One year later ~ daddy-daughter adventures abroad! ~ Days 1-2 ~ WELCOME TO PARIS! :)

DAY 1: 

Wednesday 12 July 2017

Bon voyage!

Here we goooooo!

This is the first time I've started the preparations and packing so far in advance (a week early! Technically. When I packed for Lifest I also put aside clothes I wanted to pack in a laundry basket. And then Sunday I started preliminary packing logistics. Luggage draft one. Plus laundry sunday night and all day Monday. A second round Monday. A third and fourth and maybe fifth draft Tuesday. Replenished toiletries and gathered things I think I'll take along in my backpack.

Dad still hasn't started. 

…

Wednesday wake up and make some adjustments. Revise those earlier drafts. Coming down to the wire. Dad's ready and I'm not. Not quite. 

Went to visit grandma and spent over an hour with her while she chewed and chewed her hotdog. A lot of what we said to her went unanswered and occasionally (I worried) Unheard. But she enjoyed the ice cream we brought. And dad prayed. And at one point I told her I loved her and she looked back at me and told me she loved me too and I felt it was real/true/her... I don't know what to pray for for her, I don't know if this was the last time I'll see her (I cried there thinking it might be), but I truly hope it's not the last ice cream I bring her (and not just because of the fear of interrupting this trip and all he stress/worry that would entail). I miss my grandma. God help me with however this goes. Give her comfort. Give us all strength and peace...

Home again and it was the last rush and final adjustments and then cross your fingers and hope you have everything you need and/or can buy it there. 

Backpack weighs in at 24 + 15. Ufda.  

Stopped and grabbed Culver's and then mom drove us down to O’Hare.

Said our au revoirs to bub at her work quick and then with mom once we got down there. 

Security was easier than planned which actually kinda made it more tricky. Go figure.

Finally found our gate. Sat on the floor. Wandered around wanting something kinda sweet or maybe to eat. 

Found mint mocha at Starbucks that tastes like an Andes candy and a scone for Dad. Then came back to our boarding line. 

Don't know if it was the sugar that heightened it or what but all of a sudden I felt true, pure excitement--for our trip, for seeing Spyros so soon, for this thing that is my life!

Boarded the plane and managed to squeeze our backpacks into the overhead spaces. Then settled in for our 7 hour flight.

Hidden Numbers is really great. Food was decent. 

Then tried in vain for the next 3-4 hours or so to sleep but alas.

Miss congeniality and breakfast and then we were landing in Paris!

DAY 2

Thursday 13 July 2017

930am Paris time. 230am Beloit time. Ouf. We have a loonngg day ahead of us...

We strapped on our backpacks.

Ouf.

Hea-vy. 

Then through the hamster tunnel thunder dome walking sidewalk towards the exit. 

Mustered up enough courage to ask the information desk about the train into Paris. 

Slowly slowly pieces of French come back to me but more often than not it's Greek that floods my mind. Strange but cool feeling to have three different languages mingling in my mind... never thought that would happen...

Navigated the train and watched the French countryside turn to city turn to underground. 

Step off the train and the first thing we hear is an automated voice warning us about pickpockets. Nice. 

Then up the stairs and what do our eyes behold but the splendor of Notre Dame. Now that welcome is one not too shabby. 

With our packs strapped to us we take a flurry of pictures and video and look up at the stones that have looked back on people here in this square for hundreds of years. 

Then we waited in a line that wound to the entrance. Had to unload and unzip my backpack for security. And then zip and reload and settle it on my back and my belly again. 

The dark cool interiors were littered with tourists pointing and clicking--and a few faithful there for prayer or midday mass. 

We walked around in the deep history marveling at the stonework. The saints in their chapels. The decor. The stained glass windows (and all of them have doors don't ya know--learned that by eavesdropping on one of the English tour groups we passed by...)

-

We finished there and walked back out into the sun to hear the bells of Quasimodo ringing in the noon hour. 

Using the star feature of Google maps and a vague memory from looking it up before, we estimated our hotel to be walkable. 

What.

A.

 Walk. 

This trek through Europe with our backpacks will not be easy--but we survived this first leg so far. 

Walked along the Seine River for part of it. Pretty. This is Paris. 

Then stumbled across one side of the Louvre by accident. 

Kept walking and circled around a block then back and forth before finding our hotel. Dark black interior and an attempt at shiny/classic decor. Had to leave our bags until 2. It was 1. 

We were exhausted. Officially awake and at ‘em for 24 hours straight. 

We backtracked till we found the sandwich place that looked good when we walked by earlier. Managed to order two ham sandwiches and fresh watermelon and peach juice and dessert. Mmm. I was too tired and not hungry enough so I saved half mine for later.

At two we wandered back and got our keys to room 204 to find a double bed. I went back and asked about the twin room we'd requested and all was fixed but we had to wait another hour. 

Finally we got to our room and we're finally able to unwind a bit--and by a bit I mean here a 3 hour nap...

Much needed but after I woke up (to dad watching fast and loud in French lol) I was almost ready to trade a night out seeing Paris for some more shut eye.

But, managed to wake up and get up and get going. We discovered the Musee d'Orsay was open till 945 so about 630 we made our way there. Took a mini field trip. I've been videoing little snippets of our journey to compile and tell our trip's story a bit better than just hundreds of photographs. Pretty neat museum. Lots of sculptures and Impressionism. Selfies with Van Gogh and stumbled on Monet on the fifth floor. 

Just before they kicked everyone out we left and walked back toward the hotel. We were so thirsty that we stopped at McDonalds for a 3 euro medium coke that was subpar. 5 ice cubes (mom would not approve) and no free refills.

Loipon. 

Then made our way back to a crepe place we'd passed earlier that looked really good. And it was. Creme de Paris. Go there! Caramely and buttery  crepe with homemade vanilla ice cream. So good!

Wrote postcards while we were there to stay on top of it. 

11ish back to our room. Shower felt really good. Hot and good water pressure from a big circular shower head. Then FaceTimed Spyros and mom and Megan.

And uploaded 221 pics/videos. 

And at last: sleep. 

Blackout

Picture this:

A small mountain village (in a place where villages not only exist but are revered refuges where you can retreat to your roots with your families…) Look closer: three generations, cousins at just about every stage of life, bustling in and out of the rooms of this humble but beautifully hand-crafted home on the side of the mountain… Lift your gaze: Twinkling lights (but not the stars) are visible across the way, marking the lives of the people who call the string of villages on this mountainous region of Τζουμέρκα (Tzoumerka) home.

And now, you think to yourself that if the porch light were out, you’d be able to see more of the stars; you sip your water. Then, of a sudden, it’s dark. And not just the porch light—but all those lights twinkling on the mountainside just moments ago are dim now, too.

Blackout.

In the same instance you realize all has gone dark, you remember your wish to see the stars, and you look up to see that the whole night sky is now shining with light! More stars than you’ve ever seen in your life. Your neck will start to hurt from holding it back as far as it will go as you seek to fill your eyes, drink in the light night sky like a someone who hasn’t had water in days—but you kind of are: You are someone who has never seen the sky look like this. The glittering dust, brushstrokes of galaxies. Your eyes pick out the Big Dipper and search for Orion’s Belt and you wish you knew more constellations. But you’re content now to just look. And wonder.

Star light, star bright, so many, many stars, I see tonight…

Eventually you settle back down at the table, and someone has broken out the collection of Easter candles from the last decade. They sit dripping magnificently in the center of the table. Pull another chair and pour yourself a glass as one by one we all gather round the table, talking in a melodious mixture of Greek and English, the tenors and sopranos of songs old and young… You’re smiling.

More than an hour has passed in the dark, though you don’t realize it’s so, and the grand dinner the matriarch of the family had planned hasn’t been able to cook this dark/bright hour. So, we improvise. Tear off a hunk of bread to go with slices of tomatoes and cucumbers fresh from the garden. A bit of feta, of course. It is the best meal you have eaten so far on this trip – perhaps the best in your life. Simple but delicious. You can taste the depth and the purity of the flavors. This is how food should taste. And the company is what truly makes the meal worth eating. You’ll give your compliments to the chef who is disappointed she couldn’t serve you her best – you try to make her understand that it was perfect as it was…

This night was perfect. In spite of or maybe even because of the “imperfections” that befell. Because it was real. Because it was filled with light and love. Not the magic that will pull a rabbit out of a hat – but the true magic if you’re lucky you’ll find. The kind that points to joy…

~

~

My life has changed in the last two years. Tremendously. There’s no way I could have ever imagined that I would find myself on the side of that mountain this past summer. But now, how can it be anything but this? There were winding, narrow roads that took us to the village. There are winding, narrow roads that lead you in life. Can you slow down and just be on the journey? Notice who and what is around you. Where you are right now. Look up and see the stars. Taste the earth. Feel the magic…

I'm not always able to slow down and be there ~ but it's precious moments like the one on the side of that mountain this summer that make me want to try to be present more, that make me thank God for all the twists and turns that have brought me to that moment -- and, to this one... J

ode to a cafe ...

Now picture this

9-9-17

I feel somehow lighter, just being here… and think now : is it a lightening of weight/pressure? Or a lightening as in a brightening? … But there is something about the routine/ritual of coming to this place (Bushel and Peck), buying something from the laiki (farmer’s market) maybe, ordering a latte and a muffin (I might sometimes try other varieties, but cinnamon apple is always the best!), sitting (preferably by the window), equipped with a pen and pencil, and/or my mac, face-timing with Spyros, people watching (today at the table nearest me sits an elderly woman and her son who might be near mom’s and dad’s age, chatting over coffee and lunch), listening to the music playing over the speakers and the clink of dishes and the chitter of chatter… and still feeling this quietness in my soul – space to be here, reflect, think, write … In all the ebbs and flows of the last year, having this place, this space, this practice… it’s helping me to be okay … it’s helping me to be here … it’s helping me to connect : to my faith and the values that are important to me, to Spyros (even 5,000+ miles away), to family over lunch or a baked good, to friends via messaging or letters, even others I’ll never know who just happen to be sharing the same space today … and to connect to myself … This is where I am right now…