I am back home in Houston. After being in airports and planes for 32 hours, I was ready to get out of travel mode. I got back to the house to find two beautiful bulbs of white hydrangeas sitting on my bedroom table and a box of Special K Red Berries in the pantry. I’m home!
Rewinding…
Serena Williams was on my flight from Paris to London. I sat in row five up near first class. A woman who strongly resembled Serena Williams boarded the plane after me. She was tall and athletic. I tried to discretely stare (oxymoron if I ever saw one) and convince myself that it was her. First class, huge Fendi purse, little Miss Helper Lady in tow…must be her. She didn’t seem too happy. Maybe she was still a little ticked big sis V took the singles title home. She left the plane wearing a big white Burberry coat, a lite pink pashmina scarf, huge sunglasses, black leggings, and bright neon Nikes. I attempted to rush quickly behind her to see if any notorious Heathrow paparazzi were waiting there for her. I didn’t see anyone, but again non passengers aren’t allowed in the gate area anyways.
Rewinding a little more…
As I was sitting in the Charles de Gaulle airport for much too long, I tried to think of my main takeaway from this trip. Last year, I was able to conquer the streets of New York. This summer, I set foot on paris pavements.
I walked, power-walked, ran, and weaved on the rues of Paris. It is empowering to take on a city with close to 10 million people. Overwhelming at times, but still empowering. Of course, I had trouble the first few days. Let’s not forget the language barrier that was often frustrating and embarrassing. But after a little trial and error, you get into a routine. There were the small gratifications - like saying my baguette order well enough not to butcher the language, or not needing to refer to my metro map, or perfecting the art of winding in and out of crowds – that were little signs of mastering the city.
Number 6 on my 3rd ‘What to Look Forward to’ entry was “being lost but pretending I know exactly what I’m doing and where I’m going.” I know I had my share of tourist moments, but I would like to think that, at times, I was able to trick the system and blend in with the millions of Parisians.
So what did I love most about Paris? Montmartre and St. Germain, the art that is the culinary/dining experience, street-side/metro musicians, daylight from 6am-10:30pm, the ballet, the small patisserie near my dorm, finding small hole-in-the-walls.
Now it is back to Houston for the summer. I move back to Austin in mid-August. Then I will begin my last semester in college = scary.
So that was Paris. Thanks for going along for the ride.
I decided to go. And so I went.
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