First of all I owe you all an apology. I said I would be publishing these Paris posts about a week or two after my trip and its been a month and I have only gotten one out. So here we are, over a month later and I absolutely miss Paris!!!!
I thought I would be able to easily describe Paris because I loved the experience so much. I’ll try to put it into words that will express my awe and wonder about this amazing city.
I arrived Sunday morning in Paris. I was so excited that even reading the French traffic signs and directions on the highways was fascinating. When I got in the cab and called my landlady, she spoke with my cabbie to clarify directions. I then called our old family friend to arrange our lunch. Everything I had dreamed about and worked my ass off for was finally becoming a reality and I bathed in that ALL WEEK long. Believe me, I never spent a moment taking this for granted. This was going to be the most amazing trip I had ever had in my adult life.
I arrived at my flat on Rue de Grenelle and my landlady was waiting for me. She was so nice. She helped me set up my WiFi and gave me the lay of the land. Then she invited me for tea up the street. I knew my family friend would wait and understand. So I went to this cute little place, the Cafe du Marche with her and we had tea and wonderful bread. She invited me to join her for a drink around 7 p.m. at the Cafe. I said “yes” of course. I headed back to my flat and texted our family friend that I was ready and she picked me up and gave me an amazing driving tour of downtown Paris going from the Left Bank (where I was staying) to the Right Bank and back and forth. It was pretty awesome and the architecture is just fabulous. I was in awe; I just couldn’t stop staring at everything Paris. We then parked the car and walked to a fantastic little cafe. Of course, I thought everything was pretty damn fantastic. I looked over the menu and had to have my favorite type of soup, onion soup, French style and a chicken Caesar salad. To make my first Parisian meal more decadent, we had champagne. For dessert: crepe brûlée. We chatted about old days back in Washington, DC (where I grew up). She gave me very useful tips on getting around Paris. It was as amazing of a first experience in Paris as I could hope for!
She gave me walking instructions from the cafe to my flat, passing the Eiffel Tower. I found the Eiffel Tower to be more incredible than I would have imagined; this may be just because it represented Paris to me and here I was!! I was so happy that I was a bit overwhelmed that I was actually in Paris.
The next six days were a blur of metro, museums, and memories. This was my first big international trip and it was amazing. I didn’t make it to some of the sites I was hoping to hit, but my adventures fulfilled and took me beyond my expectations.
Brilliant Distraction 