Today started as the day from hell. I for some reason was unable to remember a damn thing and had to go back three times to the hostel because I forgot things I needed. Then the kiss of death I went to make my train reservations at the local ticket office for my trip to southern france. Well from what I understood BEFORE going into the office I could make a reservation up to 5 minutes before a train leaves… so I figured two full days in advance, shouldn’t be a problem… Oops. So sorry but nope.

To start my ticket agent spoke no english, and her manager spoke a little so we haggled it out. They were nice people, but I after much review on the subject over the past weeks I have determined I got screwed. I ended up having to pay for an overnight train from Paris to milan italy, which stacked out at 131 euros. She told me that no trains were going to Nice or anywhere near Nice that would get me to Genova (my italian destination) on time or even close. That all the trains were booked, no seats left. I was pretty upset. So come to find out later that the Eurail pass only has a limited number of seats reserved on each high speed train and that once those fill up they do not allow any overages, as a EU citizen may need it. So odds are that train to Nice was half empty and I couldn’t ride it. So in my frustration I paid for a ticket that I probably didn’t need to pay for… I should have asked her or rather she should have suggested that I try taking the regional train routes, which I don’t need a reservation for using the pass. Granted it would have taken longer – much – much longer… but it would have been FREE!

So I guess this is a word of advice to all travelers out there – I thought I had it covered with the Eurail pass – guess what I didn’t. It is great for regional travel, which I had no trouble with at all -but with high speed trains or overnighters… book that reservation early. Now the irony of this is that it defeats the entire purpose of the pass itself. The pass is/was designed to allow for maximum freedom of travel across Europe, but with this limit on reservations for pass holders it pretty much kills the flexibility of it. No longer can you simply just hope a train to paris to nice… oh no… better book that shit ahead of time. So I guess had I been a little smarter  about their system and less frustrated I might have saved myself days of hunger and a harder trip in Italy.

Ok so after recovering from burning money I worked my way over to Notre Dame again because I wanted to climb the tower, for which there is a fee – this one I got in for free with my ID… and this was the ONLY one out of all the attractions I tried in Europe to get me in with a discount or for free with my ITSC ID – so frankly it was a waste of money. Before the climb I sat down and scribble my angst out in my journal while being surrounded by elementary school kids – there were like a thousand of them come to see the catherdral. It was funny but I couldn’t stay angry not being surrounded by these kids all eager and happy, all wanting to go see the church. Some were drawing, some were trying to find important things about the church running here and there. It got me thinking how wonderful it must be to grow up in a place where the appreciation for art and history is so important. Where an afternoon in the park with friends sharing wine and laughter is welcomed. Where embracing your lover as you walk along the street is respected, encouraged and open. They are really lucky to have such an environment, it was inspiring and refreshing to me to see.

So with a fresher perspective it was 387 steps up and down in a tight spirally staircase for me -up the tower to find the hunchback. Lucky for us that they broke it up into multiple stages so it was easier on you and you got to see different sections of the tower. Talk about wicked high up and what a view… wow… really great. I’m so very glad I did it. After the tower I started off to see San Chapelle, and gave up due to exhaustion, hunger and back pain. I made my way back to the hostel to simply relax – been running really hard and I felt I deserved an evening off if you will. So I went to the store, got some dinner and sat down to watch the semi-finals of the French Open, with some people. Talk about wow… the energy in the bar was intense. Everyone was really excited and the evening turned into a real blast. For my last night in Paris it was good. I managed to meet up with a few people there and got a mess of beers bought for me. It was a great time, we closed the bar and all drifted our seperate ways.  Tomorrow I I was to leave Paris… but not without seeing the coolest so far on the trip…More on that tomorrow…

Here are some shots from the day…

Breakfast at the hostel was simple and nice – I drank a bit too much coffee I think, but whatever. Stuck waiting on the damn internet cafe to open up so I can transfer my picture files off the cards to the hard drive. Man am I glad I bought those extra memory cards – I would have been screwed without them. But the transfering is a pain – his damn computers are stupid slow and the keyboards are in french so they are not QWERTY. It makes for interesting email typing thats for sure. All my tech is working ok – a bit of a scare with my ipod but it was just completely drained. The battery recharger was acting funny but I got that working as well. So crazy that I’m worked up over my tech after I spent the day at the Louvre yesterday. All that raw art chock full of inspiration and creativity and I fret over my camera. I should be sketching more but I find that I’m using my camera in that way. I think I really am a photographer at heart – I’m just gonna have to accept it.

All my clothing and gear are doing well – again especially the underwear. I know I keep going on about these things but you guys out there know what I’m talking about. You cannot beat a good pair of underwear when you are traveling. No rubbing, no pinching, smooth silky ride all day no matter how much I sweat or what I’m doing. Ex-Officio you guys made one hell of a killer product and I’m glad for it.  Money is gonna be tight near the end of the trip I fear – but like everyone said pack half as much as you think and take twice as much cash – boy where they right.

My day really got jumping when I hit the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. I went by the markets got food and a bottle of red wine for lunch. My intention was to have lunch with Mr. Morrsion and drink with all my artists at the cemetery – well that sort of happened. Turns out that they have a standing guard at Jim Morrisons grave to prevent any more defacing of the graves that surround his and I did manage to have half my sandwich and part of the bottle before the guard shooed me off. No worries I had my drink with the lizard king so I was happy. I then proceeded to hit all the greats who were buried there and had a drink with each of them, toasting to their memory and thanking them for the influence. I saw Jim Morrsion, George Melies (father of cinematography), Marcel Marceau (the only mime I ever liked), Paul Eluard (french surrealist poet), Theodore Gericault (painted the raft of the medusa), Victor Noir (chap killed by Napollean in a duel), Fredrick Chopin (composer) and the highlight for me Oscar Wilde. The tradition with Wildes grave is to put on ruby red lip stick and kiss it – well I did it I’m not ashamed to say. 

The day took a slightly somber turn before I got to Wilde’s grave. I came upon a whole section of memorials for the holocaust camps  Auschwitz, Buchenwald, etc. What made this especially weird was I was surrounded by German tourists speaking german. The memorials gave me chills especially the buchenwald one. It was of these three massive degenerating figures holding each other in the throes of death. Even the flies wouldn’t leave the statues alone it was as if they were alive and dying right in front of me. Then it was on to see Oscar Wildes grave and I had a thought as I was leaving the cemetary.

Alot of these people I came to see were persecuted and greatly mis-understood in their time. It was a cemetery of the persecuted dead. A place of haunting beauty that only in death do people now understand the importance of their achievements and sacrifices, only now long after they have turned to dust do people think of what they did and offer up praise. Cemeteries to me are usually places of forgotten souls where the gardens of stone sit unvisited for decades because everyone who knew the deceased are long gone as well and they just become another name in a sea of granite. As I walked through this garden I wondered who all these other people were and what grand accomplishments they had achieved in their lives, what wonders had they witnessed, what sorrows had they clutched to their hearts, and if they too had been persecuted or mis-understood just like dear Oscar Wilde. It was a very sobering and inspiring day and I’m thankful for it.

Here are some shots from the day…

Well I blew off the walking tour I was gonna take and just set off on my own. I managed to get up at like 6 am – not that I slept at all… stupid snoring kept me up and my roommates weren’t exactly thrilled. Well all Im gonna say is ear plugs people… bring ear plugs.

The day was pretty adventurous over all. It was wicked chilly in the morning like 55 degrees as I walked over to the tower on my way to the river and the louvre. I wandered down Rue St. Germain and had a wonderful cafe latte and chocolat brioche (chocolate croissant)  for breakfast. After that I was on a mission to score my lunch at one of the niffty markets and I had read of a good one up a ways on St. Germain. I managed to find it and got some really amazing food – the cheese I got was good but smelled like 10 day old armpits. It was definitely not a good addition to my day pack.

As I came out of the market I stumbled upon Paris’s oldest church, a real ancient romanesque beauty the church of St. Germain. It wasn’t the vast expanses of some of the churches I knew I was going to see but it was powerful in it solidity and somber in it’s silence. I think this church really symbolized my trip overall – it was the small undiscovered quaint places that moved me and not the typical over the top attractions that everyone sees, but more on that later.

After being entranced by St. Germain I headed over to the Louvre to get my art freak on – and boy howdy was I in for a treat. I got to pay a full 9 Euros to see the collection – I’m sorry she said but we only give discounts to European professors (which ended up being true at 80 percent of the museums and attractions all across Europe). Well its the Louvre after all so I just paid the lady and went with my hand on my jaw to keep it from hitting the floor every 20 feet when I saw another piece of eye popping sculpture or art. What can I say about the Louvre really its big… like grand canyon big… so much to see and no where enough time. So I focused on seeing a few things I really wanted to see and breezed through the rest. 

I don’t know why but I have always been entranced by ancient sculpture, maybe its their ability to capture such life and motion in a surface that is so solid and steady. Needless to say I spent alot of time in the Louvre’s sculpture area. I then managed to visit good ole rembrant and vemeer and was spell bound by them for almost a solid hour. I blew through the french painters – not much there really and kind of drifted around the mannerists with their bright colors and full figures, but I just kept coming back to the sculpture. Oh well…. 

I had lunch in the gardens at the Louvre and took a nap in the shade – it was amazing. I love France for this reason alone, lunch and naps in a park. Another plus was the Starbucks in the Louvre – only one I saw in all of Europe… funny that. After the Louvre I made it back to the hostel for a quick change and headed back out to Notre Dame to do my first night shoot. I got some good stuff I think and the temp dropped pretty fast. I walked back from Notre Dame at like midnight and it was like a 5 mile walk back to the hostel. Should have taken the train but then I wouldn’t have gotten some of the cool shots I got. Either way it was a hard hike, and I was very very very tired after it. 

So here’s the shots from day 2… there are alot hope you like them…

Well we almost crashed on landing in Paris – it was really jumpy and slidy. The lady next to me puked and some of the overhead bins opened up, few people screamed… so what a way to start Paris. Once I got off the plane it took me about 20 minutes to get my pack all re-arranged for solo travel – all 55lbs of it. Considering the weight of it – the pack made it feel like nothing. That Gregory Baltoro 70 kicks serious butt!!! really enjoy it! Once I was all packed up it was surprisingly easy to find my way out and about. I was a bit concerned regarding this as several people told me the airport was hard to navigate in… not for this super traveler apparently!

I got to the information booth to find the location of the proper train and this poor hapless American guy in front of me totally loud butchered the basic greeting and asking if the guy spoke English… I mean like comedian butchered bad. He could not have been more hapless or clueless. I sort of felt bad for the guy, but all he had to do was listen to a audio book on basic phrases and he would have been fine…. oh well lazy is as lazy does.

I stood in line for bout 45 minutes waiting to purchase my rail pass for Paris metro – 48 Euros later I had it and was all set for total transportation for the week. Seemed a bit steep to me, but definitely worth getting considering how much I used the rail pass I believe I got my moneys worth. The train system is well marked and very easy to use, but this could also be because of my experience in Tokyo and their metro.  It was clean, fast and the people weren’t mean. I was able to find my stop and the hostel.

The hostel was a bit sketchy but pretty damn cool all in all. I stayed in a dorm with like 7 other people and I managed to score the top bunk – poor bastard below me. I changed and locked up my stuff using my trusty pac safe wire mesh – which while being a bit of a hassle at first really worked very well the entire trip once I got the routine down. I would highly recommend them.  I then went down to the bar, quizzed the barkeep/innkeeper Neil – whom was a really nice cat – and went out exploring.

I went walking, got an apple and a baguette and some cheese. I ended up in the park that looks down towards the Effifel tower. I sat down with my french meal, and set up my camera for my first time lapse. The park was full of french students, talking, cuddling, relaxing over dinner. It was so nice. The temp was like 71 degrees and the breeze was softly blowing -just perfect. The apple was super and all the little shops with fruits, and breads… oh my god the fruit and vegetable market was just luscious and amazing.

So I’m sitting here letting the camera just shoot away and people are coming and going and these young lovers set up right in front on me perfect in frame… ah paris what a wondeful thing. Nearby you can hear the sound of guys playing basketball and listening to gangster rap… in french! Its all a bit surreal actually. Here are some shots from the day…