Paris
23 June - 2 July 2011
This trip was a lifelong promise, fulfilled. I talked about it in this post. It was everything I ever dreamt it to be and so much more. Going to Paris is like falling down the rabbit hole - you never come back unchanged. It opened my eyes to the grandeur of the world and to the endless possibilities life holds if one just has the courage to run towards it.
This letter from Sabrina perfectly captures what this city means to me.
Dearest Father,
We shall be graduating next week, and I shall be getting my diploma. I want to thank you now for the two most wonderful years of my life. I shall always love you for sending me here.
It is late at night, and someone across the way is playing "La Vie En Rose”. It is the French way of saying, “I am looking at the world through rose-colored glasses,” and it says everything I feel. I have learned so many things, Father. Not just how to make vichyssoise or calf’s head with sauce vinaigrette, but a much more important recipe. I have learned how to live… how to be in the world and of the world… and not just to stand aside and watch. And I will never, never again run away from life… or from love, either.
I am taking the plane home on Friday, Father. You needn’t pick me up at the airport. I’ll just take the Long Island Railroad and you can meet me at the train– the 4:15. If you have any difficulty recognizing your daughter, I shall be the most sophisticated woman at the Glen Cove Station.
P.S. I’m so sad I can’t find the rest of the photos from this trip!! Especially the high-res photos from Versailles 😭
“Oh, but Paris isn’t for changing planes, it’s... it’s for changing your outlook, for... for throwing open the windows and letting in...
letting in la vie en rose.”
