Stellai's September blog; "Paris Take 2"

Warning!!

Yeah, I know it; a warning is not the best subject to start with. But I feel obliged to warn you all for the poor quality photo’s that are added to my blog again. In my defence I need to emphasize that Koen made the selection. For some reason he seems to think that there is a kind of hidden quality in these photos from which he believes that it will be appreciated by you folks. Personally I think that the series is a bunch of common holiday pics which I just happen to be of me (well, ...in at least one you really need to search for me!). Now I admit that my presence does elevate the level of quality, but to have these simple snapshots published in our glamour e-Zine is nothing less than blasphemy. So, at the risk of losing my job here, I invite you to watch the next series of my trip to Paris and my trip to Le Mont Saint Michel.

Because the person responsible will not do it: please accept my sincere apologies for the photos added.

Stellai
Probably your next months ex-reporter, because for now I am still your reporter, I owe you the conclusion of my trip.

At our second visit to Paris we went to see the ‘Centre Pompidou’, famous for its square with musicians, acrobats, artists and hawkers. And there I had planned to realize the bright idea that I mentioned in my previous blog. Of course I had hoped and preferred to spend my precious time in Paris to see more of its culture and highlights, but mister Big-guy-with-the-wallet had made it clear that every suggestion for visits to Paris’ culture centers would be granted only if the costs involved would not exceed the budget. This he smartly had set on €1,16 p.p.p.v* and € 3,41 p.p.p.d** maximum, consumptions included.

Not being equipped with a digestive system, the latter was not a problem, but since a single subway ticket costed € 1,70.... Action needed to be taken!

My plan was simple. Being blessed with a most athletic body, and an earlier experience of huge success (look for the topic on Dollforum: Things you can do when nobody watches.... and then look at the number of hits!), I decided to give a similar performance to the exquisite Parisian audience, well known for their appreciation of extraordinary talents... Needless to say that my performance was a big success. In a blink of an eye I earned nothing less than 10 coins of real money, all with genuine numbers on it going from 1 up to even 50!

According to plan I, of course, generously donated my entire gainings to Koen. I swear, the smile he gave me was so big that I honestly feared his head would split around his mouth! Now you might think that this would be a reason for some changes...alas! But the smile on Koens face got stuck for the rest of that day. And you can call me a sucker, but his smile can melt the ice of the Mount Everest. So,... I just could not stay angry with him.

Editors note:
*per person per visit
** per person per day

Our next visit that day was the impressive ‘Notre Dame’ on the ’Île de la Cité’. Well known because of its talking gargoyles Victor, Hugo and Laverne. These famous statues were miraculously brought to life and devoted their new doll-being to help some poor guy.

This time I had prepared myself and had chosen a high position (Koens shoulder) to make sure that I would be first in line to get an exclusive interview with one of them. I spotted Hugo on the left edge on the third floor of the right tower and hailed him.

It was really hot that day. I saw him watching the square in front of the Notre Dame which was loaded with human doll visitors, all evaporating like crazy and therefore desperate enough to squeeze even the last drop of water out of a gargoyle.

Probably therefore Hugo, being a gargoyle, preferred the tower over an exclusive interview. Such a pity, though not very surprising.

On our third visit we finally went to see the real center of Paris. Perhaps not geographically, and surprisingly not even historically, but the center surely in the mind of every tourist that once visited, is visiting, or will ever visit Paris: The Eiffel Tower.

Then suddenly, I really do not know what came over him, but suddenly Koen thought he needed to test the construction of the tower. Now I am positive that Mr. Eiffel has calculated his structure to withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, and likely even airplains, but I doubt it if he anticipated Koens testing methods...Fortunately I was there to save the day.

From the Eiffel tower to the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile is a little bit more than a mile, which is just about an hour walking. According to Koen we could have easily done in in half an hour if I had let myself carried. But of course I politely refused because I am perfectly able to walk this kind of distance myself. Also giving the family the pleasure of getting twice as much time to enjoy the walk and to notice all kind of things they surely would have missed when walking at their normal speed. Hence their frequent observations of turtles that seemed to walk coincidentally in the same direction. The turtles must have been on the other side of the street, because from my angle I was not able to spot them. But the frequent remarks of my giant family members that they had to slow down in order to keep up with a turtle, leaves no doubt that Paris inhabits a colony of wild turtles.

Thanks to me our timing to visit the Arc was perfect, because when we arrived the cyclists of the Tour de France just had gathered there to make their annual group photo. Some of them were doing something which looked like drawing straws, likely to decide for the next day finale who would be first to climb the champion podium.

You know, sometimes democracy really sucks. I really had been looking forward to walking the famous Champs-Élysées. But the minute we set foot on it my other family members suddenly all wanted to ‘stretch their legs’ (as if their legs need anymore stretching!!!). Now, this you must know, is code for ‘Stellai, go in your basket’. When it is just Koen and me it is sufficient to make a scene to turn this around. But here it was not just the two of us and so I was bound to the rules of democracy.

Yeah, sometimes democracy really sucks.

Even though the Champs d’Elysees lost a bit of its grandeur because of my forced high viewpoint, it was still impressive. Though I must say that I felt a bit disappointed because of its one-sidedness in shops. Other than I expected and hoped for not one of the shops was in normal size, or even selling normal sized stuff. Here again human giant dolls ruled the world. Although from the size of several of the shops it seemed that they aimed for an ever larger size of doll clientele.

And finally, after a pleasant ‘ride’ through ‘Le jardin de Tuileries’ we arrived at the Louvre. But when I suggested to take a tour, suddenly all my giant family members complained that they had overstretched legs. Therefore the picture that has been added shows pretty much the closest I have been to the Louvre.

Next day we went for the coast to do some relaxed camping. Obviously this is a contradiction, because camping is by definition not relaxed. But, provided that it is dry, it can be fun though. We stayed at the Municipal of Saint Suliac, which is a giant dolls village in the north of la Bretagne ‘close’ to the sea. (Only during high tide, during low tide the sea was at least 30 meters from the village!). Made some nice walks there. The beach was a bit stony but was perfect for beach combing. The beautiful sunhat you see me wear (it is a giant shell !) I found there myself.

I won’t bother you with more details about that week. Pleasant times generate lots of pictures, but little stories.
There is one more event though that needs to be mentioned and that is our trip to ‘Le mont Saint Michel’.

Le Mont Saint Michel is a kind of huge rock* on the beach of le Normandie. ‘Beach’ is actually not the right word here. It looks more like a desert which turns into a waterworld twice a day. I was told that for the flooding of the desert-beach a doll that lives on the moon is responsible. Clearly this must be some kind of old folks believe, because there is no pipeline running from the beach to the moon. I checked!

To see the rock from the coast is easy. In fact it is almost impossible to miss. But to get there is quite a different story. Now we could have taken the shuttle bus, it was fast and it was for free, but then there was me and my big mouth suggesting that we also could be sportive and go by foot... BIG mistake. We walked and walked... and walked... and walked. Forever it seemed. Somebody could have warned me. Somebody SHOULD have warned me! And then somewhere halfway I guess, I had to give up. I hate to admit it, but this time Koen had to save the day.

* Mont is French for mountain. But I have been to the Alps.And i can assure you that this ‘Mont’ is not a mountain. Not by far!

When we arrived it appeared that on the rock giants had build a huge church and a complete city (according to Koen it was more the size of a very small village, but that is a matter of perspective) all in late medieval style. If you like fairytales and tourist shops, well then, this is the place to be. But be prepared, for you will not be the only one. In fact I am starting to think that the French giant dolls may have a thing for amassing themselves in tiny places.

But even if you do not get thrilled by the thought of being crushed, squeezed, swindled or exhausted you need to go because of the view from the fortress wall over the desert-beach. It is totally awesome! I am pretty sure that you can look all the way to Jersey. Did you see me waving, Phil?

Well, that is all for now folks. Got an angry email from my boss that this blog has way too much text. And that next month it needs to be cropped to half at least. So I guess I will see you all next month!

xo

Stellai
Possibly not you next months ex-reporter ...(^L^)...

P.S.
When you have missed the first part of my holiday report then you can use this link to see my previous text and photo series: /drupal/node/1937 Stellai’s blog August 2014

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