If It Feels Right, Go Left

I am happy to announce that day 2 went much smoother than Day 1! In fact, I’m pretty sure little me lived out all of her wildest Paris dreams today. They call it the city of romance and I sure understand why. As I headed out for the day I knew I was bound to get lost at some point. So I decided to make a quick rule; if one direction seems right... go the other way. (I’m going to tell you right now not ONCE did this method work for me.) Here we go! I started my day at the Palace of Versailles and let me just say; WOW. There are over 700 rooms filled to the brim with art and gorgeous gold. I was awe struck walking through the rooms where royalty once stayed. The hall of mirrors was built by Louis XIV and it held over 100 chandeliers which could make anyone feel like royalty just by standing in it. But the thing that really pushed it over the edge was the gardens. Hundreds of acres perfectly trimmed and hedged with a labyrinth of garden pathways. I could have lingered there for days. When I decided it was time to leave, I realized I had no idea where the exit was. So I utilized my method; I felt I should go right... so I went left. Well about 40 minutes later I realized I had just walked 2 miles deeper into the gardens. It’s funny though, I hadn’t thought to check my direction because I had reached a section of the gardens that were not overflown with people. It was so peaceful that my mind drifted away. I finally snapped back to reality, turned around, and made my way back to civilization. The next place I journeyed to was the Eiffel Tower. As I made the journey on the train, my mind (once again) got lost in thought. Suddenly I heard a stop approaching and couldn’t remember if it was my stop. I didn’t think it was so I used my plan... and got off just in case. Well it was in fact NOT my stop. But it was close, so I began to walk. Luckily this way lead me to some beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower as well as an awesome café that let you carry out a “Baguette fromage” also know as a cheese baguette. As I continued down the road, I made it to the tower and was able to eat my baguette fromage in the grass. Although this is cheesy (in all aspects), it turned out to be a lovey day. The last stop of the day was the Louvre. I had some time to kill before my ticket was valid (side note: traveling alone allows you to do things so much faster!! Once you see it, you move on. A great surprise for me.). I decided to walk towards the Louvre to kill time instead of the metro Although my method had failed me all day, I used it again and went the way I didn’t feel was right. And you guessed it! It wasn’t right. I knew I made a mistake when I suddenly saw the Arc d’triump in the distance. I knew the louvre was in the opposite direction, but I wanted to see the arc anyway so I kept on. As I walked, I passed the Champs-Elysées which was a nice surprise! This street is famous for its glorious Paris fashion shops. Needless to say I could not afford to breath the air on that street so I moved along quickly. Finally, I approached the Louvre and saw a cute crepe stand on the side. I grabbed a Nutella Crepe and it was absolutely heaven in a cone. So I decided my lessons of the day are as follows: 1. Palace’s are gorgeous but very wasteful as not a soul lives in it anymore (and who needs gold on the CEILING?!). But still; cool. 2. The Eiffel Tower is as awesome as they say. As are the baguettes. 3. The Mona Lisa is very small and unimpressive but the rest of the Louvre is amazing! 4. My French “est nul” (sucks). 5. My final lesson is the biggest one: If it feels right, go left. All day I made mistakes, but they lead me to some of my favorite moments. Without getting lost, I would have never had that peaceful moment in the gardens, found the baguette fromage, or run into other random famous sites. Don’t be afraid to take the leap and go a way you aren’t familiar with. (In all aspects of your life). Life has a funny way of working out at the end of the day, turning every wrong turn into a right one.