Cindy and Mike Do the World!: March 2014

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Au revoir Paris!

Au revoir Paris, you have been great!

We spent 4 days in Paris. We rented an apartment, which was a great base from which to explore the city. While I admit that I have always felt slightly apprehensive about visiting this city (my inability to speak much French and the supposed rudeness that one would encounter because of this were some of the reasons), it exceeded my expectations. Everyone was very welcoming and helpful.

We are still adjusting to travelling in the 1^st world again and the prices that come along with it! I hope it’s just the Paris prices. We’ve taken to buying lots of baguettes, salami and cheese and eating snacks like this instead of full meals out all of the time. Although everyone else here REALLY is eating baguettes all of the time too. You see them carrying them in the morning, or on the way home from work. Having the apartment has been handy since we prepared most of our breakfasts. Mike balked at the 2 euro macaroons I just had to have, although I assured him that they were part of the quintessential Paris experience and came highly recommended. Yum! The wine hasn’t been cheap either…it is in the grocery stores but not when eating out. Hopefully that'll change when we head out of the city. ;)

Exploring this city is best done on foot, although we did take the metro sometimes, which is easy to use. I love the sidewalk cafes and restaurants with patios, which seem to exist on every corner. The chairs are placed facing the street (you sit side by side), so it’s great for people watching. There is just so much going on here. I have also gotten used to second hand smoke. Perhaps the next quintessential Paris experience should be taking up smoking. It seems to be the thing to do.

Kidding!

We have seen the Louvre (a small part of it since it’s massive), climbed the Eiffel Tower (the part that you can climb to, not the whole thing, although that’s fun to say), eaten lots of croissants, seen a live classical performance, looked at a bunch of bones in the Catacombs, had a picnic in the Jardin du Luxembourg and taken some epic naps (thanks to the time difference). Oh, and the reason we came here…the Broken Bells concert…was fantastic! Look out Europe, the Neufelds take to the road! Off we go!

Our first impression of Paris from the metro...a city with lots of graffiti!

Broken Bells concert

Early morning run to justify that baguette.

Classical performance inside a church

Our little home for a few days. The floor boards creaked every time we walked on them!

Bridge with all of the locks where people write 'so and so loves so and so' and throw the key in the river.

These public toilets were kinda funny since they get automatically cleaned after each use so they were always wet inside and the seat was so high! It was hard to squat over it.

View from Eiffel Tower

We are at the top!

The Chinese president was in town so we saw the Chinese flag everywhere.

Stairs to our apartment...those will keep the baguettes off the hips!

Getting ready to hit the Louvre.

Imagine the dinners they would have had in here (Napoleon III's apartment).

And the sleeping...

Fancy baby basinet

Mike's favourite painting

This Mona Lisa hysteria is kinda strange.

One of my favourites

I can't believe it. No baguettes allowed.

Medieval Louvre

Climbing the stairs to Sacre Coeur Basilica

View from top

Orielle de cochon (pig's ear)

Some foie thing...not foie gras but it was lamb or something. Kinda strange. ;)

Fish (it sounded fancier on the menu than how I'm describing it but I can't remember).

Yummy chocolate mousse

Moulin Rouge in the distance

Cheese as far as the eye can see

And olives

There are carousels everywhere in Paris and children seem to be on them all the time.

Got your own bus now, Michelle and Ryan? ;)

Jardin du Luxembourg

Little crepe and cider action

Yep, that's a 15 euro cupcake! I wonder what it tastes like. That will remain a mystery.

In the Catacombs

6 million people's bones are down here

Old and new

Jambiani and Nungwi, Zanzibar

We headed for Jambiani (on the east side of Zanzibar) and found ourselves in a quiet town. The beach had more local people than tourists, including fishermen and kids playing soccer after school. It felt a bit strange to wear my bathing suit on the beach since the locals (especially women) were quite covered up and so I ended up covering up quite a bit too, only taking off my t-shirt and shorts to sprint to the water for a dip and covering up immediately after coming out. We stayed at a hotel run by a German family and they must do a lot of advertising in Germany since it was filled with German tourists! Even the German tourists were commenting on this, hahaha. We got a ride to Jambiani from a man named Iddy (who is a friend of the manager at the tent camp we stayed at during the safari). He lives in Jambiani and before leaving the town and heading for Nungwi, he took us to his house and we met his family and his kids.

Nungwi was a different place altogether, filled with more tourists but also nicer beaches. It did not feel as conservative, although perhaps that was due to the sheer number of foreigners wearing bikinis and speedos on the beach. We took a snorkel tour one day on an old boat called a dhow; they packed this boat to the max with people! Mike watched them spill gasoline all over the wood...not a comforting sight since we subsequently watched many of the tourists light up cigarettes. We were ready to jump over the edge and start swimming at a moment's notice.

Driving from Jambiani to Nungwi and then back to the airport afterward took us through some very small, poor towns. Each town has a school, although they all seemed very basic and without electricity. I began to notice that some of the children were without shoes. I started looking at everyone's feet as we passed through the towns and noticed that this was predominant and of the norm. Many houses did not have roofs and no one was living in them. We asked Iddy about this and he told us that it's cheap to build the stone part of the house but the roof is expensive (since it's made out of wood or metal) and you need to have enough money to pay for it at the beginning (there is obviously no such thing as a mortgage).

Zanzibar felt very exotic, with fresh fruit and spices (including saffron) everywhere. It felt a bit like I stepped back 100 years in time, although in a different way than Tibet. Yet for all of its beauty, including its wonderful beaches, really good food and some very friendly people, there are also problems, ones that you don't see if you are just travelling through briefly. There is an underlying issue of violence against women and female genital mutilation is still practice, despite it being illegal. There is a level of corruption among the police and we got stopped several times while being driven through Zanzibar and again in Dar es salaam (and this time, our driver had to pay them).