I’ll always have Paris!
Although I was here on a business trip, with only a small amount of time to myself, I couldn’t help being uplifted as I stepped off the plane. It was 5 degrees and raining, but nothing could dampen the feeling that I had returned to a kind of spiritual home. I was in Paris again!
For me, this remarkable city has never lost its fascination. I hadn’t been back in a long time but it felt like I belonged here. Most of my previous stays in Paris (this was my 15th visit) had been during summer and I was looking forward to experiencing a very different city.
Paris has another side to it when the weather is cold. The air is crisp and clean and this gives you an energy you don’t get when it’s hot. You walk the city a lot more, getting you closer to Parisians busily going through their daily routines, unhindered by the hordes of tourists who descend during summer.
With only one day free, I set out to see some of the sights that I hadn’t managed to get to previously.
The Musee D’Orsay, the former railway station now home to a stunning collection of impressionist art was my first stop, then across to St. Chapelle, a masterpiece of medieval chapel building, just around the corner from Notre Dame. Then up to Place Du Tetre, just around the corner from Sacre Coeur at the top of Montmartre. As the former stomping ground of artists like Van Gogh and Toulouse Lautrec, I thought this would be a good place to find a couple of original watercolours for my collection. I wasn’t disappointed!
And of course I made time to stop for a coffee or two along the way.
Whether you have been to Paris before or not, this city has an atmosphere all its own that rewards visitors of all ages over and over again. And it’s this reward that draws me back to Paris time and again!