France

Fish Spa In Marseille!

France, Marseille, Out and About with Tina, Spa

I went to the fish spa in Marseille! I was so excited to try this for the first time. It’s a pedicure but with fish eating off all the dead skin. The owner opened the shop just for me and served me wine and bottled water. The hospitality was so spectacular you must visit the O Lounge Fish Spa the next time you’re in Marseille! My feet feel soft and new. I’m so glad I got an opportunity to go while in Marseille, France for the weekend.

I asked the owner how did he come up with the idea to open a shop like this? He said he was sitting around with some friends and they came up with the idea over drinks and when they decided to open the fish spa his answer was: why not!! Now the shop has been successful since it started two years ago. I love that “why not”! Great quote for entrepreneurs everywhere- Why Not!!

O Lounge Fish Spa
16 Rue Bussy l’Indien, 13006 Marseille

Check out my Hotel Review in Lyon!

France, Hotel Reviews, Lyon, solo traveling, Travel

hotel review in Lyon

Check out my hotel room in Lyon!

I love the hotel location of Hotel Du Simplon and the shower head was wonderful. That sounds steamy pun intended its was just a nice shower good pressure. That’s important.

The hotel Staff is nice. The bed is comfortable for Européen standards… But I I didnt like that everytime my neighbor flushed the toliet in the next room my room sounded like it was flooding, like a tsunami hit France.

they charge around 5 euros per day for my dog, which is not a lot but in hotels I dont think it’s right to call themselves “dog friendly” but then charge extra when they don’t charge extra for people. I would rather leave a nice tip for the cleaning staff but not both. Plus my dog is shaved and trained no extra hair to clean. With that said I would recommend this hotel.

There was a option to inclued a breakfast for 9€ and you can order drinks at the réception desk coffee, juice, tea, etc. I also liked there was a USB charger for my phone on the headboard. The hotel is centrally located a 8 min walk from the bus/ train station Lyon Gare Routière Perrache. Lots of restaurants and things to do close by! There’s also a laundry mat right cross from the hotel, for all the fellow travelers I know how it can be!! There’s a resturant in the hotel and I didn’t get a chance to go but when I arrived whatever they were looking smelled so good I could smell from my room on the first floor!!

American in France but might as well be a refugee. Renting for this solo traveller is not easy.

Annecy, France, France, solo traveling, Travel

I thought it would be very easy to get an apartment in Annecy, France but although I show I have the money for rent to pay for the year I don’t have a contract with a company in France so real estate agencies won’t rent an apartment to me for a year. So I’ve been bouncing from hotel to hotel. I even caught myself going back on Airbnb to look for a place. After having a Airbnb horror story 2 years ago (I wrote about it in this blog) I promised never to use Airbnb again). But here I am…

On Airbnb home owners can declined your request to rent for any reason and there’s not a lot of rules for the home owner. I had a owner cancel my trip a day before it was scheduled because she changed her mind about having my dog in her place. One Airbnb that I stayed at had camera’s in the living room and I had to ask what it was, in order for them to turn the cameras around. The owners stopped by at any moment. But on Airbnb the home owner can decline your request for unknown reasons like your race, your dog or your negative past reviews that are lasting.

One home owner recently said her studio was booked suddenly after we were going back and forth about pricing And on her last message to me she put her work title in her signature randomly. She listed herself as an executive manager of some fancy hotel. Then the next day she asked if I wanted to have lunch with her. I am not going to pass an interview for housing, sorry. Not for a small studio maybe for a penthouse on the top of the Eiffel Tower. Of course there are no penthouses on top of the Eiffel Tower (yet) but wouldn’t that be great.

So much of this is racial I feel it would be a lot easier if my Airbnb profile picture was a Jennifer Lawrence look alike. I’m drifting into table talk and experiencing a little disappointment.

I checked out a French website similar to Craigslist to see if I could rent an apartment through the website however it’s filled with the same problems Craigslist has, scams. The website is called Le Bon Coin. It’s great for some thing’s I’m sure just hasn’t worked for me.

I’ve had help from a lot of people but still have yet to find a suitable place to live. I take French classes 3 hours a day here in Annecy. About 99% of the students are all refugees in my classes. They’re from all over the world. They are allowed to take classes for free but Americans have to pay for class but I understand this and I’m okay with paying. The fellow students hold me at a high regard as soon as they know I’m American. One student even saluted me. He said America is the top. It’s so funny because I don’t think I’m any better off then they are here in France. I don’t want to be insensitive In the least. However, The real estate agencies won’t take my money because I don’t have a contract here in France nor can I work in France with my visitor Visa. I asked some of my refugee friends after class what do they do for housing. Some are staying in a hotel with other refugees or an apartment by themselves that is rented out through a friend. But for me it’s just me and my dog and my weak American dollars against the Euro. What is a girl to do! I think it might be time to throw in the towel. The rules in France don’t make sense to me.

The irony is I find people houses for a living and now I can’t find a home. I thought I might have some good housing karma stored up in heaven somewhere but I’m not sure now. There’s so many people reading this that are probably so happy that my year travels to France have not worked out as planned two months in ( probably ex boyfriends family members, ex co workers, past friends strangers and then on the other side supporters that are disappointed in me as they look to me for inspiration. I’m all out of inspiration for the latter group but I hope to have a serendipitous turn to this living “situation” very soon. That’s all I have for today.

Drake Concert in Paris! The Assassination Vacation Tour

concerts, France, Paris, Travel

4D8BF4A6-C27E-4E36-81DC-5AC266D11FD9Y’all know I like…love music all kinds from each end of the spectrum including my commercial top 40 rap. The worlds best Black, White, Canadian and Jewish rap star ⭐️ is at the top of my list he’s some of everything. I’ve loved him since before 2009 every Summer it seemed like he had the Summertime hit. So many memories I’ve tied nostalgically to songs by Drake! So say what you want I👏🏾 don’t 👏🏾 care👏🏾. For example, I posted a tweet on Twitter about being at the Drake concert and got some backlash saying that Drake’s music is not real music. Say what you want it’s real to me!!

Back to the concert// The warm up act was really good by Tory Lanez. I didn’t know his name but I have heard some of his songs and now I know who he is and subsequently followed him on Instagram! The stage was huge and both Tory and Drake had to be in wonderful shape to work the stage like they did. Drake took a little break, maybe he was tired?! Non? And Tory came out and preformed again….

I met some wonderful people at the concert. Next to me was a French couple who loved to travel all around the United States and they only found out who Drake was when they traveled to Miami last year and everyone was “hype” when they played Drake in Miami so they had to check him out when Drake came to Paris. I really enjoyed talking with them but the wife, I think felt a little left out and she found better seats a few rows down🙃.

Behind me there was a couple who introduced themselves to me but then they started fighting and the man yelled “you women need to know your place”. The woman replied Then I will get on a plane and take this P¥$$¥ home then. And after that I just ignored them and the nice couple asked me more about travel, but when the concert started the fighting couple were dancing and having fun like nothing happened. So all was well.🤷🏾‍♀️

There was definitely weed filling up the whole building and I’m pretty sure I had a contact high although I don’t smoke. For whatever reason I don’t mind that smoke but cigarette smoke I can’t stand. So it was all good with me.

Now back to Drake. He rushed through a melody of his songs over the last 10 years. It hasn’t felt like 10 years have gone by since Drake has become mainstream. I would’ve enjoyed a longer walk down memory lane but sound bites were good enough too for time sake, I guess.

At one point a guy… not sure if he was an athlete or not or what his name was but he got up on stage to shoot some basketball shots for a prize of money. Then he actually proposed to his girlfriend. In all honesty it was the worse proposal ever to me and if it were me I would’ve said try again. He said something like sorry for all the years I treated you bad I’m sorry. He continued to say it was the third time he asked her to marry him and would she say yes this time. I don’t know it wasn’t a good proposal I was like oh no, what is he saying he cheated and treated her bad, do better. Anyway here’s some clips below of the concert. The stage and graphics were phenomenal unlike that proposal. Drake said he loves Paris and now his son lives there I thought it was sweet!

 

 

 

 

“The proposal”…But the ring was nice though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out and About With Tina: Afropunk Festival Paris 

France, Out and About with Tina, Travel

I love all types of music. Except for heavy metal! That’s why while I was visiting Paris for 6 weeks a friend suggested I check out the Afropunk Music Festival . Before then I had never heard of it. I decided to see what this music festival was about.  The Afropunk festival is an annual two-day concert which tours nationwide. This time Afropunk took place in the La Villette district in Paris. I never caught any of the big music headliners that were supposed to be there performing either because I missed them or they were not there at the Paris location event. Either way, I did see a lot of creative artistic people and fresh eclectic music artist. I also discovered ginger beer for the first time! I digress, Afropunk is worth it check out afropunk.com for the next concert near you! 

Here is some history on the Afropunk festival from the official event website:

AFROPUNK FEST PARIS IS A FESTIVAL AND CULTURAL MOVEMENT THAT CELEBRATES EMPOWERMENT, DIVERSITY, AND INDIVIDUALITY. THE EUROPEAN COUNTERPART TO THE BROOKLYN EDITION, THE FESTIVAL CELEBRATES URBAN AND SOUL MUSIC AS WELL AS VISUAL ARTISTRY AND PERFORMANCE. 

With roots amongst the Black community and culture, AFROPUNK welcomes an array of new music and styles. The popularity of this event has resulted in an expansion that has embraced New York, Atlanta, Paris, and London.

Previous acts have included Angel Haze, Lianne La Havas, Willow Smith, Jaden Smith, Keziah Jones, Saul Williams, Michael Kiwanuka, Sky & Ross From Morcheeba, Leon Bridges and Lion Babe.

Here are some pictures of my experience below!


Young or old the majority of Parisians smoke it was shocking to see and hard to breath

Me in my sundress!