Paris - Being A Novice Traveler in 2000

 People who know me from Facebook or other online sites just assume I have always been a traveler. I have posted hundreds of travel photos.  I talk about travel a lot.  If you look up my hobbies it will say photography and travel.  But to many friends surprise I never traveled abroad until the year 2000 when I was 48 years old.   I grew up with fantasies of travel.  It was always something I wanted to do but it was always of my reach.  I traveled through the movies.  At the age of ten I saw my first James Bond, Dr No movie and was amazed at all of the exotic locations that were thousands of miles from my small town in Maryland.  

Yes, that's me in the photo above standing spell bound at my first look at the Eiffel Tower in 2000.   I was so enthralled I was not even aware my photo was being taken.  I had to keep reminding myself I was really in Paris.   I was really in France.  It did not seem possible.  If anyone had asked me where would you like to travel I would have said Paris.   It was always a dream destination.   We were offered French or Spanish in high school.  There was no choice for me.  It had to be French.   If a movie was about France I wanted to see it.  If you asked me what was my favorite childhood movie starring Judy Garland was my answer would have been Gay Purr-ee.  Never would I have said The Wizard of Oz.  It was set in Kansas not Paris.  And the Wizard of Oz co starred Ray Bolger not Robert Goulet as in Gay Purr-ee.  But that's another story.  

The sign said Modern Hotel. But novice traveler here had no idea what the two stars meant. I thought it was just a decoration on the sign. Nope. It was a two star rated hotel on a kind of run down street. This my was my view from the hotel window. There was no Eiffel Tower or Arc de Triomphe any where in site. But there was a rather ratty looking bed in a dismal room that I planned to be in as little as possible so it did not really matter. And yes if you look closely I was wearing some really ugly glasses in 2000.

I did not have a cell at this time. I did not have a digital camera. No computer. I had no way to make contact other than a phone in case of an emergency. And this was not a bad thing. My photos were awful. I really had a lot to learn about travel photography. My photos were developed when I got home and were also digitized on a disc for me. But the photo quality was terrible on the digital disc. But looking back at the photos now the memories are very vivid and that's what it's all about really. Traveling. Making memories. Writing a travel diary. 

I got to see a lot.  I was a true tourist.  

I saw the Statue of Liberty in Paris.

The Sacre Couer

And the Venus de Milo of course.  I felt just like Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face.

Arc de Triomphe

If you could pose by it I have a photo of it.  

I learned to take better photos.  In 2002 I joined the Virtual Tourist online group.  I learned to write travel advice there.   And I learned a lot about taking travel photos from the many great photographer there.  But there is something special about being a first time novice traveler.  I learned a lot from that experience also. 

I guess you noticed there are no photos of my ex included here.  And that is by choice.  As Bogart said in Casablance "We'll always have Paris." but in this blog in my best Bogart voice it should be "I'll always have Paris."

I never got to Jim Morrison's grave on this visit.  That had to wait for my next visit this time with my husband Mark.  And I can say this time,  he and I will always have Paris.    

I love Paris

Eiffel Tower a photo by litlesam on Flickr.

It sounds trite.  But its true.  I do love Paris.  Paris was always a fantasy for me.  From the time I was a child I always wanted to go to Paris.   I remember watching the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on the old Saturday Night At The Movies on NBC when I was a child.  I watched Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell sit at a sidewalk cafe singing When love goes wrong, nothing goes right.  I knew then that I too wanted to see Paris and sit at a sidewalk cafe.  Maybe I couldn't sing with Marilyn and Jane, but in my mind they would be right there with me.  It was a fantasy that stayed with me.

I married in my twenties, had two daughters, bought a house and any fantasy of travel was far from a reality.  I finally was able to travel to Europe for the very first time when I was forty nine years old.   The person I was traveling with had a business conference scheduled for Marseilles.   I was going to France!   Although Marseilles is no where near Paris I was not going to France for the first time and not see Paris.  So we flew to Paris for three days and then took a four hour train ride to Marseilles.  I literally traveled from once corner of France to the other on that trip.

Paris, the city of lights was everything I had hoped for.  I sat at sidewalk cafes.  I walked along the West Bank.  I saw all of the sights.  And then there was the Eiffel Tower, the crown jewel of Paris.  I will never forget my first view of the tower, the elevator ride to the top, and the view of the Seine from the Tower.  My mother used to sing the song "I Love Paris" when I was a child.  It was a favorite of hers.  She never got to Paris.  But when I climbed up the Eiffel Tower her voice was with me singing that song all the way to the top.

I returned to Paris again eight years later.  I was concerned that it would be a let down.   I was afraid it was not be as magical the second time.  I was wrong.  I have done a lot traveling between my first visit to Paris and the second. I have seen many beautiful cities.  But for me nothing compares to Paris. 

I will return to Paris again.  And I know it will woo me and charm me once more.  Marilyn and Jane will be at the cafe. My mother will be singing.  And I will be making the fantasy a reality once more.

"Every time I look down on this timeless town
whether blue or gray be her skies.
Whether loud be her cheers or soft be her tears,
more and more do I realize:

I love Paris in the springtime.
I love Paris in the fall.
I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles,
I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles.

I love Paris every moment,
every moment of the year.
I love Paris, why, oh why do I love Paris?
Because my love is near." (Cole Porter)