Paris is the city of light, the city of love, the art, the fashion icon, the most visited city in the world. It displays a plethora of incredible galleries, markets, man made monuments and architecture and natural wonders. The wish to travel seems to be characteristically human, the desire to move, to satisfy lifelong curiosities or even ease your fears... To be a stranger, to make a friends, to experience an exotic landscape, an exotic culture...
I'm not sure if I have been dissilusioned by the countless hours I spent watching Madeline, Mary Kate and Ashley Take Paris and Moulin Rouge as a child but I always imagined France's tour attractions to be side by side, at least within 500 meters of each other... but my current aching feet and raging hunger prove otherwise. I've fallen in love with PARIS. Just as I will with Switzerland, Italy and England, no doubt.
It's terribly disappointing that my fear of heights overbears my ability to climb up the Eiffel Tower (when I previously thought it had been concurred, a symptom of optimism), but looking afar has its perks too. I'm not usually a fan of overcast weather (says everyone) but as the morning sun was engulfed by a grey cloud cover, the Eiffel Tower peeked through the clouds and looked as elegant as ever beneath a gloomy sky and as my hands shook due to my own ill preparation, I stood in the one place under the one thing that 7 year old Elena could never dream of seeing, ever. I found pleasure in the memory of my child self googling phrases such as 'France in the dark' and 'eyeful tower' whereby childhood Elena was mesmerized by something so unimaginable. It sounds as cliche as ever, because it is.
Walking around Paris was a powerful experience for me in many ways. It was a milestone, a travel milestone, an indicator of my first time in Europe, a reward to myself and my family in our ability to overcome a tough year and furthermore, little Elena's self satisfaction. And as I immerse myself into 7 weeks of headlong travel I loose myself in diverse parts of the globe where riches are differently dispersed and my ignorance and knowledge is attemptedly placed aside...
TATA for now,
Elena, x
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