Hey hey folks!
How’s your winter been going? Are you freezing ?I hope to inspire you to stay warm and comfy as you read this post I will recall my time in France.
Though my trip there was short, the Ed experience did leave a long lasting impression on me and about France’s evolving culture… without further or do come with me…
Several years ago I visited France as a means to reconnect with an ex- boyfriend and to also reconnect with one of my good friends who a year earlier had been living in the US while she was doing a once in a lifetime Internship.
Overall the trip to France was 2 nights and 3 days long however, no lie! It felt much LONGER than that!
Day 1:
I had taken a bullet train from London, England to go to Paris for a budget price because I bypassed the expansive plane flight option. Click here to read about my London adventures (https://www.adventureswithbebe.com/london-adventures/)
I met up with my ex-bf at the train station and we headed to his place, which luckily was in the heart of the city.
He took me on a stroll around his neighborhood, it was small, congested, very French, and very historic looking. We went out to grab dinner at a restaurant near his apartment, I forgot what I ate however at the time I was a vegetarian so there were things I could eat and I assume the food was tasty because I don’t recall it being bad though I cannot recall the exact dish. 😉
Shortly after we finished eating our meal we left the quaint French restaurant and strolled around a little longer before finally heading to his apartment to plan the next two days of adventures!
Day 2:
We visited soo many museums that my head could literally explode! We woke up maybe around 6am and triple checked that we had all of our things (i.e. reusable bottled waters, snacks, fruits, money, cameras, etc.) because we did not plane on returning to the apartment until late that evening.
We dashed to Le Louvre, despite us arriving there early, the lines were extremely long. The lines were filled with tourists and locals alike from all over the world, it was quite amazing to see them all in their different colors, appearances and languages. I fondly remember seeing this large tour group of Asians, I’m not sure which ethnicity they were but they reminded me of now those huge sometimes loud Chinese tour guide groups I would see at various tourist sites throughout my time in China. My ex-bf and I spent a descent chunk of the day exploring the massive museum and it’s hidden compartments lol. I’m content to have gotten that off my bucket list but I’ll be honest, historically European art is not my ideal form of art or art expressions. I’ll reserve my opinions and will not go much further for fear of indirectly insulting or offending a louvre fan. My ex-bf and I did enjoy our time there though.
Immediately after leaving that museum we saw and Arc de Triomphe and chatted a bit…
Afterwards we grabbed a light lunch at a local and tiny French restaurant— again I don’t recall what I ate but it must of been delicious because I don’t have any memories of having consumed disgusting food while in France.
The last destination for the day was the fascinating- Palais de Tokyo. I love this museum soo much! Despite it not being as massive as some other museums it’s unique layout and use of space is uncanny! I saw soo many political and thought provoking art pieces there and recall seeing some eclectic folks as well which left a deep warm feeling within me. That museum featured international contemporary art sculptures, designs, installations and paintings.
I recall seeing one of Solange’s multimedia videos at Palais which was a promotion piece of her latest album at that time. I was just so surprised to have seen a Black American singer’s art in Paris you know? I felt like a kid at a theme park all throughout my time at Palais. As a result, Palais de Tokyo is one of my favorite museums of all time.
I won’t go into more details on museums but will dedicate a post to my top 10 museums from around the world.
We dutifully spent the rest of the night at Palais…
After we left we grabbed dinner and strolled around a bit and met up with one of my French friends. It was a special moment, we took pictures and linked up with her at her apartment in a suburb of France. Her neighborhood was orderly, less congested and very clean.
I was so happy to see her, it had been months since I’ve last seen her while she was in the US. We were both interns at a globally recognized organization.
…
Day 3
My ex-bf and I sort of did the same as the previous day by triple checking our bags and full of optimism for the long but short day of adventures. We hurried to the Musee de quai Branly- Jacques Chirac and absorbed so much history of African folks and the even larger African diaspora. I took so much photos of artifacts, sculptures, paintings and fabrics.
After we left that museum we visited the Eiffel (we didn’t go up top) however, we did sit on the lawn facing the Eiffel. Check out our view…
We chatted and ate a snack before leaving to return to the train station. My trip had come to its end, I needed to catch my train back to London. Ironically, guess what?
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.
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I missed my train by a couple of minutes. Luckily though, I was able to buy another ticket for the next train. So I did just that, parted ways with my ex- bf and was safely on the train back to London to link up with my CouchSurfing host who had been hosting me at that time (we are still friends till this day).
And there you have it folks! Which part of my adventures resonated with you and why?
Could you comment below ?
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Much love!
-Bebe