Paris in the Spring {Break}

Today I was in Africa and all I got was this crummy picture.

I was basking in the warm, arid breeze of Casablanca. Well, its airport’s tarmac when I realized what my day of travel had done. You wait on this line, sit in this seat, wait on this other line, deliver concise perfunctory responses, and sit in this other seat, possibly for hours, and things happen. You step out of a door and the entire world is different from what you know. Like the feel of this air, a mix of jet fuel and cultures and social norms unknown. It’s amazing how far you can get in a day, and how far away you can feel, when you’re away from any remote sense of familiarity. 

And then I remember why I love to travel. It’s just you. Everything else is different. Stripped of routine, a day becomes a blank canvas, your blank canvas. And everything you are underneath all that stuff you do in your regular life emerges. And you remember that she is fervently curious, adventurous, eager for action with direct and immediate consequence. She dismisses lengthy and exhaustive deliberation–on anything–and embraces a potent of freedom forgotten. She stands on her balcony and {queue the rising music for effect} she takes it in. Ok, enough of that third person perspective.

I arrived in Paris, France today and found my accommodations in Bastille. After a day of travel and an early train to Amsterdam the next morning, I had to head out to see at least one sight before finally getting some proper sleep. Of course, it was the Eiffel Tower on the Champ-de-Mars.

Just like the pictures, the Eiffel Tower is beautiful. Though an icon from afar, “Iron Lady” was most impressive close up, like a soft expanse of intricate and delicate fabric, yet iron.

What is conveniently cropped out of the pictures are the hoards of vendors and tourist scams happening on the ground. Yuck.

I was happy to have caught her at dusk. 

And having no proper vegan meal for quite some time, I needed a quick, fool-proof, all-vegan meal if I was to fall asleep happy. I headed to Hank, a burger joint with high standards. They make their sauces, they have delicious burger concoctions that I cannot read or understand and, therefore, I choose one randomly. I got Le Grand Menu with a La Rockeuse hankburger (with “creamy fig & fresh rocket sauce”), a side of wedges, a drink and a chocolate chip cookie.

The burger was absolutely delicious. And not because I was living off 2 Lara Bars for the last day and a half. I mean, just look. It was the creamy and subtle sweetness of the fig sauce, along with a hearty and flavor patty, that did me in. 

And potato. Even when they’re not great, they’re amazing. Now, finally… sleep.

One last glimpse of my room’s view from the balcony and one last blast of light from Iron Lady and I’ll be on my way.