It dawned on me today that the Instagram post I put out on what would have been by dad’s birthday was something I wanted to save for posterity. As this day is the anniversary of his passing and this blog is like my diary, specifically related to travel it felt natural to add it here.
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
– Ernest Hemingway
Living in Paris for a time and going to school to (re)learn French has been a point on my bucket list for near 15 years.
Now it is done. I have checked off this point on the list… And I have massively improved my French, made some friends for life and collected a bucket of new jokes and hashtags to take with me. #PourqouiMoi #PourqouiJapprendsFrancais #Pepe #Boulangerie #LhommeDeVache #LaPorteEstFermee #FrancaisEstUneLangueTresRiche
“Stop. This is the empire of death.”
The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of a tunnel network built to consolidate Paris’ ancient stone mines, the ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the city’s overflowing cemeteries.
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“Paris is always a good idea.”
– Audrey Hepburn
I have always loved sunsets. It’s a calm time, when you can breathe easy knowing you made it through another 24 hours and reflect on what you have experienced this day. What made you laugh? What did you see that your mind focused on enough to store in your memory bank? Who were those seven kids who ran down the road ahead of you this evening, what’s their story? What smelled good, and how about that godawful smell from the “poubelles”?
“Life asked death, ‘Why do people love me but hate you?’ Death responded, ‘Because you are a beautiful lie and I am a painful truth.”
To live in Paris, my favourite city, and attend language school for at least three months to get my French up to speed. This has been on my Bucket List for years. I had originally planned it to be the final stop for my trip, but with everything that happened with Eystein, I need to not roam aimlessly for a while. I need something to keep me busy, to keep my mind from thinking of him, us and our story for at least a few hours each day…
“No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away”
– Terry Pratchett
I hadn’t planned to go home to Norway before staying out for three years. It was a thing for me, not going home until I was done with my trip… That all changed when my ex sent me an e-mail telling me he was terminally ill.
“There is nothing more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.”
– Homer
Basil is crazy. He’s fab, but crazy. So he invited the whole Egypt-group to his wedding in Milos. I had never been to Greece, but I had seen both “My big, fat, Greek wedding”-moves so now I had two great reasons to go. Out of the eight people (including the “management”) in the group, four of us made it to Milos for the wedding (five if you include the groom, which you kinda have to, I guess).
“There is nothing permanent, except change.”
– Heraclitus
Athens, one of humanity’s many cradles. I had only two days there so obviously the Acropolis was at the top of my list. I added Hadrian’s Gate for good measure, because I’m weirdly fascinated by the myth of Hadrian and it’s right next to the Acropolis.
“Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts And eloquence”
– John Milton
Finally made it to Athens – one of Humanitys many cradles. Those who know me know I have a serious fascination with history and mythology, but Greece was not actually on my list for this trip, because I figured it was close enough to Norway to go later. That all changed when I met Basil in Egypt and he invited me to his wedding…
“You are wormly welcome, Annie!”
– Domi
I was invited to my friends’ Domi and Juli’s to spend a weekend and bear witness to the cultural phenomenon called “Schützenfest”. I think this might have been my most cultural experience in my travels so far…
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