A Walk with my Brother

It is not often that I get to spend an entire afternoon with my brother.    It is actually pretty rare that I even get a few hours.   The man works more than almost anyone I know, with the exception of my husband.    Oh, and maybe my dad.     And probably me too, when I was working full time.

I feel lucky that I am able to visit him here in New York.    Besides the free place to stay, its been lots of fun watching him move around the city and grow up a bit in the process.    So yesterday, as the sun cleared away all the cloudy skies and warmed the spring air, he had a few hours break from his work and suggested we go for a walk through Central Park, one of my favorite spots in New York, actually in anywhere.

We walked the length of the park, talking and catching up on all the usual topics.   I tried to sprinkle in little bits of older sisterly advice in the process.     I figure someones got to do it.  

It was a nice visit that brought back lots of good and some sad memories from the past several years.   Even the sad memories are good though.  

We ended up in his old neighborhood in the upper west side. Walking for hours can make you a little thirsty!  

This is my (currently) single brother.    He may kill me for this post and make me take it down immediately, but I think he secretly wants to be famous, so here he is.   (He's a good guy.)

After a totally (un)healthy and salt laden dinner of chips, salsa and guacamole, we caught a cab back and dropped my brother back at his office and me back at his place.     I settled into the futon for yet another documentary.   Food, Inc.   Profoundly disturbing and reinforcing.     Kept me up for hours.  

Today, after a quick and wonderful visit, I'm heading back to North Carolina.   I miss home, my husband and my cat.   I said my version of prayers for those impacted by the tornadoes this weekend.  I'll have to do my own little damage patrol downtown tomorrow to make sure my place is still in tact.

Happy Monday.  

Tour de Paris

I love to walk.    One of the joys of this two month travel experience has been the freedom to throw on a pair of shoes each morning and just head out to wherever I end up.  I usually plot out a general plan of attack, but then just go and see what happens.   

I struggle with maps.   Always have.   I bring a semi decent map along with me when I head out, but it is usually the kind that has the major attractions and streets noted and blank spots where all the small streets are.    This has gotten me in trouble a couple of times, but generally I figure it out.  And really, I have nothing else to do, so getting lost in say Paris, or Rome, really isn’t all that bad. 

For the past two years, I have participated in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Event benefiting the fight against breast cancer.   The walk takes place on various weekends in different cities throughout the United States.    We walk for a total of 60 miles, 20 miles each day, until we reach our final destination.   The past two years, I have walked with my father in San Francisco and San Diego.   I think this year I have talked my fiancé into joining me in some undetermined location to be announced.   It is an incredibly amazing experience that I will share more about later, but for now, I’ll connect the dots back to my current travel experience.

Walking 60 miles over 3 days requires a little bit of training.   Well, okay, a lot.    Anyone who thinks they are in decent shape and can head out in the morning with the pack is in for a big surprise.     Silly things are really important to ensuring you can complete the event.   Like making sure you’ve logged enough time to sufficiently harden your feet to prevent blisters.   I walk throughout the year to train.   For those of you that just met me in the past two months, this will explain my marathon walks on the deck of the Eurodam!

Friday was the perfect day for a ‘training’ walk in Paris.   Sandwiched between several days of really crappy weather.   Cold, raining, windy.   This day was a gift that came out of nowhere.   Perfectly sunny, bright blue skies, fluffy white clouds and crisp air.   Not too hot, not too warm.   Perfect.

Over the past two weeks, I have been exploring bits and pieces of Paris in depth.     It was now time to bring it all back together.  I did a smaller version of this walk when I first arrived in order to get acclimated.   Thought the longer version would be a nice way to end my visit. 

Here’s the quick verbal description of what is displayed in today's photographic journey:

I started off from my apartment in Le Marais, walked through Les Halles, Madeline, Fauborg St. Honore, through a small patch of the gardens, up Champs Elysees, over to the Eiffel Tower, a stop at the Rodin Museum, a stroll through St. Germain Des Pres, down the Seine, over bridges and back through my neighborhood, up my winding staircase and collapse on couch.  

My marathon walk through Paris proved to be an amazing day that I will always remember.   Don’t worry, I didn’t have my blinders on.  I stopped just about everywhere that looked somewhat appealing.    I have no idea how far I walked, but it doesn’t really matter, it was just another great day in a incredibly beautiful city.    

My trip is quickly coming to an end.   I leave for North Carolina tomorrow afternoon.    It is unbelievable how fast time went.   I will treasure this forever.   I think back to the day I left home and can’t believe the transformation I have gone through.   I’ll be sharing more deep thoughts on the whole experience over time.   For now, thanks for following along with me on this initial part of the journey.   Stick around as I continue to recap, provide more focused updates on some of my favorite things on this journey and figure out how to incorporate all of this back into the life awaiting me at home!