Spring break is soon approaching, but rather than hitting the gym and buying a ten pass at the tanning salon I’m dusting off the Edith Piaf album and cracking open my Larousse because I my friends, am going to Paris! In less than a week I am hopping on a puddle jumper, armed with an empty stomach*, and my chic pink pashmina, to meet Jewls and Inga in the ‘la ville d’amour’.
It’s very hard to believe that I’ve never actually been to Paris. Not because I’ve travelled so much, but because I feel like I’ve already been there. This year I have been perplexed with the strange phenomenon of visiting a city which one has already experienced through images, literature, movies, etc. Fortuitously, I just read an article for Art History called ‘The Eiffel Tower’ by this guy Bart. Bart explores this precise concept. On top of the Eiffel Tower the traveller in one glance can see all the monuments they associated with Paris before they ever can to visit the city. Through this panoramic visage the tourist begins through the union of sight and memory to possess the city. Tres cool, Je pense!**
I think what makes me most enthused about this trip is that for the first time I will be in a European city with my two best friends. Most of the travelling in my life has been a solitary affair, really all of it. I’ve been so independent my whole life! During high school I explored Italy virtually by myself. I loved being on my own and I wouldn’t trade those experiences for the world. But Paris! Oh Paris! It is a city to explore with those who know you inside and out, who love and appreciate the same things as you. People who understand why certain
observations will touch you and why.
Only Inga and Jewls will know why I need to run through the Paris subway with black sunglasses, white scarf and trench coach, whistling Henry Mancini. They will be just as excited to find the Cordon Bleu and see if someone will teach us to crack an ‘oeuf’. They won't mind if I break into song and dance on the banks of the Seine (ok basically they will indulge me in all my recreations of scenes from Audrey Hepburn movies). We will sit in cafés, gorge ourselves on croissants, wine, cheese (I’m sure I will have to
suffer through some major second hand smoke), cry together at the sound of accordion music, and stare at all the gorgeous Parisians!
Wish me luck friends...I plan on never being the same after Paris!
* 'I'm going on a diet so I can gain it all back in Paris'-Inga Headland
** 'Very cool, I think'-Audrey Headland
It’s very hard to believe that I’ve never actually been to Paris. Not because I’ve travelled so much, but because I feel like I’ve already been there. This year I have been perplexed with the strange phenomenon of visiting a city which one has already experienced through images, literature, movies, etc. Fortuitously, I just read an article for Art History called ‘The Eiffel Tower’ by this guy Bart. Bart explores this precise concept. On top of the Eiffel Tower the traveller in one glance can see all the monuments they associated with Paris before they ever can to visit the city. Through this panoramic visage the tourist begins through the union of sight and memory to possess the city. Tres cool, Je pense!**
I think what makes me most enthused about this trip is that for the first time I will be in a European city with my two best friends. Most of the travelling in my life has been a solitary affair, really all of it. I’ve been so independent my whole life! During high school I explored Italy virtually by myself. I loved being on my own and I wouldn’t trade those experiences for the world. But Paris! Oh Paris! It is a city to explore with those who know you inside and out, who love and appreciate the same things as you. People who understand why certain
observations will touch you and why.Only Inga and Jewls will know why I need to run through the Paris subway with black sunglasses, white scarf and trench coach, whistling Henry Mancini. They will be just as excited to find the Cordon Bleu and see if someone will teach us to crack an ‘oeuf’. They won't mind if I break into song and dance on the banks of the Seine (ok basically they will indulge me in all my recreations of scenes from Audrey Hepburn movies). We will sit in cafés, gorge ourselves on croissants, wine, cheese (I’m sure I will have to
suffer through some major second hand smoke), cry together at the sound of accordion music, and stare at all the gorgeous Parisians!Wish me luck friends...I plan on never being the same after Paris!
* 'I'm going on a diet so I can gain it all back in Paris'-Inga Headland
** 'Very cool, I think'-Audrey Headland
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