... Paris

You’re allowed to be corny in Paris.

Paris means a great deal to me, especially today. Not only because I think is an exquisite city packed with historical attractions, interesting streets, tons of entertainment spots, but also ‘cause I fell in Love there.

Corny right?... but as I said you’re allowed to be corny in Paris! But I’ll leave that story for another time…

Paris is home of my favorite museum – Musée d'Orsay –  it has a superb range of impressionist paintings from Pissarro, Renoir, Cézanne, Le Sidaner, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh and many more.

I am moved by these canvases since I was a little girl: I still remember my Dad, underneath the massive clock on that old train station, telling us (my brother and I) how great these Men were and some of their stories. Now, thanks to him, I love them and try to head back to the museum whenever I can!

There are so many other things that I love about La Ville d’Amour.

La Basilique du Sacré Cœur is where you can get the best view of Paris. Sure that the Eifel Tower’s view is wonderful, but this one is just stunning! And it’s located in one of my favorite quartier – Montmartre.

The first time I went to Montmartre, at least since I can remember, I ran all around with my mother, in the slim mazed streets where people share the joy of a tasteful glass of wine with a cheese board, not looking for wine but for fabric. We used to buy fabric for all sorts of things, from clothing to curtains, just for the fun of it!

                                                                              

This former village inside Paris was characterized by its many mills that were used to grind grain. There aren’t many left, apart from the famous overly explored Moulin de la Galette or the equally famous cabaret Le Moulin Rouge.

Montmartre is also known to be where many artists, by the end of the 19^th century, worked and had studies such as Van Gogh, Matisse, Derain, Valadon, Renoir, Degas and many others.

It’s my favorite neighborhood, the versatility of building dreams, ideas, hope, but above all, LOVE.

I found mine, right here, in the heart of Montmartre.

TO...
...SEE: Basilique du Sacré-Coeur
...EAT: Babalou, Miroir, Coquelicot de Abbesses
...DRINK: Le Progres, Le Potager, Le jardin d'en face


Key object of the trip: 
















B.

... La Libertad

El Salvador,

After a long trip from Tikal, Guatemala, through San Salvador I finally arrived to the beach (the remaining part of my trip). It was time to relax and surf.

The taxi left us (a pack of tourists all wishing the same – beach, sun and coconuts) at La Mopelia restaurant (really good by the way).

I went up to the owner to ask which of the 4 hostels would he recommend, being such a small town, the owner of the hostel he recommended was having dinner right on the next table.

He was a very kind man. He left his meal at the table and walked with us to the rooms, telling about all the wonders this little town had to offer, and the surf off course!

The rooms: little cabanas with AC (super luxury), a mini terrace with wooden chairs and table, and the best of all, an hammock right in front of the room, on top of that we had access to fast internet (awesome as well!), snooker table, super kitchen, a full range of films and a comfy TV area for perfect lazy nights!

The fourteen rooms were full with young people from all over the world. You could surf with one, jam with the other and cook with another! After a couple of days we were all a big happy family.

We had a Canadian couple (he gave her wife a chicken for her b.day, so we had a chicken running loose for a couple of days before hitting the pan), a super nice Australian couple, two really funny guys from Australia travelling around the world playing gigs, a well travelled American with so many stories to share, a kinda crazy half Ukrainian half Canadian, and two Israelis!

 

The kitchen ended up being our best friend, where we’d all meet. In the morning someone would go up to the big town and buy some big fat shrimps and mini lobsters, or just a bunch of really yummy vegetables for a great dinner!

In the morning I woke up with the sound of the waves! Since I made friends with some local guys who owned a “surf store”, they lent me a board so I could surf! In the weekends the beach would get very crowded: a lot of people from San Salvador come here to run from the busy city, so the sea looked like an ant farm! Luckily, the best thing of being friends with locals was that they always let me get a wave from the set! It can get pretty wild in the water when there are too many surfers for one wave.

When the surf was down, there was not much to do besides sleep, eat, drink and read!!!

This two weeks were perfect to get ready for Nicaragua but that’s another story!          

TO...
...SEE: El Tunco beach, EL Sunzal beach, Fish market
...EAT: La Mopelia, Punto Roca, Super Selectos
...DRINK: Horizonte Surf Resort, La Curva de Don Jere

Key object of the trip: 

B.