Author: GOING NINETY MILES
Hola and welcome to GOING NINETY MILES. Enjoy learning about amazing places to visit, good restaurants, seeing cool photos and more awesomeness.
It’s Brit …. er, Jamie, bitch.
If you know me at all, you should know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Britney Spears. True Love for that girl! Her and the two Gwens can do no wrong in my eyes. Sure, she went through a hard time awhile ago. But doesn’t everyone have a hard time at one point in their life? If not more …..
So when browsing through one of my various news websites I saw the headline, “Jamie Lynn Spears Covers Britneys ‘ Oops… I Did It Again’ “. Well, that I just had to see. The younger Spears begins singing her own song “Ms. Mississippi” and after about two minutes, begins singing those classic lines, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.” And the lil sis isn’t too bad! Go Jamie Go Jamie. And she really does say, “It’s Jamie, bitch.”
For you to watch and for me to watch again and again and again. Yeah, I’m kinda nuts like that.
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This is UNTRANSLATABLE
I loved this the moment I saw it. Ever since moving to Europe nine (REALLY? NINE?!!? wow) years ago I have been in a whirlwind of languages. First German, then Spanish, sometimes French – And I have loved every moment. But more and more sometimes people ask me what does this mean in English and I have no answer. Sometimes things are just, well, untranslatable.
Enjoy and read. I love all of these but my favorites are:
1. Waldeinsamkeit – I do love that feeling of aloneness when you are in the woods. So peaceful. And sometimes frightening.
2. Sobremesa – The Spanish completely and totally love just hanging out and talking for hours upon end. Sometimes I love it and sometimes it drives me crazy.
3. Dépaysement – Oh, I know this one. Too well.
4. Mangata – I love the mangata. So very beautiful and calming.
La Tour Eiffel
The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. It was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World’s Fair, it has become both a global and cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; 7.1 million people ascended it in 2011. The tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010.
The tower stands 324 metres (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-story building. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. Because of the addition of the antenna atop the Eiffel Tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 17 feet (5.2 m).
The tower has three levels for visitors. The third level observatory’s upper platform is at 279.11 m (915.7 ft) the highest accessible to the public in the EU. Tickets can be purchased to ascend, by stairs or lift (that means elevator to all you non British speaking folks), to the first and second levels. The walk from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. Although there are stairs to the third and highest level, these are usually closed to the public and it is usually accessible only by lift.
The line for the elevators was too long for our liking so we bought a ticket to walk the stairs. I can’t remember how much it was but no more than 10 euros. And the climb began! Up and round and up and round we went. Finally we made it to the first level! It was much higher than I thought it would be. Like everyone else, we snapped some pics.
You can see Sacré-Coeur in the background
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And a lovely picture of us! I have this new habit of sticking my tongue under my teeth for some reason. But aren’t we adorable!?
We decided to keep going. Up to the second level. Yeah, we’re cool like that. That was about another 300 steps and we were getting high! As in elevation, my friends. I am usually fine with heights but I was getting a little dizzy and trying not to look down. Possibly it was being more claustrophobic with the people climbing the stairs up and down alongside me but the stomach was starting to do some flip-flops here and there. We arrived at the second level and took a quick walk around. Snapped some more pics …
.I took this one leaning back as far as I could. After that, vertigo kicked in and we had to GO! On the walk back down 600+ steps, Jeannette joked that we should start telling everyone, “Sorry, it’s closed.” I laughed the entire way down. Miss my Jeannie!
So there you have it. Maybe next time we will go to the top but maybe I will chicken out. Or maybe we will just hang out at the restaurant for hours and have several beers – will that make vertigo better or worse? Whatever the fact, time for you to climb the TOWER.
Cat Heaven
The heavens have gained a star. My sweet cat, Growler died yesterday. I don’t really want to discuss what happened the last few days only to say that we found major problems after an MRI on Monday and the vet advised us there wasn’t much to help him. I held him as he was put to sleep and that was the hardest moment in my entire life. Yesterday was an extremely sad day.
But let’s focus on how fantastic of a cat he was. I have never met a cooler cat in my life. He had such an outstanding personality it was almost as if he was a person (if you can understand that). He was almost always happy and even through his times of sickness he was so strong and so brave. Growler was FIV+, most likely from a cat bite from four years ago. He was FIV Cat of the month in October 2012!! I so wish a cure for FIV could be found.
Here is the most adorable picture ever of him as a baby. Look at those paws! Those ears! Those eyes!
I miss him so much already. So many things but here are some of what I will miss the most: him sleeping on his back totally sprawled out, milk kicks after my dinner (Growler I am so full! Please …. 😉 but of course I let him anyway, waiting patiently for shrimp when I had to devein them for our dinner, his purring, going back and forth at dinner time from the wet food place to the dry food – back and forth at least three times!, kissing his furry orange head and him hanging out on the “hammock” I would create with my baby blanket wrapped around my legs. Sigh. Tears. Love that guy.
One more of Growler. Mr. Photogenic. RIP Growler Man. I LOVE YOU.
Paris This N That
Paris Paris Paris! What a lovely city. Have you been? I would love to hear your favorite places.
I was in Paris last year, with Jeannie! With her job she sometimes needs to travel to France to meet with some French peeps and talk about French things … in English. Er, so I think. What the hell do I know? Anyways she had to go to Paris last month and asked me to meet her and the answer is always the same. OF COURSE I WOULD LOVE TO MEET YOU!
I did the same thing as last time, flew into Orly (with the WORST turbulence ever) and caught the Paris metro. It is SO easy! And saves me about 40 euros had I taken a taxi. We were staying at a different hotel this time. While it was nothing exciting and the room was quite small, it had a balcony which was fantastic. If you stay at the Mercure Paris Royal Madeleine hotel, make sure you ask for a room on the top floor with a balcony. Just do it.
I arrived around 4 p.m. and we walked a few blocks to a bistro and ordered two bieres. It was a bit chilly and I never seem to pack right for Paris. The time before I seemed to have only packed denim, I made quite the fashion statement. Oh yeah, I brought denim back y’all. After that it was all the fashion rage! And this time I was prepared for summer. I had a miniskirt, a tank top, a pair of jeans, a light cropped jacket and a flimsy blue scarf. And the temp was NOT summer. Alas, I survived. While enjoying our beers, a drunk guy aged about 30 years old was almost run over by a bus. But he retaliated by punching the bus driver’s window, so no worries. And then he stumbled away. There never seems to be a dull moment when Jeannie and I get together.
We wandered a bit. Stumbled onto the Champs-Élysées and took a quick (and blurry pic) of the Arc de Triomphe before being flattened by one of the speeding cars rushing by.
Then a pic of our shadows on the sidewalk a la Paris. (In my mind pronounced PA REEEEEEE)
.And because anything that says Felix always catches my eye (and my heart).
.Next up for the Paris blog post(s) – Eiffel, Louvre and cool bar on the Seine!
OH MY!
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TRUCO o TRATO!!! Happy Halloween, Y’all!
So Long, Farewell, Adios
The summer weather has officially come to an end. WAAHHHHH. I was so enjoying going on a bike ride in shorts and a t-shirt, really gonna miss that. And while I loathe speaking about the weather I make exceptions for awesome storms. Coming from Oklahoma (where the wind comes sweeping down the plains) where practically EVERY thunderstorm was amazing and then moving to Spain (where the rain stays mainly on the plain), I miss my storms.
October seems to be the month when a good one hits every few years or so. The last one I remember was about four or five years ago, which even resulted in a small tornado and sadly one death. I was home when the sky went black and the wind picked up and my plants sitting on the second floor balcony blew to the ground and the pots broke into tons of pieces. The storm that hit yesterday was expected but many people still seemed to be caught off guard. I was in Palma teaching when 50 litres of water per square meter fell in fifteen minutes. When I left I had to turn my car around twice from the road being too flooded to cross (while at each one there was at least one car that had tried to pass through the water and failed).
The lightning flashed while I drove to my next class, water was pouring down the streets with nowhere for it to go, cars were stranded in deep water and traffic jams were everywhere. Thank goodness there weren’t any deaths but the ambulances and firetrucks were busy. My boyfriend was at the dentist (yuck) when the storm hit and when he came home the house was a bit flooded but all the cats were there! YAY!
But the pool looked like this. Yikes. Hope the landlord has insurance.
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GOING NINETY MILES 