How can you describe the beauty of travel? It is as challenging as describing the beauty of a happy marriage.
To make clear my intentions, this is not a travel blog. While it may detail a great three-day itinerary for Paris and have "reviews" of locations, this is not meant to be for travelers seeking advice. And while I do detail my experiences of our first year of marriage, in no way is it a marital advice column. Rather, it is just my travel journal, written out for all of you to see. It's personal, and the photographs are a documentary experience of the past three days.
Before preceding, stick with me on this metaphor. Travel is a lot like marriage, or from the limited experience I have of it. The take off is an exciting time, as is the honeymoon stage. By the time you've landed, you may be exhausted but still ambitious about the trip ahead. For us, that exhaustion hit in September as I began the full swing of first year teaching. It was amazing, however, in those times when I could not be present, my husband supportively stepped in. As I reflect back on the year, he has been the biggest blessing in my life.
As the trip progresses, there are peaks and valleys. There are exciting attractions and sore feet. There are delicious eats and wrong turns. As in our marriage, there have been amazing moments. Memories have been made in trips, date nights, and even in the monotonous daily tasks of life. But, there have also been family illnesses and deaths, personal illnesses that have shaped our relationship and made us stronger, job transitions, and unexpected changes. As I am thankful for the good moments in our first year of marriage, I am equally grateful for those hardships. It's made our marriage stronger, it has brought us closer together, built trust, and helped us discover new things about ourselves and our relationship.
The trip concludes, you look back on those memories made, the places you've been, and reflect on experiences that you have had. And while that is not synonymous with the ending of a marriage, I believe it can be symbolic of the end of a year, the celebration of an anniversary. You look back on all those memories, you think about all the places you've been, and reflect on each experience you shared together. Yesterday, we celebrated our first anniversary. The traditional one year anniversary gift is paper and the modern gift is a clock. I thank my husband dearly for our ticket to Europe and for the precious quality time we get to spend together.
And as I promised, for those of you who are still reading and wondering about our trip I will begin detailing our exciting adventure.
SATURDAY
We landed in Paris on Saturday afternoon and quickly hit the streets. After stopping off at our lovely Airbnb, we stopped to grab some French street food. Then we were off to Musee d'Orsay, a spectacular museum that has the largest collection of impressionist masterpieces. Impressionism is Ben's favorite style, and I was in heaven amongst the Monet's, the Degas', and the Van Gogh's. I was able to observe Seurat's paintings closely and it reminded me that I used to tell my elementary art students, "Seurat the Dot" so they could remember his famous style, Pointillism. There were many more paintings by Manet, Renoir, and Cézanne to name of a few. For my creatives reading this, you'll know how valuable this experience truly was.
Following our immersive art experience, we walked along the Champs-Élysées. The Champs-Élysées is described as the world's most beautiful avenue and while I cannot say that my avenue experiences have been extensive, this is by far the most beautiful one I've seen to date. And while it is normally a tame environment, our walk along the avenue was quite exciting. As we began our walk, France won their round of the World Cup. People roared up and down the streets waving their nation's flag. The excitement amongst the locals was contagious. We people watched, window shopped, and observed the celebration around us until we reached the Arc de Triomphe. This was a must-see Paris attraction. My dad went to Paris when I was in elementary school and when he came home he printed a photograph he had taken of the Arc de Triomphe and it hung in my sister's room. I remember looking at that photograph often, imagining a place far away that I would hope one day to see. Seeing it in person brought back the emotions and memories of childhood and it felt surreal standing in front of a monument that seemed so unobtainable and far.
And so the evening went on with even more surrealistic experiences. In the evening we devoured pizza at the La Dolce Vita followed by some drinks at the secretive bar, Moonshiner. It is one of the two (real) speakeasy's in Paris and the experience was unique to say the least. Our first night in Paris ended with a walk along the Seine River and underneath the Eiffle Tower. And while the exhaustion began to set in, we were determined to have another exciting day on Sunday.
