Ah, Paris. La Ville Lumière. J’aime beaucoup Paris.This ornament I bought I a good, old, U.S.A. Target. I guess I was missing France when I saw it.
But when I hang it on my tree, oh the memories. The first time I went to Paris was during my month-long study abroad in 2005. I was primarily in Strasbourg during that trip, but we took a 3-day excursion to Paris as part of it. We had to postpone the trip by a day, because the trains went on strike.
Even the hotel was a cultural experience. My roommate and I realized that there was no elevator in the hotel, and if there were a fire we were screwed. The sliding door to our bathroom didn’t work all that well. Our reservation got messed up because of the strike, so my roommate and I became bed mates. But you could just peek over rooftops from our room to see the Eiffel Tower! We were in Paris!
During that trip, we did a lot of walking. We went to the Louvre, and we sat and watched the blinky lights of the Eiffel Tower. (I didn’t go up during that trip.) We went to Père Lachaise cemetery and saw Edith Piaf’s and Jim Morrison’s graves.
I’ve since been to Paris two more times, both exploring new stomping grounds and revisiting my favorites. During my second trip, I learned I love Montmartre and that I like the outside architecture of the Sacre Coeur better than Notre Dame, but I like Notre Dame’s stained glass better.
The third trip, I got to share Paris with my mom. We discovered Les Catacombes together, and we went and saw … seemed like everything … in the Louvre. Some days we walked 10 miles around town. We had dinner in the Tour Eiffel on Christmas Day. Damn it was cold outside.
Ah, Paris. Now I’m getting nostalgic again. I need to get to traveling soon.
My aunt added to my Paris ornaments with this sparkly delight. I look forward to unpacking this one and hanging it with its sister next year!