.

I think that’s enough of an update for the trip now. I’ll share more tomorrow.

Yesterday I spent the morning with Angie since I won’t see her for a while. She came over and worked on some beading while Max sat in the den and watched the Cartoon network. Max is now obsessed with arm wrestling, and tries really hard when we arm wrestle. I promised him that when I get back we’ll have a rematch!

After Angie left, I decided it was time to start organizing all my “stuff” for the trip. I packed most of the carry-on, making sure I had my quart-sized baggie with all tiny bottles that will fit in it. I packed a few small cases filled with the essentials for the flight. FIrst is an audio case for my audio adapter for the Baha and my iPod. I’m using my Palm Centro as an ebook reader, so I have plenty to read and no bulky books or magazines. I also packed some comfort stuff: special protein bars, tissues, some mints,  including all my medications in their original bottles (to prove I have prescriptions for them). I also had to make sure that I had a way of expressing my allergies to the chefs in France – they love their dairy and poultry there, and I’m severely allergic to both, among other things. So, I found a company online, Allergy Translation, that creates custom cards for you to carry in English and the language of your choice! I did this a few weeks ago, since I didn’t know how quickly the process would work. Well, it’s almost immediate! So, I printed out a bunch of cards (this way I won’t panic when I don’t get one back from the kitchen!) and laminated them and put them in my travel wallet. I also made sure that my MedicAlert account was up to date with all my medications and allergies. I’ll be wearing my MedicAlert bracelet on the trip, so if there is an emergency, there will be an easy way to get information.

All that’s really left is for me to pick up some soy protein packs and to finish packing, and to wait for Monday! My art supplies are packed in my day pack, along with my folding cane. I bought some hook and loop tape to make sure that my basket stays on my walker, and it appears to be working. I’ll test it today by adding something to the basket to see whether it holds. And, have the list of things I still need to add and later today, I’ll pack my clothes.

Once I got the carry-on all figured out, I decided to turn my attention to my small travel journal for the trip. It’s a green square handbook journal. The cover is made of canvas board, and the size is great. But it needed something to make it “mine”. I looked at my pile of collage crap somewhat organized ephemera and I found text about France, in French, maps of France, and some travel stickers. I had been hoarding saving these things for a special project (no, there was no particular project in mind when I came across these things!).

Well, there isn’t anything more special than our trip to France! So, I began by pasting in the map of France. Then I added some quad paper for some tables (what I did today, travel itinerary, etc.) and to add whatever I wanted to those pages. Then I added some ink to age the pages. It was the last thing I did before turning in for the evening. I was feeling excited, but I knew that there was something missing. The colors were too dull for all the energy I feel about this trip. So, this morning, I added some warm colors – yellows, oranges, reds. Now it looks a lot more like me! It’s all ready for the trip!

I’ll try to post more before I leave, but while I’m gone, my CreativeTherapy Catalyst responses will publish! Have an awesome weekend!