In Paris I did not find Love, Just Art,and a freaky old man

When you grow up, there is always this dream to go to Paris, fall in love beneath the Eifel Tower and live happily ever after. I am more of a cynic when it comes to such things, so on a recent trip, all I expected was Baguettes and cheese, and more importantly the Champs Elysee. I must admit, I did not give Paris enough time, just two days, enough time to see the Louvre from top to bottom, say hi to Mona, pose with cupid and shop along the Champs Elysee. I must admit that that was the highlight, strolling into overpriced stores, eating at sidewalk cafes, and I cant help but think how difficult it must be to french and live up to all that expectation. Even the McDonalds tries so hard, calling themselves McCafe, like that would make their coffee any better, and even the girl serving you behind the counter is plastered with make up. I do admit that I was a little disappointed with Paris as it just did not live up to the hype and romaticised picture I had in my head. It was crowded, grimy, over-priced and exceptionally cold, although the last one is no fault of Paris. I did enjoy the time in the Louvre. All that art, grandeur, and tales of yester year, captured for eternity. I looked at the Mona Lisa through the crowed and watched her staring, half smiling back at me. I went to visit Napoleans aprtments adn saw the most amazing sculptures and I wonder why today, when we have all the technlogy and acuiment, me just do not produce such marvels, or maybe, our marvels will be appreciated when we are long gone. So I realised that it was time to leave when an old man outside the Louvre started hitting on me...seriosly grandpa, it was just not you lucky day...and to Paris, Au Revoir

Snowboarding...its extreme and so is the pain afterwards

I consider myself a bit of a cautious adventurer. I realize that that may be a contradiction of terms, but sometimes, self preservation is more important than adventure. This weekend I threw caution to the wind and decided to go snowboarding...and for those wondering, I have no clue on how to snowboard. I figured being a female of great poise and grace and balance, snowboarding would come easily. So before the crack of dawn, I was up and on a train to Feldberg, in the black forest, with a bunch of other crazy people heading off on our next adventure.

In my experience, once you look the part, you have more confidence to be the part, and so I looked like a right old snowboarder (what am I going to do with snowboard pants in South Africa is an entirely different blog) and off to the slopes I went.

Lets just say, that there is a lot of things I am a natural at, I have great beginners luck, unfortunately, that does not stem to snowboarding. For the better part of two hours, I spent most of my time falling on my ass, it was fun, painful, and cold, but the rush you get when you finally get up on the board, and snowboard down the slope in a perfect arc is priceless, its like flying though the snow, it almost makes you forget your crash landing at the end, when you are going to fast, lose your balance and end up on ur butt in a heap at the bottom of the slope.

All in all, it was a great day, completely exhausting but totally fun...the drawback however is the pain you feel the next day. Muscles you didnt even know existed are in excruciating pain, so much so that is is even an effort to put your socks on, and so you dont, you spend the day in bed, in solitude, because even talking hurts, but its still fun and still worth it, and that is why I am going snowboarding again...whoohoo