C'est la vie

I arrived in Paris with lethargy… that turned to feeling unwell… that moved to sickness… which, then, was diagnosed as influenza (the flu, for those following along at home… or “not the man-flu” for those who are with husbands).

I have been in Paris for 7 days.  I believe I took my main camera out for one hour, on one day.  Last Sunday I went to the Louvre… however, the queue was so long for those without tickets, I decided to come back to the hotel and book some tickets for another day.

Paris is interesting.  Such a multicultural city (with locals) and such a multicultural city (with tourists).  While rough on the ground, the architecture and history do tend to take over that feeling that you are in a tourist-trap.  Probably not a wise state to be in. 

On that night, I decided to go truly French, with an escargot entrée.  I forgot how amazing French food actually is.  The butter, herbs, presentation and… taste.  I ate bread for two, just mopping up the butter sauce.  For those not used to European sizing… medium beers here = VERY large.

Monday night was meant to be Lido for the 9pm show to see my friend perform.  He told me earlier, that he was no longer performing that night, but I was determined to go.  Realising that my crappy old converse were not of a standard that would allow me entry, I spent the morning hunting down some “cheap” black shoes.  I found them in a shop where a very old, smelly man, smoking a cigarette (in his store), with no English tested my translation app (as well as my tolerance for smells).  By 6pm I looked good.  By 7pm I was passed out on the bed… looking good in all but health. I gave the shoes to the hotel cleaner here, who is nice, not paid enough, and has the same shoe size.

By NYE I was starting to feel a little worse for wear.  My friend, Feng, was coming to spend NYE with me.  I thought a few drinks would help.  They did… up until about 10pm.  Walking to the fireworks, seeing the masses of similar people doing the same, we detoured to a quiet bar, had a few drinks, and decided to call it a night.  I ended up listing to the fireworks from my bed.

After that, I was sick.  A couple of days getting worse, still disappointed I had not seen any of the sites or done much in the terms of photography.  I ended up going to the hospital.  Sure my sickness was becoming a sinus infection.  Long story short, it took many hours… and missing out of a tour… to get to see a doctor here.  He stuck things up my sinus’ (those of you how have had this done will understand the amount of tears coming out of my eyes), did his thing… and declared “you have influenza”. I gave my tickets for Catacombs and Lourve to Feng… who enjoyed them.

While my photography has been limited here, there is one photo I really love. I will put it in my “Current Photos” along with a couple of others. But it is, by far, my favourite photo since Leiden.

My main concern, with two days to go, is my capability of actually going on this thirteen day tour in Morocco.  So with one day of bed rest behind me, two days to go, I am living on fluids, soups, vegetables and sleep.  I am currently sleeping about 15 hours a day (on and off).  I am sweating a lot, which is good.  And I am gearing myself up to present myself to the tour group on Monday and say “I’m totally fit to ride a camel”.

On that note: Morocco will be the only place I am going where I will not have mobile data.  So my response rate will go from minutes/hours to days.

Missing home and Sherwin, Willow and everyone else more now than I have in the past month.  Perhaps that’s because I am “sick and sooky” or perhaps its because I have never been away for so long before.

No walking distance this post… not worth it 😝

Viva la France... and Cheers,

JC