In terms of accomplishments, I must say - it was an excellent day!
After pushing it through yesterday and trying to stay awake, despite the fact that on my Bahamian clock I was supposed to be sleeping the night, this morning was not so bad.
Upon my arrival to the hotel yesterday morning at about 7am I was told that check in was at 2pm...I was tempted to say that "it is 2pm somewhere right now" but I decided to explore the area surrounding the hotel instead. It was awesome to see little fruit shops and parks with benches everywhere just to sit and chill. I got me a sandwich and enjoyed it sitting at a kiddie park on one of the benches...
My hotel is actually on the eastern side of Paris, on the outskirts...a nice place that kind of looks like an art/performance building. As a matter of fact, here they have a theatre that stays open during the winter season. My room reminds me of my walk-in closet, but it is super cute and has a great view, so I do not mind at all.
After checking into the hotel and thoroughly enjoying a hot shower, I almost went to sleep. However, I would not have been able to forgive myself for wasting a whole day sleeping...besides, then I would have been awake at night...so, tired and cold I strolled along the streets of Paris and ended up in one of the street cafes. They have them here everywhere and they have the best coffee! The summer here is like Bahamian winter 60 degrees Fahrenheit and all I packed was summer clothes. Thank God for the DRG jacket that I grabbed, just in case. I really wanted to read but my brain was not having it and I decided to do some people watching...there are so many different beautiful people in Paris! I even made friends with one of them.
My new friend's name is Francisco and he is actually from Spain, finally someone who speaks the same language :) It was interesting to find out that here there are more Muslims than Christians. After talking to Francisco I learned that he has many friends who are Muslim and that if he was to convert into anything and follow a certain religion it would be Islam. He even has a Koran. I learned that they believe in Jesus and even have the historical account beginning from Adam and Eve, but the difference is - they believe that Jesus was a prophet and that Mohammed is the last prophet that came after Jesus...they even believes that Jesus is coming back to defeat the Antichrist! After an awesome sharing and an exchange of what we believe I said my good byes and started to praise God that He was present in my life and that He brought me to a place in my life where I can know Him and no longer be confused about or doubt who Christ is! It is that knowing in my heart that was not there before but is undeniably present with me now...that no matter what or who comes along with something else I can love and respect them and my faith would not be shaken :) I even thought to myself that "God is aware of this conversation and He knows each one of us and He loves this person as much as He loves me, the only difference is that perhaps he is not aware of how much he is loved by God". Isn't that the case for most of us?
In the past couple of days the Lord has taken me to places in my heart, examining it and showing me where I came from...giving me a look into my past before He takes me into the future...he reminded me of my old ways of thinking and my old desires and how much He has transformed all of that. Every waking moment of this day, as I went out of the hotel, I had more and more reasons to be thankful and to praise His name!
Places I visited:
- Notre Dame (check!)
- Le Louvre (check!)
- The Eiffiel Tower at night! (check!)
Added bonuses:
- Watching the sunset from the Ferril Wheel of Paris!
- Having sushi for dinner right in front of the Eiffiel Tower and watching the light show at the same time!
Personal effort that went into planning: zero!
I literally did not know where I was going next and ended up in all those places at the perfect time each time!!! I could not have planned it better :)
Thankful and grateful...let the journey continue :)
Lol wow Ily! I hope you took pictures. I had to google Notre Dame and Le Louvre to see what you were talking about :) . And yes, let the journey continue!
ReplyDeleteP.S. How was the sushi? Was it as good as seafront sushi :) ?
Giiiirrrlll!! Yes, i took pictures I even did a video going up the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, I still do not know how to post the videos or the pictures on the blog...
ReplyDeleteThe sushi were surprisingly great! I had salmon sushi and a salmon California roll :) I remember when I was in London I did the same thing, except I was in front of the Big Ben :) I think I am creating a tradition here...
I miss you guys, I wish you were here to share this experience, we have to plan something like this, let's put it on our bucket list ;)