If your a health freak, clean eater, butter-avoider, avid juicer, obsessed with everything gluten free, or wanting to finally drop those last 7 pounds, shout out to Regina George, than France is not for you. Sorry to break the news but this is the God’s honest truth. That being said, I’ve been a vegetarian for 8 years now and vegan for almost two, but knowing I would be visiting some of the world's “dairy meccas”, I gave up my vegan diet for this trip. Call me a traitor, a hypocrite and the like, but man I do not regret my decision even the slightest.
Visiting Paris for four days after my amazing three weeks in Switzerland, I was amazed by the absolutely incredible food France had to offer. From an assortment of croissants, baguettes, wine, cheese, and deserts, my taste buds were literally exploding all the time. I briefly contemplated if they were going to cease altogether. My college roommate Debbie, who just moved to Paris, escorted me to all the the local dives, and together we consumed enough bread to make any person with coeliac, at one glance, explode. Yet, after finishing over 100 miles of hiking in Switzerland, I thought my metabolism was up to the task.
As Debbie and I walked through the beautiful gold Parisian streets, the word “gluttony” kept on remerging in my subconscious. Now obviously gluttony does not seem to be positive words to describe to Paris, but hear me out. Paris is filled with some of the most magnificent art, history, architecture, food, and drink in the world. Every street seems to belong to a famous writer or artist, who now propels their artistry through their memory. Paris is the opitomy of so many creative triumphs, its a city which indulges in all human satisfaction in great multitudes, therefore by my standards it is the city of fantastic gluttony.
Being an artist I did have a few places that I had to experience while in Paris, unto which Debbie escorted me like an amazing, roommate, champion that she is. First stop, the Inception bridge! If you know me and talk to me for about five minutes you’ll know that Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors and an artistic I admire immensely. Being in Paris, I had to go visit the Inception bridge and experience a place where Nolan himself had stood. Over the course of the next fews days we visited many more places including the Louvre, Montmartre, Notre Dame, the Dali Museum, and the Paris Opera House. To be able to actual stand in front of so many pieces of art and architecture that I’d studied for years in Art School, was truly an instillment of my artistic passion.
My last night in Paris, Debbie and I wanted to go out with a bang. We decided that a picnic on the Seine was an absolute must, and a great salute to our five month long separation. We drank fantastic Rosé, ate more bread,indulged in decadent cheeses, and cleansed our palettes with raspberries, watching the sun set over the Parisian skyline. The next day I said goodbye to my dear friend, strapped on my two backpacks and made my way to the bus station headed for London. Sitting on the bus, making my way to France/England border, I was filled with joy that I could experience a great city with one of my dearest companions.
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