(no subject)
Days in Paris
Very nice hotel we stayed at and room at the front top
Inside Opera House
Felt like i was back in the 80's with alot of smokers!
The write up and many pics behind the cut, plus another link for the rather not sees..
Got the Eurostar to Paris and upon check in through the terminals mark and i had to have our bag turfed out lol. Mark said it was the first time hed ever had to have all his packing out and i can only guess it was because there was alot of wires etc in the bag, adapters, hair dryer lead, ipod leads etc or it WAS that he and not me just looks suspect! ;-* I didnt really like my knickers and bra being turfed out by some stranger but least they didnt pull them out one by one lol
The train was a smooth enough ride for me and all in all a pretty easy and simple way to go.
We walked to the hotel and i knew it would be fine. It was big and clean and in a nice spot of local shops to which the bakery right opposite was a regular stop off for their coffee creamed eclairs. I had at least three eclairs from there.
Yummy eclair shop
Didnt expect the coffee cool goo to come out but it was lovely
The street of our hotel
Spacious room. Mark was tucked around the corner and i had the comfy double
Clean bathroom one of the main wants for me!
Even though it was just over a 2 hour journey on the train i was wiped out so i went to sleep for a couple of hours to try and have the energy to go around an art gallery later in the evening. After the couple of hours rest i didnt really feel up to going out but really pushed myself to go because we were only there for a few days as it was and didnt want much to be missed. So in the early evening we walked to the Louvre art gallery. On the way we passed through a small shopping arcade which was nice.
One of the shop windows
It turned out to just be about a half hour walk but even that was too much for me. I was so achey and tired and i felt my heart banging with anxiety setting in with the thought of having to walk round a gallery and have to walk back and have to be up early for the next day. I felt myself getting anxious and depressed i had a bit of a moan here and there but thats just me trying to get the tension and anxiety out. I was also constantly thinking about swine flu and that id passed so many people already on the train and now the gallery lol
We had sat outside the Louvre gallery before so was nice to go in this time. We only did a tiny part of it though as was massive.
Cleopatra supposed suicide killed by an Asp snake
Salome with the head of John the Baptist nearly 600 yrs old
Mona Lisa. There was a crowd around this one.
4 seasons
Nike Greek God of Victory
I think we got the underground metro back to the hotel after a couple of hours.
I had no problem sleeping at all. I was so physicaly worn out and the bed was clean, spacious and cool and mark was situated in a bed around the corner so i felt i had my own sleeping space.
Woke up the next day about 9.30am as knew we were having breakfast room service by 10am. There was alot of racket outside of builders on nearby buildings which couldnt be helped but it wasnt too much of a problem seeing as we wanted to be up and out earlyish anyway.
We sat and had our croissant, coffee etc breakfast and then mark had his 50th birthday presents from me. I was pleased he liked them. I was especially pleased about the booking for a meal on the Thames i got him and a music cd i made for him that i think was his favourite gift as was mine of the little bundle he got.
The breakfast was exactly on time each morning.
Although really tired as is always the case i tried my absolute best not to moan or be snappy for that day, it was the least i could do and thought its just 24 hours, its just 24 hours and keep telling yourself to hold it all just for marks eventful day lol.
We walked down to the Paris Opera house and had a look around. It was nice and grand.
We then went to have something to eat at the nearby cafe called The Cafe Sofa. It was nice in there and the salad we ordered was really nice aswell even if it did come to £30!
Straight after that we got on the underground metro to visit Pere Lachaise cemetary that mark had wanted to go to, to at least see the grave of Jim Morrisson of the Doors. We spent a couple of hours walking around but again it was so big we only walked around a part of it. Not that walking around graveyards is everyones idea of a holiday spot! lol
Mark booking his space for sometime lol
The words in french say 'alone at last' this was kind of funny
Jim Morrisons grave that a mini crowd were round
We headed off to look for Chopins grave but there was a mini crowd around this one as people wanted to take a photo of the cat on one of the headstones and i was one of them. I kept snapping away as its not often you get a scene of a cat on a grave and its a cat, its a cat! lol ;-* After some good minutes we walked on and i said 'Where is chopins grave'?. Mark had said it was down this path but were coming to the end of it and weve not seen it yet. Mark informed me 'it was the one behind the grave with the cat on!' OOhhh lol. Mark told me he got the photo and i was glad i guess i got to see it by looking at a picture. Would have been good to see it in person really lol ;-* Cats are soo distracting.
Chopins Grave
We got the metro back to the hotel and had another couple of hours rest. Later that evening we decided to go for a walk towards the seine river. We walked again past the Opera house
On the way we saw a couple of tramps laying in the doorway getting ready to go to sleep. I said to mark that i would like a photo of them as it could be an arty pic and i had seen alot of tramps out and about around Paris the photo would be a representation. But i did know that it wasnt that appropriate to do, so i had my back to them and said to mark to pretend he was taking a picture of me but just move the camera to get them just passed my shoulder. The next thing as im standing in pretend pose, i hear the french woman start shouting and i gathered to her male partner, who by then as i turned round was sitting up in his sleeping back looking at us in annoyance. i thought he was going to jump out his sleeping bag and attack us. Mark and i quickly walked off with no photo lol. I know i know it wasnt the right thing to do but just wanted a picture for truth of how life is really but dont think we should attempt that again. And i realised more that a photo didnt compare to respect.
It was a long walk there and back and fell asleep straight away when i finaly got back in the cosy bed.
The following day we headed towards what i thought was a shop of dummies to show things that can go wrong with the human body through the ages. The brochure i had seen was of a silicone head showing a harelip and although i knew it would be slightly squeamish i knew they were just silicone representations. Just before we got there we sat and had a hot chocolate at a cafe and shared a coke. £15 for three drinks eeeppp. It was nice to sit there and people watch. A pigeon hobbled towards me and i wondered why it was wobbling then noticed it had a foot missing! Eeww. And guess it was the start of eventful sights to come. Walked passed a used condom laying on the ground and a pigeon just missed shitting on my head by a cm
We could see this fountain from where we were sat
And some shop windows in the area
As we walked closer to our destination i came to realise it wasnt a shop but the medical school there. I could tell the shops nearby were advertising more medical type things and slight more grimacing for me lol. I got a bit tense as i thought oh great, ive come to have an afteroon in a science class or something! And felt immediate boredom wash over me lol There were lots of students walking around and i wasnt sure we had come to the right place. But we had. Mark asked me if i still wanted to go in as we stood behind these doors with a message to ring the bell and someone would come...
I felt that we had walked all that way now so might aswell just have a quick look. I felt like i was walking in the munsters science lab as a woman opened the door and didnt speak, all was quiet and then this professor looking man greeted us, took the entry fee and pointed the way.
Mark and i were alone and we walked into a room basically of preserved dead body parts! I was shocked and didnt expect it at all but couldnt exactly run out screaming. I wasnt scared but did think to myself, oh my god this could only happen to me lol As we were there i decided to have a look and be the medical brave student but i didnt want to look too close at organ parts that would bother me. So i stayed away from any boobs that could mention signs of cancer! And didnt look too closely at intestines as would worry about my own. So ya, i then could only focus basically on brains, limbs and sadly dead babies and some deformaties.
I felt a cross between feeling nervous but aswell curious. I had allsorts of visions come in my head of tripping over and falling onto the cabinets and having all these preserved dead bodies laying on me. Its amazing how my mind can conjur up any sorts of unbearable scenes.
This is the type of thing i thought i would be looking at. Silicone models of disease and deformaties
Mark did have to point out how i got the hanging loop just near his head. I guess he is the ALIVE and FED version lol
In this picture you cant properly see why i am standing hesitant and queasy at first. Well i was all the way through but like i say i did keep imagining i was going to fall on the cabinets lol
I understand for some people certain images could definately NOT be something that someone will want to see. So i have put a few of the photos under a cut that goes onto a seperate page totally. So for anyone of a curious mind on something a bit shocking for some, you will see photos of babies, limbs, and deformaties behind the link. For anyone who would not wish to see such things then of course just dont click the link. Its probably hard not to click a link with a warning but wanted to document what i have experienced and the only way i could think of really without possibly offending anyone just incase was to do a seperate page with a choice..
http://mysteryfem.livejournal.com/557039.html
So we stayed for about 20 minutes and a room of the most unexpected i could ever think i would find myself in.
Statues around the college ;-
After that we headed off to a taxidermy shop. Yes i know, previously at a cemetary, then bodies in jars and now once alive animals that have been stuffed. It was a bit of a bizarre day if not an eventful and slightly interesting one!
I didnt expect to see a giraffe, elephant or lion there but there was near enough everything. The one thing that wasnt there that i was surprised about was a seahorse. To me that would be one of the easiest things for them to get as there are loads around. We wasnt allowed to take photos but we grabbed a couple of 'quick' snaps.
By now i was getting extremely tired, perhaps too much mental stimulation i shouldnt wonder! lol But mark had wanted to see a church called Sacre Couer. So we got on the metro which was about a 10 stops one. I was flagging totally by now and was feeling ratty. I was asking mark if he knew where abouts it was once we got to the place of Montmartre. He of course wasnt sure as not been there before but i wanted to try and make sure we got off of the train in the right end of town at least. I knew my body wouldnt be able to stand much more walking and my head was swimming.
We got to the area after quite a few stops on the train, a lift and walk up some stairs and came out to a town/area that i thought was the grottiest id seen so far which didnt help my mood. We didnt know which way to go to look for this church, the map and directions wasnt clear. We walked partly one way then stopped. And mark took a walk down the hill as i stood and waited just so i wouldnt have to walk one way for nothing. After about ten minutes he arrived back and it wasnt the right road. He asked for some directions so we took the directions he thought was said. I was apprehensive about having to walk all the way down some long stairs and hill to then have to walk back again but i did it slowly and felt some moans and whinges nagging at me to express them lol. Once we got down the steps and hill mark said he didnt think it was the way, so i got uptight at having to go all the way back up. By this point i really was so tired that i got all spacey and then my anxiety was trying to start up. As that was i just wanted to give up with it and head back and go and rest in bed. Mark was a bit annoyed/disappointed that we didnt know where to go and i guess tensions with us were getting slightly annoying. But with the umming and arrring i got a bit snappy and decided a decission. We were heading back to the hotel! Once i pass a point of cant do no more, i just cant and if im in a position where theres no opportunity to lay down or settle down to wind down, it can get frightening for me because my body starts doing allsorts of exhausted things. I was partly angry and frustrated at how i felt and how it just gets in the way of trying to do normal things.
Mark was getting the tickets to get the underground back but i could clearly see people wasnt using the tickets as the machine to get through was broke and i was even to tired to say so! lol Just standing there slightly swaying zombiefied!
So mark had paid to get there and to not see what he went there to see, then paid to go back for an event we could have well done without!
As we walked through the underground the train was there, the doors were open and we were literally 3 steps away from getting on the train. My arm was linked around marks arm and i ran forward to quickly get on that train as didnt want to wait around for the next one and it was just there and so close. Mark ran with me and it wasnt so much as a run as wasnt far but did require i guess at least 2 bigger strides.
Id just jumped on but the train doors rammed shut quick and mark was stuck between the doors as was my arm that had been yanked behind for mark being stuck and me being attached to him.
As soon as i stepped my foot on the train i heard the doors and i do remember my thoughts going "fuuuck!". It was one of those instinctive things where you just know youve made an error and i knew it even before i felt the doors squeazing my arm. I was facing mark in the doors and he of course had absolute fear in his face as one foot was in the train, the other foot out and the doors squeazing tight on us. I didnt know what i was most scared about, being crushed to death or that the train any split second would speed off and wed most certainly be dead id have thought. The moment the doors are touching the train goes, so i can only guess that our bodies painfully holding the metal doors ajar even though they were having a good job at still trying to close, stopped the train moving? i dont know, but it was all so quick. At most it was probably only about 8 seconds but in that time it was very scary and painful! I heard a woman shriek and this man jumped off his seat and lifted up a lever on the door to just make the door open for a moment enough. With that mark yanked through with my arm and we sat on the seats in silence.
I was in shock at 'what might have been'. I also felt very bad that not only was it my annoyed decission to leave and mark not see the church he had wanted to but also it was 'me' that started the sprint onto the train, so my main fault for the accident to of happened and mark having the experience of fear aswell as getting hurt.
We didnt even think to say thanks to the guy who lifted the lever up, if he had not done that, i really do not know if the outcome would have been horrific or not. Was just a bit in shock that i/we didnt think to say anything to the man and before we knew it we were off the train to our hotel destination anyway.
We stood just outside the cake shop, intending on getting another eclair but i burst into tears and mark held me and decided hed take me to our room then hed go get my cake lol
I just felt really bad my judgement could of had us killed, aswell as i was so tired to the point of tears anyway.
Bruised elbow!, but phew nothing worse.
We did manage a few laughs a bit later once i got over the shock that mark DID actually make his 50th even if it might not have been for long lol. Wed been associated with bodies all that day, dead ones in cemetarys, dead ones in jars, dead ones been stuffed and here we are potential dead ones ourselves. Spent the early evening having another rest in bed before going for a meal at the sofa cafe again
After that we took the metro to go and see the Arc De Triomphe and this time did not attempt to jump on any trains but be certain it had only just arrived. But those doors do only let you on and off for about 8 seconds! And the doors dont glide together, they ram shut hard and fast and go the second they touch.
Took a couple of photos of the Arc De Triomphe and mark asked if i wanted to go on the underpass and stand inside it. I looked and said that i didnt because there looked to be a mob setting fire to a bin as i pointed to show the proof. Mark at first said "oh yeah" as then he realised and laughed at my decission of what it was and explained to me that it was a memorial flame to frances war dead. The tomb of the unknown soldiers!
So with that we did go and have a closer look inside.
We got the metro back and swine flu was certainly in my thoughts as i was inhaling all the hot fumes of the train, tunnels and people enclosed.
Before we headed back to the hotel to sleep we had a quick drink of coke at the nearby bar. We sat outside as mark was telling me about some Masons that were coming out of the building opposite. Hmm interesting but rather he had told me more quietly! lol He also had something to confess saying "Ive got something to tell you but your going to tell me off.." I hate that when someone says something but doesnt look like they are going to complete what they were getting at! I kept prompting him to get to the point but could potentially tell it was something that may piss me off. He then confessed that earlier in the day he pretended something that wasnt what it was. Straight away i just knew it was the coffee eclair! but i let him carry on with his confession. And yup it was!
Earlier in the day i asked him to get me the coffee eclair as i loved it but on the second day we tried the chocolate one and it didnt compare, so i just had to have that coffee one again. When he came back i opened it and it was the chocolate one again and not the coffee one. Two things! lol.... I aint putting on calories for the sake of it and the chocolate one wasnt good enough. Also id yearned for that coffee one, it had to be the coffee one! lol. So we decided mark will have the chocolate one and hel make sure the woman hears him right and its the coffee one. He mentioned about the language barrier. Hhmmm
He came back and as i opened the wrapper on the coffee eclair my brain thought, its the right colour but the eclair looks skinnier. I held it up in suspicion and said of my find and mark said 'it looked the same to him'. I then bit into it and the gorgeous coffee importantly cold goo i was looking forward to was a chewy blob of congealed mixture. It felt a bit like i was a coffee eclair junkie and this was certainly bad stock! lol After that bite i said i didnt want it, i would have to suffer the chocolate one but it was calories consumed for no great joy! lol I kept saying to mark that that coffee eclair was just not right how can it be skinner and the filling be so crap? I mean i was experienced in these eclairs by now and i know my instincts! lol But mark said to me that its probably because it was near the last in the shop and that the ones id had before were obviously more freshly made.
So basically upon his confession he told me that that eclair didnt come from the shop opposite where id loved their coffee eclairs, he got it from a shop up the road as the other shop had run out.
Well haha bloody ha! now that would have been a bit funny had he confessed a few minutes later upon my saying it didnt seem right or something but when i was questioning that eclair he made me think i was imagining things. When he answered me at the time on my observations he replied in quite the snappy tone. I did think at the time, well i know its just an eclair lol but there is a big difference and how can you not see it!?? Well i guess he did see it and he did know but to continue the innocent as im feeling like a complainer or just hallucinating was a feeling i didnt have to feel had he told the truth within minutes instead of a day! lol He said to me 'im surprised you didnt notice the different wrapper'. Well i was too disappointed at the skinnie minnie runt of the imposter eclair to think about its coat! lol And im not to know they dont use different wrappers but i sure as hell know a genuine eclair when ive had the real mccoy! lol I dont mind jokes but i dont like to feel like i am going nuts or imagining things and it be left that way because i have enough oddities go on with my body and thoughts let alone someone adding to them.
But yeah i saw the funny side but just not enough to smile or laugh about it! It just meant mark didnt get shouted at by me LOL
The next day we took a walk back to the train station to head home. I was walking just ahead of mark and as we were approaching the station i heard mark say something like 'oh gawd' so i looked up and just infront of me by two armslength i saw a bare arse! No back, no other body parts, just a bum! And right up the bum at that! The reason for that was because some man was bending right over to pick up a handful of leaves to use, to wipe his 'just gone to poo bum'! lol Mark must have got the 'in wipe mode' view lol. I did want mark to go back again and get a photo but by then the guy had put on his hat and walked merrily down the road. I guess aswell, we had got shouted at for trying to take a picture of those tramps/homeless people and to try and get a capture of that mans bum, may have asked for weapons fired at us that could have been a messy business. Though to get your pants down and have a crap in a public street makes me wonder why he would be so shy as to have an objection of the scene captured in a still but people are a bit contradicting like that! lol
The train ride home was more bumpy than when we went out but i would use the service again, it was much more straightforward that i expected. When i got back home i had stress that made me want to do a u-turn and go right back by the next day.
Thank you mark triops99 for yet another lovely holiday to France. My life has been so transformed from what it was. Im glad i was with you there for your 50th Birthday and pleased it was a really good few days away x
Very nice hotel we stayed at and room at the front top
Inside Opera House
Felt like i was back in the 80's with alot of smokers!
The write up and many pics behind the cut, plus another link for the rather not sees..
Got the Eurostar to Paris and upon check in through the terminals mark and i had to have our bag turfed out lol. Mark said it was the first time hed ever had to have all his packing out and i can only guess it was because there was alot of wires etc in the bag, adapters, hair dryer lead, ipod leads etc or it WAS that he and not me just looks suspect! ;-* I didnt really like my knickers and bra being turfed out by some stranger but least they didnt pull them out one by one lol
The train was a smooth enough ride for me and all in all a pretty easy and simple way to go.
We walked to the hotel and i knew it would be fine. It was big and clean and in a nice spot of local shops to which the bakery right opposite was a regular stop off for their coffee creamed eclairs. I had at least three eclairs from there.
Yummy eclair shop
Didnt expect the coffee cool goo to come out but it was lovely
The street of our hotel
Spacious room. Mark was tucked around the corner and i had the comfy double
Clean bathroom one of the main wants for me!
Even though it was just over a 2 hour journey on the train i was wiped out so i went to sleep for a couple of hours to try and have the energy to go around an art gallery later in the evening. After the couple of hours rest i didnt really feel up to going out but really pushed myself to go because we were only there for a few days as it was and didnt want much to be missed. So in the early evening we walked to the Louvre art gallery. On the way we passed through a small shopping arcade which was nice.
One of the shop windows
It turned out to just be about a half hour walk but even that was too much for me. I was so achey and tired and i felt my heart banging with anxiety setting in with the thought of having to walk round a gallery and have to walk back and have to be up early for the next day. I felt myself getting anxious and depressed i had a bit of a moan here and there but thats just me trying to get the tension and anxiety out. I was also constantly thinking about swine flu and that id passed so many people already on the train and now the gallery lol
We had sat outside the Louvre gallery before so was nice to go in this time. We only did a tiny part of it though as was massive.
Cleopatra supposed suicide killed by an Asp snake
Salome with the head of John the Baptist nearly 600 yrs old
Mona Lisa. There was a crowd around this one.
4 seasons
Nike Greek God of Victory
I think we got the underground metro back to the hotel after a couple of hours.
I had no problem sleeping at all. I was so physicaly worn out and the bed was clean, spacious and cool and mark was situated in a bed around the corner so i felt i had my own sleeping space.
Woke up the next day about 9.30am as knew we were having breakfast room service by 10am. There was alot of racket outside of builders on nearby buildings which couldnt be helped but it wasnt too much of a problem seeing as we wanted to be up and out earlyish anyway.
We sat and had our croissant, coffee etc breakfast and then mark had his 50th birthday presents from me. I was pleased he liked them. I was especially pleased about the booking for a meal on the Thames i got him and a music cd i made for him that i think was his favourite gift as was mine of the little bundle he got.
The breakfast was exactly on time each morning.
Although really tired as is always the case i tried my absolute best not to moan or be snappy for that day, it was the least i could do and thought its just 24 hours, its just 24 hours and keep telling yourself to hold it all just for marks eventful day lol.
We walked down to the Paris Opera house and had a look around. It was nice and grand.
We then went to have something to eat at the nearby cafe called The Cafe Sofa. It was nice in there and the salad we ordered was really nice aswell even if it did come to £30!
Straight after that we got on the underground metro to visit Pere Lachaise cemetary that mark had wanted to go to, to at least see the grave of Jim Morrisson of the Doors. We spent a couple of hours walking around but again it was so big we only walked around a part of it. Not that walking around graveyards is everyones idea of a holiday spot! lol
Mark booking his space for sometime lol
The words in french say 'alone at last' this was kind of funny
Jim Morrisons grave that a mini crowd were round
We headed off to look for Chopins grave but there was a mini crowd around this one as people wanted to take a photo of the cat on one of the headstones and i was one of them. I kept snapping away as its not often you get a scene of a cat on a grave and its a cat, its a cat! lol ;-* After some good minutes we walked on and i said 'Where is chopins grave'?. Mark had said it was down this path but were coming to the end of it and weve not seen it yet. Mark informed me 'it was the one behind the grave with the cat on!' OOhhh lol. Mark told me he got the photo and i was glad i guess i got to see it by looking at a picture. Would have been good to see it in person really lol ;-* Cats are soo distracting.
Chopins Grave
We got the metro back to the hotel and had another couple of hours rest. Later that evening we decided to go for a walk towards the seine river. We walked again past the Opera house
On the way we saw a couple of tramps laying in the doorway getting ready to go to sleep. I said to mark that i would like a photo of them as it could be an arty pic and i had seen alot of tramps out and about around Paris the photo would be a representation. But i did know that it wasnt that appropriate to do, so i had my back to them and said to mark to pretend he was taking a picture of me but just move the camera to get them just passed my shoulder. The next thing as im standing in pretend pose, i hear the french woman start shouting and i gathered to her male partner, who by then as i turned round was sitting up in his sleeping back looking at us in annoyance. i thought he was going to jump out his sleeping bag and attack us. Mark and i quickly walked off with no photo lol. I know i know it wasnt the right thing to do but just wanted a picture for truth of how life is really but dont think we should attempt that again. And i realised more that a photo didnt compare to respect.
It was a long walk there and back and fell asleep straight away when i finaly got back in the cosy bed.
The following day we headed towards what i thought was a shop of dummies to show things that can go wrong with the human body through the ages. The brochure i had seen was of a silicone head showing a harelip and although i knew it would be slightly squeamish i knew they were just silicone representations. Just before we got there we sat and had a hot chocolate at a cafe and shared a coke. £15 for three drinks eeeppp. It was nice to sit there and people watch. A pigeon hobbled towards me and i wondered why it was wobbling then noticed it had a foot missing! Eeww. And guess it was the start of eventful sights to come. Walked passed a used condom laying on the ground and a pigeon just missed shitting on my head by a cm
We could see this fountain from where we were sat
And some shop windows in the area
As we walked closer to our destination i came to realise it wasnt a shop but the medical school there. I could tell the shops nearby were advertising more medical type things and slight more grimacing for me lol. I got a bit tense as i thought oh great, ive come to have an afteroon in a science class or something! And felt immediate boredom wash over me lol There were lots of students walking around and i wasnt sure we had come to the right place. But we had. Mark asked me if i still wanted to go in as we stood behind these doors with a message to ring the bell and someone would come...
I felt that we had walked all that way now so might aswell just have a quick look. I felt like i was walking in the munsters science lab as a woman opened the door and didnt speak, all was quiet and then this professor looking man greeted us, took the entry fee and pointed the way.
Mark and i were alone and we walked into a room basically of preserved dead body parts! I was shocked and didnt expect it at all but couldnt exactly run out screaming. I wasnt scared but did think to myself, oh my god this could only happen to me lol As we were there i decided to have a look and be the medical brave student but i didnt want to look too close at organ parts that would bother me. So i stayed away from any boobs that could mention signs of cancer! And didnt look too closely at intestines as would worry about my own. So ya, i then could only focus basically on brains, limbs and sadly dead babies and some deformaties.
I felt a cross between feeling nervous but aswell curious. I had allsorts of visions come in my head of tripping over and falling onto the cabinets and having all these preserved dead bodies laying on me. Its amazing how my mind can conjur up any sorts of unbearable scenes.
This is the type of thing i thought i would be looking at. Silicone models of disease and deformaties
Mark did have to point out how i got the hanging loop just near his head. I guess he is the ALIVE and FED version lol
In this picture you cant properly see why i am standing hesitant and queasy at first. Well i was all the way through but like i say i did keep imagining i was going to fall on the cabinets lol
I understand for some people certain images could definately NOT be something that someone will want to see. So i have put a few of the photos under a cut that goes onto a seperate page totally. So for anyone of a curious mind on something a bit shocking for some, you will see photos of babies, limbs, and deformaties behind the link. For anyone who would not wish to see such things then of course just dont click the link. Its probably hard not to click a link with a warning but wanted to document what i have experienced and the only way i could think of really without possibly offending anyone just incase was to do a seperate page with a choice..
http://mysteryfem.livejournal.com/557039.html
So we stayed for about 20 minutes and a room of the most unexpected i could ever think i would find myself in.
Statues around the college ;-
After that we headed off to a taxidermy shop. Yes i know, previously at a cemetary, then bodies in jars and now once alive animals that have been stuffed. It was a bit of a bizarre day if not an eventful and slightly interesting one!
I didnt expect to see a giraffe, elephant or lion there but there was near enough everything. The one thing that wasnt there that i was surprised about was a seahorse. To me that would be one of the easiest things for them to get as there are loads around. We wasnt allowed to take photos but we grabbed a couple of 'quick' snaps.
By now i was getting extremely tired, perhaps too much mental stimulation i shouldnt wonder! lol But mark had wanted to see a church called Sacre Couer. So we got on the metro which was about a 10 stops one. I was flagging totally by now and was feeling ratty. I was asking mark if he knew where abouts it was once we got to the place of Montmartre. He of course wasnt sure as not been there before but i wanted to try and make sure we got off of the train in the right end of town at least. I knew my body wouldnt be able to stand much more walking and my head was swimming.
We got to the area after quite a few stops on the train, a lift and walk up some stairs and came out to a town/area that i thought was the grottiest id seen so far which didnt help my mood. We didnt know which way to go to look for this church, the map and directions wasnt clear. We walked partly one way then stopped. And mark took a walk down the hill as i stood and waited just so i wouldnt have to walk one way for nothing. After about ten minutes he arrived back and it wasnt the right road. He asked for some directions so we took the directions he thought was said. I was apprehensive about having to walk all the way down some long stairs and hill to then have to walk back again but i did it slowly and felt some moans and whinges nagging at me to express them lol. Once we got down the steps and hill mark said he didnt think it was the way, so i got uptight at having to go all the way back up. By this point i really was so tired that i got all spacey and then my anxiety was trying to start up. As that was i just wanted to give up with it and head back and go and rest in bed. Mark was a bit annoyed/disappointed that we didnt know where to go and i guess tensions with us were getting slightly annoying. But with the umming and arrring i got a bit snappy and decided a decission. We were heading back to the hotel! Once i pass a point of cant do no more, i just cant and if im in a position where theres no opportunity to lay down or settle down to wind down, it can get frightening for me because my body starts doing allsorts of exhausted things. I was partly angry and frustrated at how i felt and how it just gets in the way of trying to do normal things.
Mark was getting the tickets to get the underground back but i could clearly see people wasnt using the tickets as the machine to get through was broke and i was even to tired to say so! lol Just standing there slightly swaying zombiefied!
So mark had paid to get there and to not see what he went there to see, then paid to go back for an event we could have well done without!
As we walked through the underground the train was there, the doors were open and we were literally 3 steps away from getting on the train. My arm was linked around marks arm and i ran forward to quickly get on that train as didnt want to wait around for the next one and it was just there and so close. Mark ran with me and it wasnt so much as a run as wasnt far but did require i guess at least 2 bigger strides.
Id just jumped on but the train doors rammed shut quick and mark was stuck between the doors as was my arm that had been yanked behind for mark being stuck and me being attached to him.
As soon as i stepped my foot on the train i heard the doors and i do remember my thoughts going "fuuuck!". It was one of those instinctive things where you just know youve made an error and i knew it even before i felt the doors squeazing my arm. I was facing mark in the doors and he of course had absolute fear in his face as one foot was in the train, the other foot out and the doors squeazing tight on us. I didnt know what i was most scared about, being crushed to death or that the train any split second would speed off and wed most certainly be dead id have thought. The moment the doors are touching the train goes, so i can only guess that our bodies painfully holding the metal doors ajar even though they were having a good job at still trying to close, stopped the train moving? i dont know, but it was all so quick. At most it was probably only about 8 seconds but in that time it was very scary and painful! I heard a woman shriek and this man jumped off his seat and lifted up a lever on the door to just make the door open for a moment enough. With that mark yanked through with my arm and we sat on the seats in silence.
I was in shock at 'what might have been'. I also felt very bad that not only was it my annoyed decission to leave and mark not see the church he had wanted to but also it was 'me' that started the sprint onto the train, so my main fault for the accident to of happened and mark having the experience of fear aswell as getting hurt.
We didnt even think to say thanks to the guy who lifted the lever up, if he had not done that, i really do not know if the outcome would have been horrific or not. Was just a bit in shock that i/we didnt think to say anything to the man and before we knew it we were off the train to our hotel destination anyway.
We stood just outside the cake shop, intending on getting another eclair but i burst into tears and mark held me and decided hed take me to our room then hed go get my cake lol
I just felt really bad my judgement could of had us killed, aswell as i was so tired to the point of tears anyway.
Bruised elbow!, but phew nothing worse.
We did manage a few laughs a bit later once i got over the shock that mark DID actually make his 50th even if it might not have been for long lol. Wed been associated with bodies all that day, dead ones in cemetarys, dead ones in jars, dead ones been stuffed and here we are potential dead ones ourselves. Spent the early evening having another rest in bed before going for a meal at the sofa cafe again
After that we took the metro to go and see the Arc De Triomphe and this time did not attempt to jump on any trains but be certain it had only just arrived. But those doors do only let you on and off for about 8 seconds! And the doors dont glide together, they ram shut hard and fast and go the second they touch.
Took a couple of photos of the Arc De Triomphe and mark asked if i wanted to go on the underpass and stand inside it. I looked and said that i didnt because there looked to be a mob setting fire to a bin as i pointed to show the proof. Mark at first said "oh yeah" as then he realised and laughed at my decission of what it was and explained to me that it was a memorial flame to frances war dead. The tomb of the unknown soldiers!
So with that we did go and have a closer look inside.
We got the metro back and swine flu was certainly in my thoughts as i was inhaling all the hot fumes of the train, tunnels and people enclosed.
Before we headed back to the hotel to sleep we had a quick drink of coke at the nearby bar. We sat outside as mark was telling me about some Masons that were coming out of the building opposite. Hmm interesting but rather he had told me more quietly! lol He also had something to confess saying "Ive got something to tell you but your going to tell me off.." I hate that when someone says something but doesnt look like they are going to complete what they were getting at! I kept prompting him to get to the point but could potentially tell it was something that may piss me off. He then confessed that earlier in the day he pretended something that wasnt what it was. Straight away i just knew it was the coffee eclair! but i let him carry on with his confession. And yup it was!
Earlier in the day i asked him to get me the coffee eclair as i loved it but on the second day we tried the chocolate one and it didnt compare, so i just had to have that coffee one again. When he came back i opened it and it was the chocolate one again and not the coffee one. Two things! lol.... I aint putting on calories for the sake of it and the chocolate one wasnt good enough. Also id yearned for that coffee one, it had to be the coffee one! lol. So we decided mark will have the chocolate one and hel make sure the woman hears him right and its the coffee one. He mentioned about the language barrier. Hhmmm
He came back and as i opened the wrapper on the coffee eclair my brain thought, its the right colour but the eclair looks skinnier. I held it up in suspicion and said of my find and mark said 'it looked the same to him'. I then bit into it and the gorgeous coffee importantly cold goo i was looking forward to was a chewy blob of congealed mixture. It felt a bit like i was a coffee eclair junkie and this was certainly bad stock! lol After that bite i said i didnt want it, i would have to suffer the chocolate one but it was calories consumed for no great joy! lol I kept saying to mark that that coffee eclair was just not right how can it be skinner and the filling be so crap? I mean i was experienced in these eclairs by now and i know my instincts! lol But mark said to me that its probably because it was near the last in the shop and that the ones id had before were obviously more freshly made.
So basically upon his confession he told me that that eclair didnt come from the shop opposite where id loved their coffee eclairs, he got it from a shop up the road as the other shop had run out.
Well haha bloody ha! now that would have been a bit funny had he confessed a few minutes later upon my saying it didnt seem right or something but when i was questioning that eclair he made me think i was imagining things. When he answered me at the time on my observations he replied in quite the snappy tone. I did think at the time, well i know its just an eclair lol but there is a big difference and how can you not see it!?? Well i guess he did see it and he did know but to continue the innocent as im feeling like a complainer or just hallucinating was a feeling i didnt have to feel had he told the truth within minutes instead of a day! lol He said to me 'im surprised you didnt notice the different wrapper'. Well i was too disappointed at the skinnie minnie runt of the imposter eclair to think about its coat! lol And im not to know they dont use different wrappers but i sure as hell know a genuine eclair when ive had the real mccoy! lol I dont mind jokes but i dont like to feel like i am going nuts or imagining things and it be left that way because i have enough oddities go on with my body and thoughts let alone someone adding to them.
But yeah i saw the funny side but just not enough to smile or laugh about it! It just meant mark didnt get shouted at by me LOL
The next day we took a walk back to the train station to head home. I was walking just ahead of mark and as we were approaching the station i heard mark say something like 'oh gawd' so i looked up and just infront of me by two armslength i saw a bare arse! No back, no other body parts, just a bum! And right up the bum at that! The reason for that was because some man was bending right over to pick up a handful of leaves to use, to wipe his 'just gone to poo bum'! lol Mark must have got the 'in wipe mode' view lol. I did want mark to go back again and get a photo but by then the guy had put on his hat and walked merrily down the road. I guess aswell, we had got shouted at for trying to take a picture of those tramps/homeless people and to try and get a capture of that mans bum, may have asked for weapons fired at us that could have been a messy business. Though to get your pants down and have a crap in a public street makes me wonder why he would be so shy as to have an objection of the scene captured in a still but people are a bit contradicting like that! lol
The train ride home was more bumpy than when we went out but i would use the service again, it was much more straightforward that i expected. When i got back home i had stress that made me want to do a u-turn and go right back by the next day.
Thank you mark triops99 for yet another lovely holiday to France. My life has been so transformed from what it was. Im glad i was with you there for your 50th Birthday and pleased it was a really good few days away x