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Paris: Day 3

Le Marais at night

It’s hard to believe that after all I’ve written about Paris, I am only up to day 3! I was only there for 5 days, imagine what would have happened had I gone for a month…

On the morning of day 3, I departed from my first host’s place and made my way to host number two. My second host also lived in a suburb outside of Paris. This suburb was called Fontenay-sous-Bois. It took a bit of navigating the metro and a bus to get there, but I made it. Like my first host, my second host was lovely. She was an adorable sprite of a girl—half Algerian and half Belgian with Algerian curls in a pixie cut and a light face full of freckles.

I was thoroughly exhausted from my first two days of exploration and I wanted to rest a bit while she did some light cleaning. I helped her fold laundry and then, in the early afternoon, we headed out together for Le Marais.

We took the metro to Champs-Élysées. The first thing I saw upon emerging into the street was the National Academy of Music and what a magnificent structure it was.

We walked along the fantastic Champs-Élysées boulevard. Along the way we stopped into an artist commune and took in some local art that took my breath away.

More walking and we found ourselves in Le Marais. Le Marais was not originally on my itinerary, but I was very happy to visit at my host’s suggestion. It is a wonderful neighborhood teeming with all sorts of eccentric, quaint, and stylish shops & restaurants. The streets are narrow & cobblestone. It is utterly romantic. The best part of Le Marais is the gay neighborhood which bleeds right into the Jewish neighborhood—talk about cultures colliding. I loved it!

A shop in Le Marais, my dad's name is Gerard

Eventually, my legs felt as though they were being repeatedly stabbed by daggers so we stopped in a park, laid in the grass, and had the most lovely conversation as the sun was setting.

Me in front of the fountain, Le Marais

When my legs were somewhat recovered we got back up and our hungry bellies led us to L’as du Fallafel where I had one of the best meals of my entire life.

After dinner we explored Le Marais a bit more and headed into the Bastille neighborhood. We walked & walked—chatting all the way—through the stunning Paris night.

Le Marais at dusk

When we arrived home, I quickly fell into one of the deepest slumbers I’ve ever known. Paris was gorgeous… and exhausting! Stay tuned for my best day in Paris… Day 4.

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    Let Go of Your Goals & Unleash Your Dreams

    Dreams are Just as Important as Goals

    I’ve written quite a bit about setting & accomplishing goals; overcoming fears; and making the best out of difficult situations. But what I haven’t written enough about is flat out—unleashing your dreams.

    Goal setting is a very mathematical process. It goes something like this: Define your goal. Map out the steps necessary to achieve it. Research, develop, act. Work until you get there. This is great, it makes sense, it gets things done. However, goals are full of limitations. In order to accomplish Z, first I need to do X and Y. If I want to be in this place by this date, then I’ve got to accomplish X, Y, and Z by this date. And so on and so forth it goes. We plan and work and strive.

    Yes, goal-setting & goal accomplishment are crucial elements to success; but sometimes we have to just let go of our goals and start unleashing our dreams! Throw caution to the wind and go for it. But how?, you ask. Well, you start by defining your dreams & broadcasting them to the world. Today I am going to define my wildest dreams & share them with you.

    “Achieving life is not the equivalent of avoiding death.” –Ayn Rand

    Why Are We Afraid to Expose Our Dreams?

    To be honest, I am a bit nervous about this. I feel like I am exposing a part of myself that I’ve kept hidden. When you keep your wildest dreams to yourself, you’re safe. If no one knows what you want, then no one can hold you accountable. For example, if your best friend has no idea that you dream of moving to Costa Rica to collect butterflies in the rain forest—then she isn’t going to check in with you once a month and ask where you’re at. If you’re father doesn’t know that you dream of quitting your job to build collectible trains and sell them on Ebay—then he isn’t going to be hounding you with questions about it at the holidays. And when you are not faced with those questions you are safe. Your dreams can stay on the back burner while your life passes you by. You are not held accountable. You don’t experience pressure. But, my friend, today is the day that you must realize something critical: It is pressure that makes diamonds!

    Broadcast Your Desires to the Universe

    Steve Pavlina recently wrote a post called Broadcast Your Desires. In the post, he explains why broadcasting our desires & dreams to the world is the best way to make them a reality. If you can’t broadcast your desires, it’s fair to say that you don’t own them yet. In order to make your desires become real, you’ve got to speak up about them. If you’re going to receive them, then let it be known. If you find it necessary to hide what you desire, that suggests you aren’t ready to receive.

    Well, I am ready to receive! I hope that by taking this step in my own life, I will inspire you to take it in your own. Here I go…!

    My Dreams

    1. Grow evolution you
    I want to take this blog to great heights, attract thousands of readers, inspire people around the world. I want to monetize it so that I can devote myself to improving people’s lives full-time. And as a result, I want to become location independent so that I can travel the world, spreading love & light where ever I go.

    2. Write a book
    I haven’t quite worked out the details of this one yet—it’s a bit ever-evolving. I’ll pin it down soon enough, for now I am just dreaming wildly!

    3. Travel to the Great Pyramids in Egypt
    I feel intimately connected to the people of ancient Egypt. Perhaps it is the beautiful & mysterious way that Ancient Egypt is depicted in films & literature, whatever the cause, the very idea of it thrills me. I have long dreamed of visiting & exploring the ancient pyramids for myself.

    4. Learn to speak French

    5. Spend time living & working in Europe
    Italy, France, and Belgium all seem such lovely places to me. I’d like to spend at least a few months in each place.

    6. Safari in Africa
    This is the only dream on the list that I already accomplished. In the Summer of 2006 I studied abroad in Kenya, studying, on safari, and touring. It was a truly incredible experience and I’ll be making a post about it soon.

    7. Live in the wilderness
    I am insanely attracted to nature. In fact, I am quite convinced that I am a tigress/she-wolf/mermaid trapped in the body of a human woman. I feel most at home in nature—in the mountains, near the sea, anywhere wild. I’ve long dreamed of escaping the civilization circa Into the Wild. It would certainly not be a permanent thing; but I’d love to experience it at least for a few weeks to see how long I’d last.

    8. Have or adopt a baby
    Last February my sister gave birth to me beautiful Godson, Brian. Ever since then, I’ve heard the ticking of my own biological clock a tad louder than before. I am not in any rush, as you can see I’ve got a lot I want to do before I am quite ready to “settle down” but it is definitely an enormous dream of mine, some day.

    9. Spend time on a Native American reservation
    I’d like to spend some time living or at least working/volunteering on a reservation. I am passionate about Native American culture and it would be a great honor to serve the Native American people in some capacity and to learn first-hand their cultures, traditions, and needs.

    10. Serve on the Board of Directors for a prominent wildlife conservation foundation

    11. Visit a Buddhist monastery in Tibet

    ——————————–

    These are not all of my dreams, not nearly, but the list could go on and on. For now, these are the ones that I am working toward—in the near & distant—future. It was not nearly as difficult to share them as I thought it would be! This list will be ever-evolving and I will update it as my dreams are accomplished and as they change.

    Alright, I did my part. Now it’s your turn! I would love to hear about your big dreams in the comments or if you make your own big dream post please let me know about it.

4 Comments

  1. Love, love, love this post. You gave me several ideas for a trip of my own. Your description of the mishmash of cultures and lifestyles made me smile. I always love to stumble upon that in cities, too.

    Reply

    1. @ Andra – Aw, thank you so much. So glad you loved the post. I am so excited about the next couple of posts. (Hint: Catacombs, Luxembourg Gardens, Notre Dame at dusk, and Montmartre.)

      I can not wait to hear about your next trip! 😉

      Reply
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