PARIS: DAY 1

Having been my first official day in Paris, one would have thought I'd have jumped out of bed by the crack of dawn ready with my city map, camera and a plan of action. Needless to say I didn't. I indulged in the fact that I could sleep in, somehow knowing the city would wait for me. After much deliberation with myself, I eventually ventured off on my solo adventure to the Champs-Élysées . I must admit, I don't think I looked much like a tourist. I didn't have one of those tacky rain coats and wasn't running around like a headless chicken taking photos of absolutely everything that stood or moved. I liked it.

Because my plan of action involved er..no solid  plan whatsoever, I was quite taken aback when I happened to stumble upon the Arc de Triomph in all it's glorious beauty amongst thousands of tourists, swerving cars and scooters. I stood, I stared, I snapped away and then proceeded to move along. After some serious detouring to get to the Eiffel tower I fell upon my first up close and personal view of this monumental structure. It all felt quite surreal, and it still does. It's definitely not a feeling you can describe until you've experienced it. None the less, I took a couple of hundred (thousand) photos and snacked on a Nutella filled crepe to ease the hunger pains. As I started to head towards the Louvre, a sudden downpour of rain left me stranded on the side walk, giving me a good excuse to enter the nearest cosy café for a meal entailing anything other than a crepe. I slurped down my French onion soup and struck up a conversation with Daniel, the gentleman sitting next time me who happened to have just returned from a three week vacation to South Africa. We were quite gobsmacked at the coincidence of it all and sat for several hours conversing about travel, relationships, love, Germany, and South Africa. To our delight, the rain had stopped, giving us the opportunity to finally get a glimpse of the Lourve. Seeing it at night is quite spectacular and not nearly as littered with tourists.  Daniel and I strategized where we would take a photo of us together, with just the right amount of light and perfect positioning. We hugged each other goodbye on the metro and bid our farewells as we got off at our respective stops.

For a day was went completely unplanned, it couldn't have turned out any better...