We arrived in Paris the evening after Christmas for three sweet days of cliche busting wonder. The Eiffel Tower was dressed in blue, the Champs Elysees was decked out in all of its electric Christmas finery, and we all fell helplessly, eternally in love.
My friend Vince, who is originally from the south of France, once told me, "Willie, Paris is intoxicating." He was not exaggerating. After we checked into the Hotel Edouard VI on Boulevard du Montparnasse we grabbed dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant, then it was off to bed for Jan so that she could rest up in preparation for the next day. The Professor, Indiana Jane and I made a beeline for the Eiffel Tower. We walked down the boulevard until we saw the Invalides,
then hooked a left and followed the beacon from Gustav Eiffel's marvel of the Industrial Age.
Paris is alive! Vienna was asleep when we were there, but from what The Professor has told us it barely has a pulse in the best of times. Paris, on the other hand, is vibrant, exciting, energetic, amazing, and a thousand other wonderful things. The three of us milled among the crowd, drinking in the sights and sounds and shaking our heads at our good fortune to find ourselves in such a magnificent place. Just before midnight we headed back to the hotel, each of us dreaming of the next few days.
Tomorrow: Day one.
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