3,885 Miles From Yesterday

Exploring Paris these past few days has been like walking around in a dream.

Partly, I am very sleep deprived from not sleeping at all on my overnight flight here. But more than that, it feels unreal to be here. We have talked about this experience, looked at pictures, booked a place to stay. And now we are walking around, staying in the room that we looked at online, walking the streets that we searched for on the map.

It just feels unreal.

Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. I like to observe and absorb. So getting to do this in new, unfamiliar places is something I really enjoy. I'm always struck by the newness of a different culture. The language. The way of living. The little differences that add together to create something new. I love it.

One of my favorite things about the traveling experience is the first impressions that envelope you as soon as you step into the place. In Paris the process of absorbing is a little different since I have been here three or four times before. Instead of total newness, it has brought dusty memories to the surface of my mind.

The smell of fresh bread everywhere (isn't it crazy how smells can bring back memory so distinctly?). The cafe on every street corner. The people and their picnics. The rose colored glow painting the city every twilight.

I'd forgotten how much I love this city.

And despite a few run-ins with some slightly less than polite Parisians in the past, partially tainting my ideas of the people coming into this trip, every encounter with the people of Paris that we have had has been more that pleasant. They have been kind and patient with our very broken French and unfamiliarity of the French ways.

Even with the language barrier, which is pretty difficult- despite my four years of high school and college French classes, we have been able to communicate on a decent level.

At least I was able to order a cafe au lait. Si vous plait.