Just waved goodbye to mum as she got on the shuttlebus to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, lugging behind her all my moroccan goodies... (thanks mum) and suddenly I feel very alone again! We've been together virtually every second of every day for a whole month, probably the most of our lives!! Well, since I was a baby, anyway. And while we certainly got on each other's nerves, we had many an adventure together and it suddenly feels so empty without mum here!But for better or worse I'm heading back to Rome on a late night flight tonight, and will be reunited with my studies in Rome tomorrow. I've never been more motivated! Haha.
The last three days in Paris have blown my mind. Somehow I expected it to be just another cheesy European capital city, with the same beutiful big buildings and architecture and crappy weather... well I was right about the weather, but of all the big cities I've been to so far, Paris tops the list! The place is neverending, and aside from the hundreds of tourist attractions, every corner you turn reveals a new cafe, patisserie or funky shop. It sprawls out for miles in every direction, with each arrondissement having its own particular flavour, and everything just blending in nicely in between. People of all races speaking all languages mill the streets, and with my elementary french to break the ice, there was not a SINGLE sign of the stereotypical snooty-french-waiter-type. They were all absolutely charming! What's more, it has none of the artificiality, chaos or filth of Rome or many other cities, with the tourist merchandise shops being few and far between, and the tourists themselves blending in easily with the multicultural population. To top it all off, every time we jumped on the metro we were greeted by live music, ranging from clarinet solos to entire mini-orchestras! So very atmospheric.
We did it all, considering how little time we had. Freezing our buns off, we did a night tour of the city on bikes to get our bearings. We also did a full day tour of Versaille. We walked from Notre Dame right along the "historic axis of symmetry" through the Louvre, the Tuileries gardens and down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomph. We spent an evening drinking champagne and watching a show at the Moulin Rouge, climbed the huge hill to the Sacre Coeur, wandered through the Musee D'Orsay where we could literally have touched many famous works of Van Gough, Monet and many others, and said goodbye to the city shrouded in grey from atop the Grande Arche, in the funky and enormous business district, La Defense. We also did our best to stuff ourselves full of French bread and pastries, and struggled through a delicious meal of Fioe Gras and Duck Magret, having only just rediscovered our appetites after Morocco. Which leads me to another sotry.
For the first few days in Morocco we could not believe the amazing flavours you could get with just a few dollars, and were filling up on Tagines and sweets left over from ramidan. But just as we were getting over our culture shock from the medinas and about to head away from the hectic Moroccan cities and onto the backroads..... the dreaded bug hit. Six of our crew of eleven went down overnight, quite violently, several of them vomiting uncontrollably. Mum and I were amongst them. We assumed food poisoning was the culprit, as the other 5 sat smugly, feeling quite good about themselves. We had a full day on the bus that day, and had to stop every ten minutes or so, so that someone could have a chunder on the side fo the road, or to find toilets. I sat shivering, huddled up to mum, wrapped in about 50 thick layers of clothes. The mood was pretty low. I don't remember anything about midelt beause I slept for 18 hours that night.
Eventually everyone else caught the bug as well, so that by the end all of us got hit, except our blessed young Japanese doctor, who was taking a short break from her 2 years of solo volunteer work in Africa and probably ended up working harder on her holiday than she would have in Africa. Her boyfriend Tristan was pretty flat out translating, too, as she didn't speak English and only two of us could speak French with her.
As it turned out we all rallied and were well enough to at least get on our camels and ride into the Western Saharan sunset, although I don't think anyone's stomach enjoyed the sensation too much! We couldn't do justice to the enormous berber-cooked tagine either, as tasty as it was! Nonetheless, the desert remained a hilight for all of us, as the sound of bongo drums and berber songs carried on way into the night, and the stars were unlike any I've ever seen before. I got to see my first shooting star, too! Sa'id, our Moroccan guide, did his best to keep us all laughing and well-informed about Morocco right to the last hour of the trip, despite our low morale. I also spent rediculous amounts of money, unable to resist all the cheap prices (which of course when all added together are no longer cheap!!!), and splashed out on hand-woven bedspreads, a leather jacket, beautifully decorated tagines and tonnes of other tidbits. I don't feel too guilty though, since mum bought a large silk carpet....!
So that is just about the end of my adventures, until my last hurrah, which will be 5 days in Barcelona and San Sebastian with Ilaria. I may get some surfing in after all! Meanwhile I will be studying hard and hopefully making daily breakthroughs in the climate change problem, hahaha!
Love to all!
Kel xox
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