paris

I guess I promised much more than I've delivered to date, however, I can probably make up for it a bit with a quick-ish (or as autocorrect suggests, a quackish) rundown of the last five days. Brief because not much has happened, despite the immense distances covered, and in my memory most of what has taken place has been the general faffing around required when one is on the road and particularly when one is in that slight kind of parallel universe of a country superficially similar in so many ways to one's own. 

Paris had its moments however I was sick all the time I was there with what I suppose could be described without any real diagnosis as food poisoning. So in essence the first couple of days of the trip were that kind of bullshit and who needs it. No point in trying to figure out what caused that but one odd aspect of it was developing a very itchy patch on the side of my right foot, a kind of phenomenon I associate with an allergy I had when I was 16 or 17 which was caused by ingesting something, who knows what, I never found out. That case was much worse, and after days of scratching with a wire brush (ok, TMI) I was recommended car sickness pills which did the trick entirely. 

Well everyone does it so I'll just say it, I threw up a few times in public places in Paris, it happened. This reflective picture was one I took just after the first incident, as I lay on the grass near the Seine not far from the Eiffel Tower actually and looked up through the trees. I was considering of course my place in the universe and what I had done to the universe to make it want to see me suffer. Answer came there none. 

Forget about the vomiting ok. Here is an amazing dog I saw that looks like a beagle who escaped from a photoshop experiment not gone as wonderfully right as it might have. Very sweet. 

This is not so much a photograph, well, it is but not of real creatures but actually black cow people with hands. Did you need that explanation? Unlikely.

Superflous:

The one activity - there could have been so many, but that illness was a shit travelling companion - was a visit to the Paris sewer museum. Two issues: (1) I felt terrible (2) the actual tour was in French, a language I can only pretend to have any competency in if I am talking with someone who did not know it was ever a language. Still very interesting and recommended.

 Canal Saint Martin, happy memories.

Took me ages to remember why I photographed this building, even wondered if it had been a mistake. Then realised the frieze on the side was so familiar - it looks like one in Hobart but I can't remember where (just spent some time on street view trying to spot it but jeez, who even cares).

 There was time for a selfie, but if I'm looking a little wan I guess it's all that throwing up

Anyway effectively I was very sick on Saturday and Sunday, and then left France on Sunday to go to Cologne (a brief stopover) then the overnight train to Warsaw, which was I have to say pretty sensationally nice. Apparently the train is going to be discontinued in a few months which is a huge shame as it's so well worth doing.

More shortly I want you to fully savour my French experience before I move on to more funtimes or, as autocorrect might more correctly (naturally) have it, fantoms.