Back To Shore

Lyrics: “Feeling Good”, 1964

Happy New Year and all that. I never considered doing a recap of 2024 here or resolutions for 2025. I do have some vague ones, but I’ll keep those to myself. Finding purpose for this space might be among them.

I had a few days off over the holidays and even if I didn’t really DO much, I spend some time on introspection. For the first time ever I actually filled out most of the prompts of the “Ein guter Plan” reflection.

I set up my new tablet. Apps, necessary passwords and stuff. I started to re-organize and delete some of my digital clutter on my desktop / tablet / phone : Photos. Files. Notes. Articles / links stored in my bookmarking app. Podcast links and episodes.

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I read a lot of the articles saved in my bookmark app. I listened to podcasts. Memorable from last night: “On Purpose with Jay Shetty – 10 Things I’m Leaving Behind in 2024 To Make Space for 2025”

On not being afraid of making mistakes and on leaving self-consciousness behind:

No-one is watching or judging you with as much focus or in as much detail as you are observing yourself.

You are fearful, because you’re scared of what people will think. You’re not chasing your dreams, because you’re scared of what people will think. You’re not persuing your passion, because you’re scared of what people will think. [….] No-one is really thinking about you, because they are thinking about themselves more. No-one is really judging you for that long, because they are judging themselves more. No-one is really critcising you that much, because they are critcising themselves more. Give them and yourself some grace and compassion.

On leaving self-criticism behind:

Retain the right quality of self-criticism. The kind that makes me better, kinder, more positive and more productive.

We don’t have to denigrate ourself in a way we wouldn’t talk to anyone we love.

On not waiting for the perfect time:

There is no such thing as the perfect time. There is no such thing as the perfect moment. There is no such thing as the perfect anything. Perfect is a concept taken from eternity. Perfect is a concept we’ve subscribed to for far too long. And it’s blocking us from starting. Don’t let perfect stop you from starting. Don’t let perfect stop you from creating. Don’t let perfect stop you from trying. Don’t let perfect stop you from practice. Don’t let perfect stop you from progress.

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While I was listening to podcasts and at other times I was “zendoodling” quite a bit, which I realized I missed doing and I am planning to do a bit more of that again this year.

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I booked most of the big items (flight, rental car, lodgings) for my Scotland vacation in September and felt humbled and grateful that I am in a position where I can just do that. Time wise and financially.

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And on the first day of 2025 I finally after months of not really being interested in new TV show and instead having old (worn and comfortable) ones on in the background, while I read or did other stuff, I’ve started watching a new (to me) show: “The Diplomat” on Netflix from 2023.

A few days ago I read a short recommendation for the upcoming season 2 which mentioned similarities to “The West Wing” and I thought, it might be a show I’d enjoy. And oh boy, do I! I like shows about politics and interesting complex characters where you don’t know yet how their relationships will evolve, good or bad. Today I’ve binged the first 4 of 8 episodes in season 1 and the ambassador will have a fling with the UK Foreign Secretary, right? At least I hope so, I feel the sparks. But then of course there also is her (still) husband, who is charming and sexy in his arrogance. It’s a bit weird to see a Brit play an American in a show set in Britian, but I deal with that. And I do think he loves her though. Not as much as himself maybe, but he definitely has feelings for her. I’m a sucker for that kind of emotional mess. And then of course there is all the wonderful footage of London and the UK countryside, you can never go wrong with that. 

And with that I’ll end this post and finish watching episode 5, before I try to get a good night’s sleep before the first day of work in 2025 tomorrow.  

Part II will be up tomorrow, I think. I hope anyway….

Well, not quite. Obviously. I spend more time reading. Sleeping. Setting up my new 2-in-1 tablet / laptop, which was a sort of Christmas / end of the year present from me to me. The old(er) one just wasn’t up to what I wanted to use it for. Tomorrow I’ll plan an outing with the other “present” I gave myself: a new proper zoom lens for my camera. I also spent some time making plans for my trip to Scotland next September, which in a way of course will be another travelling fangirl stint. But it will also so much more before that. But now back to Paris.

We left the Louvre after a few hours once we found an exit. No kidding. We came out to lovely blue sky.

While I was trying to snap a few photos my camera battery ran out and I realized I had left my extra charged camera batteries in the hotel. I guess the lack of sleep, exhaustion and excess of sensory input in the museum led to me having a tiny meltdown. I guess because my battery had obviously also run out. I managed to handle it quite well though, I think. Some deep breath, some “me-time” while my friend was looking for yet another gig-buddy we had made plans to meet up with. After that tiny – internal – meltdown I then just went with the flow, because there was nothing, I could do about it. I had to make do with my phone camera for the rest of the day and that was fine as well. I’ve come a long way. Go me!

We (friend, gig-buddy & gig-buddy’s friend) strolled around for a bit looking for place to have lunch before they were heading on to the next stop on their tour. Even so many years in – this fandom – I sometimes still marvel about how many people I’ve met and stayed on friendly terms with. I haven’t seen this one since 2018 (!! mostly due to the pandemic of course) and it was so nice to catch up for a bit.

The rest of the day we spent walking across the Seine…

…and across the Île de la Cité, the central island. With of course Notre Dame as the main interest of ours. It was about 3 weeks before the official re-opening and it still looked (and probably looks) not quite finished on the outside. All the more reason to go back at some point soon.

We kept strolling further along on the island, had coffee and crepes someplace and then went to check off another item of the “must see” list. Champs-Élysées and of course Arc de Triomphe.

We took the metro to our final destination / highlight, but got off one stop too early, which meant more walking. I don’t really want to moan, but we walked quite a bit on that day.

That final highlight: Taking the elevator up the Eiffel Tower. At night. Which was as amazing as it sounds and it was the moment I got a tiny bit mad at myself for forgetting to bring the extra batteries. My phone camera works ok at night, but not really well. Another reason to come back, though I doubt I’ll do the elevator thing once again. It was cool, but also very crowded and it took soooo long to get up. You’re taking various elevators in fact. It was a great experience. But once in a lifetime, I think. I will definitely come back for more photos from the ground though.

After that we … yes, walked to the closest metro stop on our line, which was not as close as we had liked, but nothing we could do about that. When we finally got back to our hotel I ended up with 27.00o steps (~ 21,5 km) on my Garmin watch. It was worth it though and I’ll definitely be back. Some day (soon).

I’ve been back from this short stint as “Travelling Fangirl” for over a month now. A busy month, tiring, overwhelming with too much stuff to do and too many thoughts to think. And that’s just in my personal / professional life. Then there is of course so much going on – to have thoughts on – all over the world as well. But not on here. This weekend feels like a good time to recall one of my favourite quotes from my favourite musical:

The world’s a mess, Charlie.
Small flashes of joys, that’s all any of us can hope for.

So let me tell you about the French flash of joy in November 2024. In two parts again, because it feels like there are too many photos for one post.

In the late 1990s I did two weekend trips to Paris with a friend using the service of a commercial travel company: on a bus with a group of people we didn’t know. Hard to imagine these days to travel like that, but it was the 1990s. You didn’t book hotels, trains, flights on your own on the internet yet. I admit I don’t recall all that much from those trips and I wasn’t really interested in going back. I don’t speak French. I also remember some of the French museum etc. staff in Paris as being kind of snobby and not really welcoming. A couple of years ago I started to change my mind and thought it might be nice to visit once more but then I never had a good reason to or was not motivated enough to make plans.

Then Frank Turner made the decision for me 😉 I’m only half joking. I’m glad that him playing shows all over Europe gives me the incentive or the little push I obviously sometimes need to make up my mind. So, after Antwerp my friend and I got on the train to go to Paris.

In hindsight we might have been overthinking the whole how to get a metropass thing. I know I had. It was easy, though the few-days tourist metro pass is just a tiny slip of paper. I mean, come on: What’s wrong with a proper sized (paper) card like other cities do it :-)?

We headed to our hotel, dropped off our stuff and went back on the metro to go up north to Montmartre to meet up with a gig buddy I’ve known since 2015 or 2016. They live in Paris and were coming to the show of course but also wanted to show us around a bit. Hence Montmartre. We didn’t have a lot of time, but took the funicular up to the cathedral, had a look inside, strolled around a bit.

After that we headed back to where the venue for the night’s show was, had something to eat, wen to see a great Frank Turner show. I never sweated as much at a Frank show as I did that night, I think. Holy shit, but it was a great gig.

The day after was hardcore touristy day. As you do when you’re only in Paris for a day. First on the list: The Mona Lisa. Of course. Thanks to my friend’s amazing planning and preparation we didn’t have to wait in line to get in or to go see the Mona Lisa for all that long. When I had a look out the window at some point, I was so glad my friend was so prepared.

I think it’s time to admit that I wasn’t really prepared for the Paris trip, tourist wise. The weeks before the trip had been busy at work and stuff, like most of the year had been. I was happy to just tag along with my friend to be honest and get a sense of the city again. Thus I had no real idea of what the Louvre would look inside. You can spent hours walking around just looking at the building as such and not at any piece of art exhibited there. I mean…

Here are a few more of the ceiling. Every single room was so opulent and different and just breathtaking.

Then of course: the one and only: Mona Lisa. There were quite a few people in the room and in front of the painting, but there was no queue and it actually was easy to get to take “the” photo but also just take a moment with it.

After we checked that of our list we went back to the galleries we just hurried through on our way in. A few of the highlights: The Coronation of Napoleon. I needed to take a photo for that relevant section in my Lyrical History of Mankind post, obviously.

Another one: This because… France!

Here are more photos of the Louvre highlights. I think this first visit – because I will definitely go back to Paris hopefully in the next few years – was supposed to see and check off the “must see” items. Now that I have some idea of the museum as such, I can focus on just one section of the museum next time. But we wanted to have a look at the highlights, so we did.

So much to see in the Greek and Roman Galleries and the Egyptian of course. So so much…

Part II will be up tomorrow, I think. I hope anyway….