Gypsy Soul: July 2013

Piton de la Founaise is currently the world's 4th most active volcano. The last eruption was in 2010, which Richard defines as "small," because it only lasted for two days. Comparatively, the eruption that started in August 2006 didn't stop for five months. After an eruption, everything is a big mess because the lava basically just doesn't care. It takes out roads, burns buildings...and no one can do anything about it until it cools down and hardens.

One day, someone was stumbling around a dried lava field from the eruption of 2004 and discovered underground tunnels. Currently, these tunnels are toured more or less in secret because they are super dangerous (the vapors inside make you pretty light headed, and also they technically could collapse at any given time...) Richard's company had a little field trip with an official tunnel guide last year...so he felt qualified enough to take us there himself.

First, we had to find the secret opening, which took us a while.

That mountain in the background is Piton de la Fournaise, the volcano.

And then...

We found it! Richard lead the way...

Richard explained many things about lava and cooling and tunnels forming and stalagmites and stalactites. I'll summarize all of this for you by saying that the tunnels and everything inside of them were formed by science.

So in we went.

The "ceiling." Richard claims it looks like chocolate.

These little holes used to be trees...the lava formed around them and then the poor tree just burned away.

They say this one looks like a shark head.

And this one looks like a Dodo bird. Valerie pointed out ironically that these are kind of the two "symbols" of Reunion Island...

Starting to get hard to breathe...

After the lava tunnels, we headed to a nearby forest for a picnic.

There were little groups of picnickers everywhere; many of them were drumming and singing Maloya, one of Reunion's traditional music styles. It was amazing.

Today's little excursion was actually the latest in a string of outdoor adventures. I promised myself I'd start exploring more...and the cool thing about Reunion is that there are no scary/poisonous beings lurking anywhere, which makes random exploring very stress free.

Earlier this week, we visited the "Savannah" as Richard likes to call it:

And the weekend before that, it was the "forbidden" 3 Basins of St. Gilles. No one really knows why they are forbidden, but you have to climb through a hole in the fence to get to them. After that, you have to traverse through watery tunnels, tightrope over cliffs, run through canyons, and climb over downed trees. Oh. I suppose maybe that's why it's forbidden...but it is sooo worth it...

little bird home

This guy was kind of pissed at me for seeing through his branch disguise.

I loved this place so much that I came back a few days later on my own, while Richard was at work. My mission was to find the 3rd basin, which we hadn't been able to find the last few times we went.

Mission accomplished. I think it's the best one too :-) It's surrounded by the biggest bamboo forest I've ever seen!!

Later, I found this secluded little corner in the back and hid out for a while.
I made friends with a tiny gray mouse and an orange butterfly :-)

On the way back I met this little guy. He kind of freaks me out. Let's just pretend he's a nice tree guardian.

Ok!! So now I'm ready for some new adventures in the USA!!!!

ONLY 7 MORE DAYS!!!

As it seems that we are going to be in Paris again in September for Richard's new job...I think now is a good time to finally finish writing about our last adventure there...

The best thing about big cities is that no matter how often you visit them, there is always something new to experience. For our last little voyage, I saw Paris with new eyes...French ones! It was the first time I'd been there with an actual French person, and also the first time Richard and I officially traveled together.

So what do French people do when they go to Paris? Well of course, they NEVER pay for hotels, but stay with their very generous friends instead.

Steph and Fabrice <3

Stephanie is from Reunion, so her mom sent us over with a couple bottles of homemade rum and 4 kilos of samoussas and fresh fruit. Her and Fabrice are total Parisian artists; they have a band and do other odd jobs to support themselves. They lead us on such nightly adventures as the karaoke bar in Montparnasse, and this amazing little Corsican Restaurant (Corsica is another French island) right next to the Sacre Cœur in Montmartre, my favorite place in the whole wide world. The owner and his wife do all the traditional Corsican cooking, and then when everyone's tummies are full, he breaks out his guitar and microphone and sings. Stephanie, a regular, jumped in with him, as did another woman from the table next to us. Soon, everyone in the tiny restaurant was singing together.

The karaoke bar, "New York Cafe" in Montparnasse.

"Le Lamarck" in Montmartre

The real reason we were in Paris is because Richard had a two-day workshop, so his trip was all expenses paid. I was a happy tag-along. But that also meant that I had two days alone in Paris, and luckily...I knew just who to go visit.

Carrie and I have a long history of globe trotting together...after we met a few years ago while working as cocktail servers at the Cowboy's Stadium in Texas, we went on a week long cruise to Jamaica, Grand Caymen, and Cozumel with our friend Ken. We swam with dolphins, danced around in dreads, and laughed non-stop. Carrie is currently living with her French boyfriend in Paris, so obviously we had to catch up. We did some shopping...had a picnic lunch outside Palais Tokyo, and then Carrie saved me from some mean pickpocket lady that tried to get me with the gold ring trick! Then I accompanied Carrie as she did her grocery shopping for the evening meal...oysters, pasta and some amazing wine from the Galleries Lafayette's Gourmet section. Oh, Paris...

I had recently learned about the "Lover's Bridge." (thanks Pinterest!) On the Pont des Arts, couples from all over the world attach padlocks to the bridge as a symbol of their everlasting devotion, and then throw the key into the Seine River.

Apparently this is kind of a hotly disputed ritual, because there are many angry Parisians protesting that the locks are destroying the landscape, that they are causing harm to the bridge from all the extra weight, etc. etc. etc. I understand, and ok maybe they are wearing the bridge down...but I'm sorry, I still think it's beautiful and unique and a perfect expression for the City of Love. Besides, didn't the Parisians collectively hate the Eiffel Tower after it was constructed? They're just so silly!

The other cool thing about traveling with a French guy in Paris is that he knows secrets!! Like this rooftop bar at the top of Au Printemps with only one of my favorite views ever!

We of course did many of the usual "must sees:"

This was taken just outside of his friend's apartment!!! It's not a badly situated place to live, if you ask me...

Metro Naviation is an art.

Chipotle is always a must-see for me.

Sacre Cœur

Street artists in Montmartre

Yeah...those little jerks.

Then we discovered some things new to both of us...

Carnavalet, a free museum about the history of Paris.

The Famous Falafel place in the Marais, L'as du Fallafel.

The Madeline

Fauchon, a famous gourmet food store

By far, the coolest part of the trip was visiting the Musée des Arts Forains. It's not open to the public; you have to request a tour in advance. The museum is a mysterious old man's private collection of vintage carnival pieces, and it is divided into giant Moulin Rouge-like rooms with red velvet curtains drooping from the dimly lit ceilings.

Our tour guide was an amazing storyteller.

Then we got to play!!

The only tour guide who does a magic show...

We were actually kind of lucky to get in to our tour, thanks to my awesome
(read: horrible) French speaking skills on the phone. Well actually, I made the reservation via Skype, which for me is even more difficult to understand than the phone. I mistook the lady saying 12:00 for 2:00 (ok but who says douze heures? Why not midi?!) and so when we arrived at 2, we were informed of our extreme tardiness. Fortuitously, they were more than understanding when I explained what had happened in my thick American accent. They let us in immediately, and we were able to join another group who had just started 20 minutes earlier. He told us we had missed the first room, but that he would take us there himself if we could find him after our tour was over.

And that's exactly what we did. We went back to the first room, and then he asks us, "so do you want to see something cool?" Umm..always. He takes us into the party side, where the rooms are even more grand and even more ornate than the ones we saw, which were being prepared for someone rich's wedding. After that, he lead us into the back of the property where our mysterious patron keeps all of the things he's collected but hasn't yet added to his showrooms....

It was like something out of a horror film, honestly!! These pieces were just So. Old. And creepy. And staring at me as I walked by from their dust covered shelves that never seemed to end. Then our guide got an urgent phone call and had to run out for a few minutes, leaving us alone with the...pieces...

That's when things really started to get creepy.

No, I'm kidding. We just nosed around a bit and our guide came back and we left. But it was pretty awesome. And it just goes to show you (read: me) that sometimes miscommunication can actually work out for the better!!

After that, we spent some time in St. Germain with Richard's old college friends whom I love and wish they lived in Reunion...