Louvre Museum

Here I am, happy as a clam at my first spotting of the Louvre!  This is the back side of the museum, but I had to take a picture anyway.  My plan was to spend the morning in the Louvre then catch a free 3 hour walking tour of the city that started at 1 PM.  But the Louvre was so captivating that I just couldn't leave!!  It's something I've dreamed of seeing since I was a teenager, so I stayed for a few extra hours.  I know that I didn't even scratch the surface of all the Louvre holds, but it was AMAZING!!!

Buddy, next time you go hunting, I think you should do it in the nude like this guy: 

I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures - anything I have to say about this art would be an injustice.

After spending 6 hours in the Louvre, I finally decided to leave and look around at the rest of Paris.  When you exit the Louvre, it spits you out into this weird underground shopping mall (that's also where the inverted pyramid can be found).  I looked everywhere for a restroom, and actually walked by this place several times before I realized that it was, indeed, the toilet.  Had to pay 1 Euro to pee there, but it sure was fancy!  This is the "welcome wall." 

Montmartre District, Paris (FRANCE, baby!)

So, after about 9 hours of hanging out in Chicago O'Hare airport, the plane finally left...a mere 3 hours late. As soon as I got on the plane I popped a melatonin, put on my eye mask and tried to sleep. I was semi-successful at sleeping on the plane, and have managed to stay awake since my arrival in Paris except for one brief nod on the train. Good work.

I cannot believe that I'm in Paris!!! It is rather surreal to walk around hearing the language and seeing the things that I've only read about!  I also cannot believe how little I prepared/planned for my time here.  That is rather unlike me, but I wanted to just play it by ear and allow myself to wander wherever the wind blows me.  So far, so good!

Speaking of wandering, I managed to find my way to the train from the airport, get on the correct train, and get off at the correct train stop.  That's where my luck with directions ended, which also happened to coincide with a downpour.  Thus, my very first experience of Paris (outside of the train station) was schlepping my heavy luggage around the rainy streets for a good hour, lost and trying to find my hotel.  :-)  I found it eventually and spent a few minutes in my room drying off and trying to figure out what to do next.

I found out about a cheap walking tour of Montmartre and had a few hours to kill beforehand, so I decided to just start walking around.  I'm not sure exactly when I figured it out - could have been the Sexodrome or the Erotic Supermarket - but I somehow stumbled directly into the Red Light District.  There was some pretty funny stuff, including several gigantic signs that simply say "SEX."  I always appreciate directness.  I also saw a street vendor who had ASS-KEBAB on their menu, but I'm not sure if that was an erotic menu item or just a typo.



Oh yes, street vendors will make you an awesome fresh crepe for only a few bucks!  They have a hot, flat stone that they place the crepe batter on, then they thin it out evenly with something that looks like a flat wooden rake.  On the recommendation of my friends Ryan and Mary, I got one made for myself and had them add Nutella.  I must say that that was the most amazing dessert item I think I've ever consumed.  Warm liquid chocolate on a warm, fresh, thin crepe - DUDE!!!  It was amazing.

By the way, Michael Jackson is very much alive in Paris.  His music was blasting out of many of the shops and restaurants in Montmartre, including the Bistrot Chat Noir where I had my very first French meal (it was absolutely DELICIOUS!).

As I wandered around I happened upon the most beautiful cemetery - it was incredibly peaceful and ethereal.  I think some famous people are buried there, but I was just captivated by the monuments and crypts.

My walking tour began in front of the Moulin Rouge (back in the Red Light District) and included plenty of funny commentary by our tour guide.  We got to see Van Gogh's house, the Basilica de Sacre Coeur, lots of working artists in the squares, restaurants and homes where Picasso, Van Gogh, and Toulouse Lautrec all worked.  AWESOME!!!!

Here is something that cracked me up.  An artist named Misstic was angry when her boyfriend broke up with her, so she painted pictures all around Montmartre of herself having sex with various people in an attempt to make the boyfriend jealous.  I don't know if it was effective, but it's rather shocking to walk around the corner of a cozy Parisian street and see stuff like this on the side of a building.  :-)  That's art, people.

One last photo - this is a huge piece of art in one of the public gardens/parks.  It says "I love you" in every known language in the world.  Pretty cool, huh?

My plans for tomorrow are the Musee du Louvre (wooooo hooooo!!!!!) and another walking tour of all the "big stuff" in Paris - you know, the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Latin Quarter.

Right now, it's time to catch up on some much needed beauty rest.

Made it to Paris

On my way

I'm writing to you from the Chicago O'Hare airport with very bloodshot eyes - I only got 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night, but I'm trying to stay awake until I board my flight to Paris in a few hours. I arrive in Paris around 8:45 AM, so sleeping on the plane will be ideal for warding off jet lag. As long as I don't pass out in the terminal, I think I'm good to go! :-)

I am super excited about this trip!!!! I will be spending 2 days in Paris, then three weeks in Morocco, then 9 days in Egypt before heading back to Paris and the U.S. What an amazing life I have!

Not sure if I will be able to charge my laptop while in France because I don't have the correct power adapter. But in Morocco I will have wireless access for at least the first two weeks and I'll be sure to update my blog often with pictures and stories.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and support - especially my dear husband who is staying home with our "kids." I love you, Buddy!

I'll be talking to you from across the pond....

My Volunteer Placement: Teaching English

I received my placement information for Morocco! This is going to be quite a different experience from Tanzania. For one, I will be staying in the city (in Tanzania we were in a rural area). Also, it looks like I will be working with adults who speak some English already. I am keeping an open mind and heart...

Here it is verbatim from CCS:

Teaching Conversational English at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco

Mission and Needs of the Partner Program
Mohammed V University is a Moroccan university which was founded in 1957. It was split in 1997 to become 2 independent universities, Mohammed V University at Agdal and Mohammed V University at Soussi.

Volunteer Activities / Duties
• Support Masters and PhD students in improving their English speaking and comprehension skills
• Engage in discussion and exchange ideas on issues such as culture, music, movies, daily life in your home country, etc.
• Teach specific vocabulary and pronounciation – especially colloquial phrases and idioms
• Teach comprehension through reading articles and engaging in discussion to give them opportunities to speak English in the class
• Teach grammar points like prepositions, and verb tenses
• Correct articles written in English
• Answer questions about your home country and culture

Goals for the Volunteer from the Partner Program
Long-Term: Improve the English-speaking ability and comprehension of the students through discussion and cultural exchange.
Short-Term: The volunteers teach students from the Chemistry Department conversational English and help them improve their comprehension and English-speaking abilities, as well as learning grammar points to help them be
understood. There is a wonderful exchange of cross-cultural information and conversation.

Wake Up Widdle Weasel

This weekend was spent doing a lot of trip planning. On my way to Morocco I will be spending two days in Paris, France. Never been to France before, always wanted to go, took 4 years of French in high school and college but have never had the chance to use it, about to jump out of my skin with excitement! Yesterday I purchased my ticket to the Louvre, a place I've dreamed about visiting since the first time I heard about it. I know that two days won't even scratch the surface of Paris, but I am excited nonetheless.

I'm also planning my side trip to Egypt. A climb up Mount Sinai and a float down the river Nile sound like a good time, don't you think? More details to follow...

The Weasel Stirs

At the end of this month I will be traveling to Africa again! Morocco this time for another volunteer trip through Cross Cultural Solutions.

I won't find out about my volunteer placement for a couple more weeks, but I'll let you know when I do!

Amose & Happiness

I received this email from Tanzania this morning. My heart is heavy.

Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 11:15 PM
From: tafcom tafcomtanzania
To: Kimberly Stroup

Hi

Its our hope that this email finds you well, here things are moving on slowly though we have lost one of our client Amose who died two days ago living her wife Happiness in deep sorrow. This event has touched our hearts and he is the third person to die since we started. His death make us feel that we still have more to do to the community considering that poverty has contributed a lot to his death , May God rest his soul in peace.

Best regards

Jonas and Nie

T minus 7 days

One week from today we will be boarding our plane to Japan!

We have decided to backpack it through our trip, which will be a first for me. Buddy already purchased his new backpack, which I also like and will be ordering sometime today (the female version). Because we will be traveling by bus and train throughout our trip, we thought backpacks would be the easiest type of luggage to deal with.

Last night we had a good chat with a friend who spent a period of time living in Japan - he had some great tips for us! The one that resonated with me the most was "in everything you do, just lead with your heart and you will be fine." I hope that's how I live in my day to day existence, but what a beautiful reminder it was.

The past few days I've been finalizing some of the day tours we plan to take while there - one is called "Dynamic Tokyo" and takes us to the observatory on Tokyo Tower (Japan's version of the Eiffel Tower), to a traditional Japanese garden and tea ceremony, into the Imperial Palace, on a river cruise through Tokyo Bay, through a visit to Kannon Temple in Asakusa, and then a drive through Ginza (the famous high-fashion shopping district).

Getting more excited by the day!!!!

Japan-o-rama!

As of midnight last night, we FINALLY have all of our lodgings in Japan booked and confirmed! What a relief!

Here is our itinerary: two nights in Tokyo at The New Otani in the Akasaka region, then travel to Mt. Fuji and Hakone with one night at Fujiya Hotel in Hakone-machi, then on to Kyoto where we'll spend three nights in a ryokan called The Three Sisters Inn (this is traditional Japanese-style lodging where you sleep on the floor on tatami mats and a futon!). After Kyoto we have one more night in Tokyo at the Shinjuku Prince Hotel right in Kabuki-cho!

Buddy and I had fun looking at all the options, but it's really overwhelming. I'm sooooo glad that we made the decisions and now we are done. We did most everything over the internet, with the exception of the ryokan. It was recommended in a guide book we're using and we found great reviews online, but they don't even have a website. So Buddy called Japan to make the reservation (plus some email exchanges to finalize it) and we were both nervous for some reason. It was pretty funny - my heart was beating really fast and Buddy was sweating like crazy. I hope that's not how we feel when we're actually in Japan! :-)

We also purchased our Japan Rail passes to get us around the country on the bullet trains, and we've narrowed in to a couple of day tours that we might want to book. All in all things are coming together and it's very exciting!!!!