after my cruise there was a lull for a couple of years before i went on another international trip. but the next one was a lot of fun…….

a friend of mine said, “hey a group of us are going to London for a 30th birthday celebration do you want to come with?” there opportunity was, knocking on my door again. hell yes i want to go. there were five of us traveling together, and we rented a flat for the week. we were going to be there for New Year’s as that is when the actual birthday was and that was the reason for the trip. if your birthday falls on any holiday you tend to get overlooked a bit, so a 30th birthday blow-out in London was one way to make the event special.

little did i realize that two other friends were also going on the trip with us, but it was a surprise for me, so i didn’t know they were coming until they knocked on the flat door. crazy! even crazier was that they were only in London for an hour before they had to be at the train station to take the Chunnel to France. “we’ll buy you a ticket and you can come with if you want”….ok, really? who is going to pass up a trip to France, so off i went goodbye London, hello Paris.

we were in Paris for less than 48 hours…….we had our trusty Michelin guide and went on the full walking tour and saw famous peoples homes (or at least the doorways), Montmartre, Lapin Agile, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame to name a few. we stayed at a funny little hotel Notre Dame something in a room that was barely big enough for a bed and night stand and maybe you could get the bathroom door all the way open if you were standing in the right spot (on the bed). the wall paper matched the bed cover, which matched the curtains…..something to be said for over coordination. we also popped into to a few cafe’s, one of which was the Cluny.

ah the Cluny…… new friends were made and a lot of beer was consumed. my two friends were there earlier in the evening, while i was resting at the hotel. they showed up at about midnight and said they were at this great place and i should go. well alrighty then, let me put on some clothes and let’s go. so off we went to start the night, again. we hung out there for awhile, then moved off to a jazz club, and then my friends left, but i remained with some new friends. i spoke no French, they spoke no English, so we settle on communication via a very poor version of Spanish. we must have been entertaining to say the least.

post jazz club at about 4 AM i get the idea i really want to visit Jim Morrison’s grave site. i REALLY need to see it while i’m there. i’m not even that big of a Door’s fan, so it’s amazing how one little mention of something can become the biggest thing ever after a multitude of alcoholic beverages. the cemetery didn’t open till 6 AM, so we killed time at a cafe and then at the hospital. no, no one was injured, one of the people i was with worked there, and though it would be nice to give me a tour of where they worked. they had very clean bathrooms.

off to Pere Lachaise. i received my map of the cemetery and we made our way through. i gave my best to Jim and Oscar Wilde as well, and then decided it was time to make my way back to the hotel as we had to leave that afternoon to go back to London……..

phone box photo courtesy of venere.com
Jim Morrison grave photo courtesy of rankopedia.com