[This is a transcript of a handwritten document.]
Paris
Aug 21 - Sept 4, 2024
[photos]
I didn't expect the French Air Force to show up, but show up they did! My "if I can make it happen" tradition for my birthday over the past decade has been to find a boat and a body of water. This year it was a river cruise down the Seine - I never expect anything mind-blowing, I merely enjoy waving to people on the banks and bridges as I float by. This year, however, my birthday coincided with the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies which, unexpectedly, included a fly-by from the French Air Force just as we were passing Notre Dame. It was surprisingly magical and really cemented Paris as one of my favorite cities.
I had visited Paris for a couple days back in 2016 at the tail end of the "banger rally" I had taken part in. With such little experience there and lots of whispers of how dirty and dangerous the city was, I was a little worried that my memory had failed me - what should I expect? What sort of city is Paris really? Were folks rude and the city an absolute terror? Of course not! Within hours of landing I'd net with an old friend (a coincidental overlap of vacations with a friend from high school) and made a half-dozen new friends. It turns out that being friendly and open and having a big smile opens many doors - a lesson I learned during my Big Trip and, being a bit self-conscious, had doubted prior to this one.
To get a common question out of the way: I did not go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I did go to the Louvre and I feel like what enjoyment I derived from the visit was from the idea of a box being checked off - I'm not much of an art scholar and I dislike sweaty, crowded places. The Catacombs were interesting in a volumetric sense - like walking through dozens of cemeteries at once - but I had a small expectation of tunnels and chambers where I should have expected a never-ending hallway of bones. I know there are other entrances/tours - perhaps I should have done one of those? The company I kept, however, made the trek through the tunnels worth it.
