Before I show you pictures, I must come up with a draft of sufficient impressions and reactions. Sorry it took so long but I’m going to break it down in parts and pieces, because it’s laaaazydays.
I love Gulf Air
I had to stay overnight in Qatar because of Gulf Air’s efficiency in inefficiencies (I don’t want to expound on the topic, it’s so tiring).
Instead, I arrived in Paris from London and not Bahrain as I was supposed to, 12 hours later. In short, nothing happened the way it was it was supposed to. But didn’t I say I wouldn’t expound on the topic? Moving on…
Julien was carrying a limp piece of paper with the name KALA written on it, decorated with stars and lightning bolts and clouds. That was my first greeting in France. Frankly, I was just glad to be off an airplane.
Arc de Triomphe and Tour Eiffel
But all this country had to do was work its magic by… by doing nothing at all. It could be scratching its nose and it would still be magical. The Arc de Triomphe was the first thing I saw from the bus, and as I stood there looking at the monument I’d only up until now seen in books and pictures, with real cars whizzing by and real people speaking a language I couldnt’ understand … it was the start of teleportation which would last me for the next few weeks, as if I were watching myself watch myself on television. The Eiffel Tower was behind the Arc de Triomphe, a little bit to its right. It was just there.
Up to now I don’t know if I had subconsciously expected the Eiffel Tower to come to life, smile, wave at me and say “Hi! I’m Eiffel Tower, you can call me Eif, and I’m 985 feet tall! That’s 298 metres for the Europeans because the American metric system is shit!”
Come to think of it, maybe I was. Each time the Eiffel Tower was glimpse-able (there’s no such word but it fits my sentence so well), I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it. Why? Because, as I said, it was just there…
