Finally Paris

For those that know me, I am definitely a city person. When I was young, I always wanted to go visit New York City to see its hugeness, character, culture and energy. I went when I was about 13 or so for the first time. It did not disappoint then nor on any other visit, be it for work or for fun. I had similar excitement toward visiting Paris but was very worried that I would be disappointed after looking so forward to it for so long. From the minute we rose up out of the Metropolitan until the minute we left, I loved it completely.

The city itself, is beautiful. It has the charm of New York with great little neighborhoods with door after door of cafes, restaurants and shoppes but the grand architecture of a city like no other. All of the buildings are light in color - the only black you see is from the wrought iron balconies that adorn each apartment. The residences as well as the landmarks are beautiful. There are many museums and beautiful jardins. And we did not find the Parisians to be rude nor intolerant toward us as Americans which was the nicest surprise of all.

We did everything. Well - all the major things that you should do on a first visit. We ate wonderful notoriously French food - crepes, bread, moules (mussels) and escargot. And ordered things off the menu that we weren't really sure of but all the food was wonderful! We saw the Tour Eiffel and the L'arc de Triomphe at sunset. The tower didn't really do too much for me but the Arc was fantastic! We didn't even get too close - you can see the grandeur from across the block. Wow - unbelievable.

I loved the Louvre as well. What a beautiful building - and that's just on the outside! The inside is magnificent as well. I was overwhelmed and almost brought to tears when standing in front of the Mona Lisa. As many have said, the portrait is not spectacular nor large. But to me, the notion that many millions, billions? of people have stood in front of it as I did, viewing it over centuries, really moved me. We spent quite a bit of time in the Louvre but did not even come close to seeing everything. The museum is immense.

The first night we were there, Rob brought me to the Cathedral de Notre Dame. I had booked the hotel with his guidance and wanted to make sure we were close to that so that we wouldn't stand a chance of missing it. It was one of the first things we saw and probably my favorite. My art history classes at JC and UM had taught me what a spectacular structure it was. We first saw it at night, huge and glowing next to a full moon. Just thinking about it now gives me chills. We went back to visit the inside at the end of our visit. The inside of the Gothic style churches in Paris is very plain. The real grandeur and mystery is on the outside, in the detail of all the intricate carvings. Wow - it was incredibly beautiful.

I could write more about Paris - all the details and more stories about what we did and what we saw but I think of it as a romantic and somewhat mysterious city. Probably many of you have your own ideas of what it would be like so I leave that to you and invite you to come and see it for yourself.