Paris, Je T'aime



About two months ago, my girlfriend and I went on vacation to France for about eleven days, six of which were spent in Paris.  We’d been together only about three months at the time and were already very much in love with one another; since we’re both still almost young, we thought a trip to France would make for a very solid foundation for everything that comes after it.   

It worked perfectly.  Paris lived up to its towering reputation.  The City of Love, and about a million other pithy utterances that would be cliche were they not so wholly accurate.  I must admit I can be a bit of a pessimist, but not for those eleven days in France.  My pessimism didn’t even make it through customs.  

We did all the touristy stuff, too.  We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, climbed the stairs of the Arc de Triomphe, waded through vast seas of tourists in the Louvre, kept our wallets in our front pockets at Sacre Coeur, indulged mankind’s morbid fascination with mortality in the Catacombs, and continued to do so at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.  I got to speak functional French to people who actually spoke French back.  I took something like eight years of French classes, and never even got to use it before this vacation.  The extent to which I still remembered it made me feel a kind of pride for my brain that remains to this day.  And my girlfriend Thais…she’s the reason we did that touristy stuff, and thank God for that.  I would never have gone to any of it of my own accord, but she likes to have fun and she showed me how to have fun as well.  Were it not for her, I'd be sitting here right now kicking myself for having not gone to the very top of the Eiffel Tower and seeing one of the world's great cities from an impossibly-high vantage point.

It was the best vacation I’ve ever been on.  I’ll never, ever forget it.   Absolutely nothing can change that. 


Paris, je t’aime.   


Comments

Thank you dear Blogtech - we hope you will come back to our beautiful city of light that terrorism will not succeed to extinguish!
Anonymous said…
Paris is the only big city I like even if I experienced the famous impoliteness they can show :-) especially if they think one doesn't speak french :-) :-) They are much more polite when they've realised they've made a fool of themselves :-)

What happened yesterday is just horrible and I'm afraid more citis will go through things like this unless they can figure out a way to stop them.

Christer.
SHERRY said…
So nice to hear your feeling on the wonderful trip you and Thais took to Paris. The pictures of your trip that your mom shared with us showed how happy and in love you both are. Best wishes to you both on a happy future.
chickpea678 said…
What a wonderful letter of love to Paris and to Thais!
Guillaume said…
Thank you so much for this post.
Nellie said…
Such a good post, blogtech! Great to hear of your wonderful memories of Paris!
Sandra said…
That was beautiful and what life is all about! Remember that!!! Never be afraid to let that happy go lucky side out that your girl brings to the forefront. May you both experience many, many, many more amazing wonderful memories together!! Thanks for sharing!! You have a way with words!Use them! :}
Brendan, I will never meet you or know you but I want you to know how neat it was to see the photo's of Thais and you enjoying the sights of Paris together. You sound like a young man in love and even though I'm old now, I remember it well. What a joy that feeling is.
I would also like to thank you for finding those log cabin tins of syrup that your mother sent to me. It has been so much fun having her in my life and I, as well as other, have enjoy your trips to the different Fairs. Things I will never be able to do...
I wish you joy! It must have been difficult for you and Thais to hear the devastating news of what is happening in Paris at this time. It's a sad thing.

Happy Thanksgiving to the two of you and your family.
Mona
Diane said…
I hope that Paris will still be a city of love very soon. We live in a beautiful country and we are all in a state of shock for the moment but we will recover. Take care Diane
Paris will always be Paris. No terrorist can defeat it.
Mary Ann said…
I am so glad you saw it before. My friend Theresa had just been there, as well, in late August, to see a niece. What a wonderful memory!