sabbatical
i'm taking a little-mini-wanna-be-sabbatical at the end of january. i need perspective. and a world one at that. i just sent in my passport renewal because i'm tired of travelling with my maiden name and a marriage license. i'm literally ecstatic to have a new picture to show the customs officials. there's nothing like a lame-ass passport picture to put a damper on your spirit every time you have to flip open the thing. yeah. so paris. it's a city i've been to a few times before, so i'm comfortable there. it's beautiful and i always feel incredibly invigorated and inspired upon my return.
my first time there was in '95. i was travelling alone on a eurail pass and was hanging out in berlin a few hours before my train left for paris. being alone, i was always scoping out other backpacks and talking to folks with red maple leaves and australian flags. fearless, i was. i smoked at the time and my scam was to never have a lighter so i could strike up a conversation with just about anyone. i met this guy named tim that way in the berlin zoo station. turned out he was taking an overnight to paris too and was french canadian to boot! we had different departure times. no biggie, i thought. "hey, let's meet at 10:30 tomorrow morning at the such-and-such hostel..."
my train was the earlier train and i climbed aboard and locked myself into a cabin and settled in for the night. i sat on my pack and wrapped myself tightly in my coat and cracked the window letting in fresh air and the cold to avoid being gassed, which was the trendy way at the time to rob american kids backpacking. the train rattled on and at one point i opened my eyes only to see some young kid slowly opening my coat pocket. i opened both of my eyes and calmly said, "um, you need to leave at once. are you serious?" he muttered 'excuse me' or something and scurried off. as he left, i lept up and realized, holy crap! i was almost robbed! i sat awake the rest of the night with all the lights on.
exhausted and totally sleep deprived, i arrived in paris at 6am, navigating well enough to get some breakfast and arrive at the hostel at the designated 10:30 time. lo and behold, tim was there! we spent 3 days together, visiting all the sites and eating yummy food. i never had a language problem there because he spoke fluent french and always ordered my food and navigated the city for us. trust me when i say the whole thing was terribly g-rated. we were in a hostel and slept on our own bunks, among rows of bunks. when it was time for us to depart the city, we hugged good bye and exchanged addresses. he was off to calais and i was headed to amsterdam, both us alone on our respective journies.
i had one snail mail communication with tim the following summer when i lived in yosemite national park. tenative plans were made for me and a gal-pal to road trip to canada to visit, but it didn't happen. a subsequent trip a few years ago to paris was equally delightful in its own way. i look forward to this one though. i've got a lot on my mind and the escape is welcomed.
