Bon Voyage

I woke up early this morning not so much because I am excited for this trip, but because the long work week left me with many odds and ends I need to wrap up before leaving. The whole trip and its destination of Paris seem surreal to me. It's this iconic place that I have seen on so many cards, posters, T-shirts and have studied. I used to collect little Eiffel Towers and old Parisian postcards, too. In all honestly the city dropped down in my list of places to visit after I went to South Korea, but now that I am going to the City of Lights my love and excitement for it has been renewed.

I am happy that we are going to Paris in October. I think the lighting will be beautiful and will make for some very lovely photos of the old streetlamps, stone buildings, diffused light along the Seine ...

As I prepare the final details early this Saturday morning, I am thinking about some of the movie and TV characters I've watched travel to Paris. Carrie's trip to Paris in "Sex and the City" was a bit rough because her Russian artist boyfriend spent more time on his art show than with her, leaving Carrie homesick and wandering the streets of Paris alone. In the end, her Mr. Right, "Mr. Big" found her.

In "Sabrina," Sabrina talks to Linus about Paris.

Sabrina Fairchild: Maybe you should go to Paris, Linus. It helped me. Have you ever been there?
Linus Larrabee: [thinks] Oh yes. Once. For thirty-five minutes.
Sabrina Fairchild: Thirty-five *minutes*?
Linus Larrabee: Changing planes. I was on my way to Iraq on an oil deal.
Sabrina Fairchild: Oh, but Paris isn't for changing planes, it's for changing your outlook! For throwing open the windows and letting in... letting in la vie en rose.
Linus Larrabee: [sadly] Paris is for lovers. Maybe that's why I stayed only thirty-five minutes.

I'm not looking for traditional romance while in Paris. But I am looking for a more artistic, literay romance. A romance of delicious, hot coffee, decadent pastries, glorious and humble architecture and the sense of being somewhere full of history that has drawn the great minds of the world to create.