Wednesday, July 21

Paris alone and happy

Taking a deep breath, it's time to explore alone once more. Finding confidence in yourself and moving on knowing that all I have is myself here is a challenge that I am afraid of but willing to face.

I stepped out of the hotel room, my cold gone for the most part. I started walking. The sun and the blue sky are beautiful in Paris. The feeling in the air had both the rush of New York and the deep connections of Portland.

I was in Paris, of course I had to go to the Louvre. What a place. Extremely grand, there were so many astounding pieces of beautiful art it was overwhelming and as everyone says, there is so much security and human bodies around the Mona Lisa it is hardly worth seeing in person. I much prefered looking at some of Leonardo's other works there like Landscape with Two Men Sitting near a Coppice.

The following day I walked to the Musée d'Orsay which I was really looking forward to. I spent hours looking at the paintings and standing with the grand statues. Seeing Monet in person was... indescribable.
The most beautiful thing I think I did in Paris however was to walk among the graves at Père Lachaise Cemetery. I felt surrounded by creative spirits. Not only of the dead but the other visitors as well. There were not to many of us but enough to build a sense of community as we walked, in personal meditation, thinking of those who are gone and of our own hopes and dreams.

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