A Canadian Girl in Paris

---

A single girl in Paris

I had a hard time recovering from the late night arrival from Israel into London. But – to make my jet-lag easier, Laurie had the day off because it was a strike day for civil servants. He took me to a new burger joint in Brixton Village that he knew served gluten free buns with their kick ass burgers. Starting to believe I could just move in with Laurie. I love his place, his neighbourhood, and all the amazing gluten free food within a 5 minute walk.

Later that night I managed to meet up with one of my favourite people in the world. I met Yogi (a British Indian guy) in Singapore in January 2007. I met him on the couch in the hostel and invited him to dinner with a group of us. 20 minutes later and he had invited himself on my journey the next day to Borneo. What resulted was 2 of the funniest weeks I have ever had traveling. We fought like brother and sister, the guy can make me laugh 24-7, and some seriously funny stuff happened to us while climbing Mt Kinabalu.

We went for some yummy Indian food in South London, and then I got to meet his lovely fiancé. I was shocked that he scored a girl that was so pretty, and yet he told me he thinks he is getting the short end of the stick. Terrible.

Friday was drinks after work with Eng and Helen and Kate (two wonderful girls we met in Turkey). I tried to get to bed early as I had a 6:50 Eurostar train to Paris to visit my darling Christopher.

So – Christopher is one of the London crew that saved me on the beaches of Goa, India in 2007. When I came to visit them on my first trip to London at Christmas that year, Laurie was one of his roommates at the time (which is how we met and he became my fave couch to surf in London).

Christopher is a menswear designer with Kenzo, and has been living in Paris of the last 3 years. When I arrived I met his adorable Brazilian born/Parisian raised boyfriend (Felipe) who took me on a massive walking tour of the city, which included a visit to try the best macarons (gluten free treat). Salted Caramel. Hot Damn was I in heaven. Felipe works for a food guide in Paris so I was loving his opinion on places to eat, where the best ice cream was, and stories of fabulous food events in the city.

That evening Christopher and I packed some picnic items and met some of his friends on the banks of the Seinne to drink with the locals. His super-skinny designer friends included guys who work for Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Joseph, etc. I think the funniest part was when one of them looked at me about to eat a gluten-free brownie and he said “you do not want to put that in your mouth.” If I had gay men with for the last three months, perhaps I wouldn’t have put on so much weight in Europe.

By 2 am we were on our way to Tango – a cheap gay bar in Paris. Uh – at lunch Fillipe had a 4 euro ($5.50) glass of coke. I just about had a heart attack. So when we only had to pay 8 euro for cover charge I was actually happy that it was so cheap. Relativity in Paris is a strange thing. Tango was hilarious, throw on some Beyonce and Lady Gaga in a bar full of gay men and you got yourself a fun time. I had a great time, and even got up on the stage to do a little single ladies booty shaking. The guy beside me gave me a Super! (insert cute French accent).

Sunday the three of us took out the Velib rental bikes and set off for the Eiffel Tower. I couldn’t think of better company to escort me to the Eiffel tower for the first time. I had no desire to stand in line for hours to ride to the top, and we took a stroll towards to the Arc de Triumph and for more salted caramel macarones. That evening we had a wonderful dinner at a French restaurant where I inhaled a traditional French steak with blue cheese sauce.

Monday the boys had to work so I set off for the free walking tour – my guide was a hilarious girl who affirmed my non-checklist of Paris by saying don’t waste your time standing in line to go to the Louvre, Notre Dame, and up the Eiffel Tower. Instead I went up to Sacre Cure to get a great view of Paris, a walk through a beautiful church, watch people get their portrait done, and get my photo in front of the Moulin Rouge. (Oh – and some amazing gelato, because I thought it made me look more Parisian to be walking around in my vintage Christian Dior sunglasses, a short dress, and eating ice cream).
That evening we went for another great dinner and I went for the Steak Tar Tar (raw steak). I informed Felipe that it has Czech origins, and well… I like how they serve it at Bistro Praha better.

I said goodbye to the boys in the morning and got on another train headed to Brussels. I stored my bag at the train station and did my own walking tour to the flea market (got myself 2 more hats),went through some beautiful churches, squares, and had myself some Belgium fries. I don’t know why we call them French Fries, because the Belgiums invited them, and the trick is that they cook them twice. After getting twice the fat – you then dip them in mayo. Sounds terrible but actually quite tasty.

I caught an afternoon train to Antwerp where Tine was waiting for me. So – I met Tine and Jo in Bali in December 2006. We were on the same van-boat-bus-boat to Gili Twanghan where I spent Christmas week with them and a handful of other people. It goes down as one of my favourite places in the world and best travel experiences, I had a blast with them. Tine is so kind and Jo made me laugh, especially when he would go on a rant about how he wanted to find the man who sang the call the prayer at 5 am… and murder him.
They’ve since been married and have a 2.5 year old beautiful blonde boy named Jack. He didn’t quite understand that I didn’t speak Flemish (Dutch) – and proceeded to have me confused the whole time I was there.

I was offered their couch in what I can only describe as one of the most beautiful apartments I have ever seen. The building was an elevator factory, and Jo converted the upstairs into the most amazing place. That night I was treated to an amazing dinner and then go to press some buttons to have the livingroom window shutters go down and a curtain separate my room from the rest of the place. It was like a bat cave – I went into a coma and had the best sleep in over a month.

The next day I met up with Sofie and Joost – my other Antwerp friends that I traveled with in Peru last year. Since I last saw them, Joost has been accepted to do his PHD in Michigan, they got married so that Sofie would be able to get a work visa for the states, and they got pregnant! I had a wonderful afternoon walking around teeny tiny Antwerp, rubbing Sofie’s belly, and teasing Joost about being too skinny. I am hoping they can come visit me in Alberta – I want to take them to their first hockey game!

That evening I went on date night with Tine and Jo to an old-school fish house where I devoured a massive bowl of mussels – which Tine assured me Antwerp is famous for. Afterwards we walked to the top of a new museum with an open rooftop view of the city and harbor. Seriously – Antwerp is adorable.

I was sad to say goodbye to Tine – but I am convinced we will see each other again, and hopefully next time it won’t take 4.5 years in between. It was cheaper to fly back to London, and I had a riot at the airport in Antwerp. It is basically downtown, only 2 km from their house, you can arrive 15 minutes before departure, and the little propeller plane (which they served Belgium chocolates on) only took one hour to get me back to London.

My highlight of London was a day in East London with Rose Cory- a hat milliner. She made all the Queen Mum’s hats from 1969 until her death, and she also trained Jane Corbett - who is now making some of Kate Middleton’s hats. I was in good hands and had a wonderful day learning lots of new techniques. She stayed over an hour longer so that I could finish my piece – which is one kick-ass yellow hat that is soooo ready for the horse races when I get back to E-town. If I could I would spend the next year training with her – she is such a wonderful patient lady. It was definitely a highlight of my trip.

Saturday turned out to be another Turkey reunion. Eng and I met Helen to go to the Broadway market where the food is amazing and the shopping is fab. I had the best mushroom truffle risotto and bought myself another hat. (Helen had a good laugh when I stressed about becoming a hat whore through Europe).

We met up with Kristine- a Danish girl that Lena and I hung out with in Colombia last year, and set off for a bbq at the South Africans (who I fell in love with in Turkey). Rachel – a girl we met there who had broke her foot and was in our dorm joined in and we had quite the little garden party. Great food, great people, and a wonderful last night out in London.

Sunday I did another course and learned some techniques to make birdcage veils (stay tuned for new stuff when I get home), and then binged on shopping in Kingly Court. I was doing so well – and then I just crashed. But – at least I will be coming home with some fun fashion from some local London designers.

I had a fabulous but sad last Thai dinner with my little buddy Eng – we had a wonderful lady-boy serve us who was absolutely hilarious! I now have to convince her to come to E-town to visit. She said she will only come if we can rent a hummer. Seriously – British people can be so random.

I had a sad goodbye to my wonderful host Laurie. He was off in Paris for the weekend, and I had a bit of a laugh after finding out that I was supposed to feed his cat twice a day instead of just the morning. The cat drove me mental every morning, I thought he just wanted to cuddle, but now I realize I had him on a crash diet.
And so – my summer European adventure is over.

In just over three months I made my way to England, Albania, Macedonia, Turkey, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, France and Belgium. Huge hugs to all the friends I made and the couches I surfed. My bag is full with too many hats, some random trinkets, a great new wardrobe, and a scrap booked journal filled with wonderful memories.

I am off to Toronto for follow up training with CCI who sent me to Africa…. Until the next adventure.

---