MORNING IN PARIS

A tranquil morning over the Seine River as it carves its way through Paris. This wall on the left is the edge of the Ile de la Cite'. Astride it is the spectacular Cathedral of Notre Dame.

MORNING ON THE SEINE

The world is a bit crazy these days, and so we need to find those quiet moments when everything seems to pause, and a bit of peace and quiet descends to sooth the mind and the heart.

Seine River, Paris. 2001

Annnnd...We're Back

Okay, kids. Back in business. Sometimes there are personal issues that require your undivided attention and family comes first.

But...we're back.

And to celebrate let's take a quick jaunt over to Paris for a walk across the Seine River. 

They've outlawed them now, but for a time loving couples could declare their affection by locking a padlock along the wire fencing on bridges that cross the river. Apparently all of the locks were putting a terrible strain on the metalworks and causing damage.

However, this is France. 

Romance will ever out.

ROAD TRIP: No Cure for Paris

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

     - Ernest Hemingway

For this morning's entry I elected to randomly pick a destination from my 30,000 photograph archive. 

Yeeks, some statistics are better left alone.

Today we journey to Paris, which probably should be everyone's first international destination. Full of adventures, history and art -- and the language barrier makes it just challenging enough to demonstrate that you're really, truly, overseas.

We have visited the "City of Lights" a mere three times now, yet with each journey the city reveals a bit more about itself -- and about ourselves as well. The romance is real, the vibe entirely unique. There are other wonderful destinations in the world, but none of them have the je ne sais quoi of the capital city of France.

We have had many adventures in Paris, and lived to tell the tale. 

My argument with the rude cabbie who spit -- only to be followed moments later, as if dispatched from the Paris Tourist Board, by another driver in a Yankees ball cap, who made us feel entirely welcome while we laughed and were cajoled all the way to the hotel. 

The first night ever in France in which we found ourselves a little postcardish corner cafe with red velvet walls, generous french waiters, incredible food and one very elegant french woman who sat reading Le Monde and gently pulling on a cigarette in a long holder; leaving us temporarily transported back to the romantic (and possibly imaginary) Paris of the early 20th century. 

Of the magnificent food...it's true it's impossible to get  a bad meal here. 

Spending a (relatively) short time in the Louvre so as not to detract from the -- for us -- far more interesting D'Orsay. 

Staying at the very modern and chic Westin Vendome this last journey, and not enjoying it nearly as much in the more humble and "local" hotels we've used before -- listening to the sounds of the city at 2am in the morning while a french couple have what only could be interpreted as a lover's quarrel somewhere in the apartments down the street. In French of course, but the emotions are raw, strong, passionate and identifiable.

Paris is, as Hemingway noted, a moveable feast that gets into your blood and soul, and never lets go.

Je t'aime.

Taxi queue near Place Vendome

The Bastille District

The Seine -- focal point of Parisian life

Monet exhibit at the Musee L'Orangerie

A "locking of love" on a Seine bridge

Students from La Sarbonne spend Saturday nights next to the Seine, chatting and waving at the tourist boats

Lovers walk along the river, lost in romance

Wandering the alleys and streets you can still feel the Paris of Romance and Love