| happy 2004! |
| 01/01/2004: Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a good time ringing in 2004. I get to leave a week from Saturday! That doesn't sound like a long time at all. I feel like I should be preparing, like sorting out the clothes and things I will take with me. Ooh, I am excited. This part, the anticipation, the preplanning, is always the hardest. It's too easy to overthink things. Especially since I'll basically only be gone a week, I have to force myself to calm down and quit worrying about buying the right clothes and accessories. I am hoping to be a little more spontaneous on this trip, but if that doesn't work out, oh well. Thinking about a day-tour to the Loire Chateaux, a morning (at least) spent in Chartres, a couple days in Brussels, plenty of time to wander museums, and a day or two flaner: an archaic French term meaning to meander the city, not exactly aimlessly, but for exploring, lazily, indulgently. The sort of day where you people watch, eat street vendor treats, stroll casually down the Champs Elysees or the back streets near your hotel, sketching, photographing, envisioning that the entire city exists for your sole pleasure. With all this contemplation of this fast-approaching adventure, my mind is more and more drawn to thinking about my next adventure. Since I don't have money for extended travel, I am planning to move to another area of the US and get a new and different job. It is thrilling and scary and uncertain, but necessary. I am not complacent, but just plain bored with my job. I am seeking a new place for myself, where I am challenged to learn entirely new things, meet entirely new people, create a fulfilling adult life. |
| HOME/ABOUT/FIRE 4 SITE PICTURES HERE! JOURNALS: ONE-FIVE/SIX-TEN/ELEVEN-FIFTEEN/SIXTEEN-TWENTY TWENTY-ONE/TWENTY-TWO THE ROAD TRIP/2001 EUROPE TRAVELOGUE 1-7 |
| 01/03/04: Is there anything more bittersweet than reading old love letters? |
| 01/06/04: It's a snowstorm! Stacey drove us to work, but hardly anyone was there, so the boss let us all go home! Woo!! The snow is blowing and drifting and making it difficult to drive on the empty streets...it's so lovely. So I leave in just a few days. Yikes, I'm not sure that I feel prepared. I went out and got some things for the trip. I got a trio of camp silverware, so that I can be my own moveable feast. And some packing things will be delivered this week, I hope. Last night I drove into Seattle to get my student/youth ID, which will save me money. I don't know if I have the right clothes, or enough clothes. Winter clothes are heavier and bigger than summer clothes. I may only have room for three outfits. Then again, I am planning on shopping when I get there. Here's to hoping for post-holiday season sales in the big department stores! Does anyone want presents, anything in particular? A scarf, a snowglobe, an artist's rendering of the night-lit Seine? |
| That link said Zelco,e to Pqris1 7no; thqtùs not q typo0 Welcome to paris! (no, that's not a typo) hurrah for new keyboards! 12 Jan 2004: I am here! I was even fairly awake all day yesterday (for those who didn't hear, I left at 11:30 (but actually it was 1) on Saturday and arrived (on time) in Paris at 11am. I checked in to the hostel and took for a walk for the rest of the afternoon, from Opera (in the 8th I think) back to the hostel in the 5th. I took the mother of all naps around five, passing out and then waking up at nine and not sure what day I was in. Anyway, had a fairly normal night last night. Today had a leisurely breakfast of orange juice and a demi-baguette, and then spent a few hours at the Centre Pompidou. Went shopping and then saw a film, called Happy End, at the underground mall, Les Halles. It rather wore me out. I meant to go back out and to the Louvre this evening, but oops, oh well. Tomorrow am planning on attending a walking tour and then visiting the Musee d'Orsay. I love being in Paris! The smells, even the icky ones, remind me that I'm really here, and that I love it. I wish I had more time to visit other places; everyone else here (well, in the hostel) is Australian or American and all have buckets of time to visit all over Europe. It's strange being a "grown-up" around all these younger student types. Anyway, now I am tired and need a shower. I'm glad I like adventure, because the showers are just weird. It's a button. Bonne nuit! |
| 14/01/04: Look at that, I'm picking up Euro-isms all over the place. And it's Wednesday, I'm pretty sure, so that means my trip is already halfway over. But I'm trying not to think about it like that. So would the optimist version of that say it's half begun? Weird. Tuesday I began with an eclair au chocolat (finally!) and then a walking tour of the Marais (the Jewish district, home of the Place des Vosges). It was lovely and educational, the guide was wonderful, and the rain wasn't even a problem. Anyone who is planning a visit to Paris or London should go on a walking tour, check them out. There is a Rome equivalent, whose name is escaping me, that is also excellent. Hurrah for walking tours. Then the bulk of my day (five hours of the afternoon) was spent at the Musee d'Orsay. It was incredible and huge. It just kept going and going. Also, I attended a concert at Notre Dame in the evening, which was just incredible. Today, I am pleased to report, you will find me in Brussels. It's quite interesting, but only when you're in the centre of the town, which is where you find the Grand Place and environs. I have no idea what I'm doing or where I'm going, but I'm remaining patient and good things are happening. I happened into a museum of chocolate this afternoon, for instance. I booked into a small hotel today, the room is TEENSY, but it's a bed, plus a bathroom en suite. That's what matters. And there's even a TV; I can watch Euro-MTV tonight! |