My Exploration of the World and Myself: Antiquity

My story...

I left Vancouver on April 4 2010 to live one year abroad. I arrived in London- spent a week with my cousins, headed over to Ireland to see some more cousins and tour the country, back to London for a day- and arrived in Paris on April 28th, 2010. I found an apartment and started working on May 10th. From May 2010 until February 2011 I lived the Parisian life and took advantage of living in the epicenter of the world by traveling and exploring numerous nearby countries such as: Algeria, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, the south of France, Belgium, Morocco, and South Africa.
This blog takes you into the wonderful adventures of my life with stories and pictures galore.
I was due back to Vancouver on April 1, 2011- where I took my position back after my one year leave. I flew back to Vancouver on March 27, 2011. It has been good to be back- I am so blessed as I am surrounded by such great people!!! So good to see friends and family again after 1 year!
Just because I'm back in Vancouver to what was my "normal" life... doesn't mean the adventures and blogging stop here. The adventures will continue I'm sure... so the only way to stay informed with my random experiences is to come back to this page! So add it to your favourites.

last updated: April 2, 2011.

Monday 17 May 2010

Antiquity

So the last 2 weekends I took my time and explored Paris a wee bit and found myself in cute little markets...but before I begin, a little information about May 1, May Day in France.

This little flower is called Lilies-of-the-Valley

On May 1st... we were walking around, and EVERYONE had them!!! We were so confused as to what was going on...so we asked a lady at an antique market. She said they brings you luck and good fortune. According to wiki:

France
On May 1, 1561 King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm. He decided to offer a lily of the valley each year to the Ladies of the Court. At the beginning of the 20th Century it became the custom on the 1st of May to give someone a sprig of lily of the valley, a symbol of Springtime. The government permits individuals and workers' organisations to sell them free of taxation. It is also traditional for the Lady receiving the spray of lily of valley to give a kiss in return. Nowadays people may present loved ones with bunches of lily of the valley or dog rose flowers ^[5]

Thank goodness I didn't have to give a kiss in return though :)

Here were the vendors near the metro:

Okay... So I would love to invest in a cute antique tea pot or tea cup...but they are RIDICULOUSLY expensive here! All of the markets are totally catered to tourists... maybe i'll have to head to a small town outside of Paris and go into a second hand store. I'm excited...the thrill of the hunt! But get this...even the pictures are expensive at these markets! I asked a lady if I could take a picture of her hat, she paused, gave me an evil look, and said, "Only ONE." lol... well, I took that one...and I love this picture :) Plus... if we weren't in digital ages, I would have only taken one anyways :op... how technology has changed.

So...that was one market...then a couple of weeks later (last weekend) I found myself at another market! And so took pictures veerrryyyy discretely! I got some good ones though!

You never know what you're going to see when you're walking out of the metro... I come out from the underground...AND BAM! A show of dancers! hahaha