T-pisode 155: T Does Paris in 3 Paragraphs

*I’ve decided to do a series of T-pisodes that capture my travels throughout my life. In 3 paragraphs. I’ll post them every once in a while. Some places I’ve been to a few times, others only once. And some I will probably never go back to because of what went down there.

 

Ah Paris! Where do I even begin with this one people? I think I have to give the back story first. I wanted to travel a lot more internationally. I planned on going to Italy. Whether on my own or treating my mother or my sister to a great vacation. My mother wasn’t medically cleared to travel. My sister was busy being a mom. All my boys are married or would only do like a Vegas or South Beach run. Not Europe. At the same time I hit it off and spent my entire Summer with one girl. Yeah. ME…with one girl. We were from different worlds, but damn I liked this girl hard and fast. So much so that my crazy ass booked a trip to Paris for the two of us. Six weeks later and we weren’t as close when it was trip time. Which kind of sucked. But either way we both cared about each other enough to figure out a way to pull it off. Boom. We were in Paris. The trip started off a little rocky between us…ok a lot rocky. Like scary “Why is this happening right now?” rocky. But she and I figured it out, stepped it up and threw caution out the window and embraced this vacation. We embraced the city, the food, the people, the history, the music, the wine, the sites, the culture and the magic of Paris. For a week my everyday life was turned off and I was living in a damn painting. A dream.

I don’t care where the hell you’ve been in your life. There is no place like Paris. Me being the poor, punk kid from Boston who grew up with nothing was absolutely floored as a grown man in Paris. I caught myself losing a breath from time to time. Felt my heart skip a beat every now and then. Found myself quietly saying out loud “Wow T. Look where you are.” I was humbled and amazed. There were times I felt like I didn’t deserve to be there. Crazy I know. I almost had an art history minor in college. To see the paintings, sculptures and monuments that I only read about in books in person hit me in ways I never felt before. I didn’t feel like it was real. Writing this T-pisode feels like I’m writing about a great dream. But it happened. The food in Paris is incomparable to anywhere else on the planet. We could not find a bad meal if we tried. The wine? Oh the wine! I had wine like 24 hours a day. I swear! The people were so nice too. They have a bad reputation and I don’t know if it was my Boston charm, but I was able to shoot the shit and make friends with everyone. Plus it also helped that I had one hell of a naturally beautiful woman with me who had one hell of a sweet smile to help charm the Parisians over. We walked all over Paris. We took the metro all over Paris. We took hundreds of photos all over Paris. We ate all over Paris. Drank all over Paris. My trademark Jack & Ginger transformed into Jack & French Lemonade. My morning protein shakes became chocolate croissants.  My turkey sandwiches were replaced with duck and escargot. My daily weight lifting & dirty boxing workouts became unmatched cardio walking up and down the River Seine, through the catacombs, museum halls for hours on a daily basis. Which also included one amazing nighttime hike down every single step of the Eiffel Tower.

I can list the sites and places we visited. But there are too many. We saw and did everything. I even had a few “T style” moments where we balled on a riverboat restaurant at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower on the River Seine without a reservation. Had to get the rose champagne with bottles of wine to follow too. I even managed to get a personal driver and a Mercedes-Benz to take us to the airport. But the biggest balling moment was seeing how the old school French dudes balled in Versailles. Everyday people, celebrities, athletes, rappers DO NOT know how to ball compared to the Louies in France yo. Trust T. That is another level type shit. It was douchey yet awesome. After the trip was all said and done, I came home and unpacked all the contraband I smuggled back. So much wine, chocolates, cigars, berets for the kiddies. I did my traditional placing of the magnet on the fridge. My Eiffel Tower magnet. Another T adventure in the books. I looked at the magnet. Thought of Paris. Thought of her. Thought of the Summer and was thankful for everything that I experienced. I fell in love this Summer….with Paris. But I love Boston the best.

 

Until next time. Always take it there.

T