Day Five - our last day

We awake to a beautiful day in Paris. Sunny and mild. I don't need to tell you that we wish we could stay. But, with a few more hours before our flight, we stop for a couple of lattes at her favorite cafe and talk about our time here.

For me, seeing Paris was a goal dating back (way back) to high school. I also had the very unrealistic idea of not only traveling to Paris, but also to live there and write after I finished college. Kind of a cliche. But, I was serious about it; just had no concept of what it took to actually carry out such a goal. Mike decides that we should take a picture of me living my "dream", so to speak, a few decades later!! He takes this pictures in the Jardin des Tuileries.



(Okay, so I'm making a grocery list, not actually writing the next great novel, but you get the point!)

These gardens, in the center of Paris, near the place de la Concorde, were designed by Louis XIV's gardener. There was once a palace here (built by the Catherine de Medicis and later occupied by Louis XIV and Napoleon. It burned to the ground in 1871 and was never rebuilt but the gardens remain. "In the orderly French manner, the trees are arranged according to designs, and even the paths are arrow-straight. Bubbling fountains break the sense of order and formality". We are among many others strolling these pathways, under the trees,speaking quietly to one another. Couples sit on the benches and openly express their affection - women and men, girls and boys, boys and boys, etc. The French have no hang ups about gender when it comes to love or sex.


We finish our lattes and take one last one last look at the Seine and the city.



I am thrilled and grateful that you took the time to come along with us on our trip of a lifetime. Au revoir.