All for a picture

It's quite amazing what we go through for pictures.

Has anyone else noticed how a whole experience can become about the photos? Maybe this is more for my generation, but on multiple occasions I've been out and seems like the sole purpose of being out is getting photos so you look like you're having fun. Now, I'm not saying this applies to everyone. But especially today, with the prominence of facebook, I feel like our world has gotten more and more fixed on appearances.

And, of course (cause it would be this way), on the nights that you have the most fun - the nights you want to remember most - often no pictures are taken at all. Or else, those pictures don't capture the experience.

Anyway, appearance rant over.

This is just one amusing remembrance of the lengths for a photo.
When Jane, Emily, and I were in Paris we wanted to get a picture of the Eiffel tower sparkling.

Something like this was the goal:

We had already seen the Eiffel tower already, but that was during the day, and we needed the night shot.

So, on our last night, we ended up on the opposite side of Paris as the Eiffel Tower, but we still needed to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling. I had lost my metro pass the night before. Taking into account time (sort of) and circumstance (more so), we decided to walk to the eiffel tower. This was probably a 2-4 mile walk...

It took us about an hour to make the walk - with a few stops in between.

As we neared the Eiffel tower, the lights started to go off, but we were not close enough for a good picture. We broke into a very quick speed walk and finally got to this sandy park (cause very few parks in paris have grass - that's another story) near the Eiffel tower.

We all stopped and pulled out our cameras, but as we began to take pictures, an African man jumped out of the bushes with a ring of Eiffel Tower key chains (a common tourist "trap").

(Thinking on it now, I don't think the man was going to threaten our lives over Eiffel tower key chains - just a guess. But, being three young girls in a foreign city, it is quite alarming for a man to jump out of the bushes and quickly approach you. So, of course, we shoved our cameras in our pockets and made a light jog toward a more crowded area... A bit rude now that i think about that...)

We made it to a bridge right across from the tower and started to take pictures, but we were now a bit too close. So we started to walk speedily towards the other end of the bridge (where we had gotten a good shot the day before) and then, just as we reach the other end of the bridge, we turn around. And the lights stopped.

That's life, isn't it.

We stood there, all looking slightly dejected. We silently looked toward each other. Nothing was said. And we all began to walk back to the nearest metro station.

Now, hindsight being 20/20 - as it is -- if we had really wanted to enjoy the eiffel tower, we would have planned to go to a further point and just sit and watch the eiffel tower - maybe with a cappucino. But we were so focused on sharing our experience, capturing it, flaunting it (whatever it was), that we didn't just enjoy the moment for ourselves. We didn't just sit and watch and enjoy the lights - though we could have on multiple occasions. Instead, we were always striving for a better view for a better picture. We valued what other people would see or what we would remember over the moment.

Now, not all of life can be carpe diem and not all carpe diem is good. But I think, too, much of life can be wasted thinking of what others see rather than appreciating what's right in front of you.

Our final product:

Not terrible. (Didn't capture what we briefly saw either :))


Love to all!

Adventure

I'm a bit of an adventure junkie. Well, perhaps I could just say I'm a bit of a romantic. I love the idea of adventure and pursuing anything that seems like it. But I'm realizing (to my luck) life is an adventure all by itself.

I once saw a card which on the front was labelled, "life." It had a start dot from which a line went out and then that line went all around in circles finally creating something that looked like a loose ball of yarn. On the other end there was a dot that said, "Finish." I was in my late teens at the time and my mom said something like, "That's about right."

I didn't quite believe my mom at the time. I laughed but thought in my head, "No. My life is going to make sense, it's going to be clear. I'm going to pray through every moment and my life is going to make one clear, straight path."

Oh, the laugh is on me now.

I had a discussion with a friend last night and we both wondered, "Were our parents something like this when they had us?" Basically, did they have NO idea what's going on like we do. We agreed that it was most likely the case.

As a child your parents are the founts of all knowledge; their word is absolute truth. But as you get older you realize, yes, they had much more experience and more things figured out than you did at the time. But, most likely, your parents were still figuring things out, just like we are now.

"Figuring out" life can be taxing and stressful and worrisome and depressing. But I find this generally comes from a feeling of responsibility of needing to be or do something in particular to please something or someone's expectations.  On the other hand, life can be seen as one big adventure - a crazy, unpredictable, blessing of an adventure. And I think in this we might, just maybe - for a second- find peace.

11. A British celebrity. Or an American one if you can manage it.

I have to say. I did think this is the ONE I wouldn't get. However, it's looking like that will be a member of the aristocracy now :)

I don't know if this counts as celebrities to Lucy, but for good measure I got four and An American.

For those who don't know, this is Mumford and Sons. Love of my music life.

 

 Sample of their music:

And the American (A Singer by the name of Ingrid Michaelson)

 More good music

So they're not exactly "A-listers," but I'm pretty darn proud.

(Also, just for good measure, I own no rights to these videos :))

38. A french person (probably looking uncomfortable and attempting to descipher scottish accents while smoking a cigarette and wearing a beret)

Now, I cheated on this one and actually got this shot in France. I realized I do actually know someone who fits this description, but I'd actually call her an acquaintance so it seems slightly rude to ask to take a picture of her for my blog.

This lovely woman was in front of us in the queue at Musee D'Orsay. In her attempts to read the signs in English, we often lost the queue. But then it was that gratifying run to your place in line, so not all was lost. (Though the British people behind us asked us if she had cut the queue -- I don't think she followed British queue etiquette very well.)

37. Wellingtons

If you're just now seeing this for any reason, my numbered posts are from a  'scavenger hunt' my sister sent me on when I first came to Scotland in 2010. I was unable to complete it the first time around, so, of course, with a whole year ahead of me, I'm on it.

(If you want the original list it's under "I Will Finish This (I love closure)" under the September 2012 tab.)

Number 37 is Wellingtons. For those unaware, these are the rubber boot that has become fashionable here in Scotland out of absolute necessity.

Just to show how much these have infused culture (Or perhaps, how much culture has infused these):

(As you can see, A vital thing here).

My own:

I'm quite proud of them. They're a bit better for the wear these days. But, I am in Scotland.

Bienvenue A Paris

I don't even know where to start this one.

So, I went to Paris.

I met a friend who is studying in Oxford (Jane) and a friend who is an au pair in France - on the Swiss border - (Emily). We rented a small apartment on a street called Rue Saint-Maur. From here we went ALL OVER Paris.

We bought 3 day metro (subway) passes and saw paris.

On the first morning, Jane and I sat in a cafe on a small street and multiple Parisians passed us with baguettes in there hands - some stereotypes aren't so far off. We also saw Notre Dame and an area called Pont Neuf.

Our humble abode

Rue Saint Maur

Rue Saint Maur

Jane on Pont Neuf

Le Seine

Paris

Charlemagne - in front of Notre Dame

Notre Dame (My camera died after this)

With Emily safely with us,

We were on to Le Louvre, the Eiffel Tower

Musee D'Orsay, Sacre Coure,

No cameras were allowed in Musee D'Orsay

And Le Arc De Triomphe, Champs Elysees, and The Eiffel Tower at Night

Thankfully Jane and Emily speak French pretty well. I got by with 'Merci,' 'Au Revoir,' 'Je voudre,' and, of course, 'Bonjour.' I did come into some trouble when I would speak first and find myself saying 'Merci' to a teller before we had spoken at all. Problems with a memorized vocabulary.

Going into this I was 'so-so' on seeing Paris. It seemed too cliche. But it won me over - completely. The Parisians did have their stand-offish ways, but the city was absolutely amazing.

I am so thankful and so incredibly blessed for this opportunity to go to Paris and to spend time with such good friends that I made at Rhodes - another blessing that I take for granted all too often. I missed celebrating Thanksgiving in the States, but I think it struck me here more than ever how wonderful a holiday of thanks is and how very much we all have for which to be thankful.

Love to all.