Things I Love - III

Part three in the Things I Love series - My first trip to Paris.

It was May 2001. I had never been out of the country before, and I had never dreamed I'd be going to Paris! There I was, 28 years old, in college studying Interior Design, and going to one of the most amazing cities in the world for class credit!


One of my sketches. This is a detail of some of the embellishments on the columns at the Opera de Paris Garnier.

 It's actually the best thing that could have happened, going on a trip like this for class credit, because we were required to keep a written journal as well as a sketchbook journal. Last night I dug out my written journal and was amazed at how many times I thought to myself "I didn't remember that!" It brought back a lot of the magical memories. Along with the written memories I did manage to take FOURTEEN rolls worth of photographs! I laugh at many of them. I remember to this day how I felt like I had to take pictures at every turn so that I wouldn't lose the moment. What actually ended up happening is that I have many photos, but few are great. I do have a small collection, very small, worth framing and even a couple I have made into cards.


Memories come in many varied forms. I love the b&w photo on the left. That's me in the gardens of Verailles.

 I came away from that trip with a couple of stand-outs that I cherish to this day. The first is having all of my senses opened up by seeing Vincent Van Gogh's work just 12 inches from me. I cannot describe sufficiently what happened, but it was like being there with him and understanding and literally feeling his emotions through seeing the brush strokes of those paintings. Thank you Musee D'Orsay for that gift.

The second thing I cherish is my tiny painting I bought from an artist in the square in the Montmartre district. It is so fantastic to stroll through the square and witness artists at their craft. The history of this artist district and having an actual piece of it thrills me every time I look at it.

The paint was not even dry as I walk away with a piece of Paris in my hands.

Au revoir for now, but here's hoping some of the magic has rubbed off on you as well!