jan schill photography :blog:

i remember my very first glimpse of it from our cab window on the way to our parisian hotel.  we left our sweet little girls with my sister & brother-in-law on an early flight from germany to france.  we wanted to have some adventures in paris & visit our french friend thomas while we were in eurpoe.  he & andrew went to law school together in oklahoma.  thomas returned to france afterward & we vowed to visit him one day… a promise that andrew had made to me since we met!  so, there it was… peeking behind buildings, reflecting in the water & windows, rising above the skyline… the eiffel tower.  the object of my affections & subject of my dreams for quite some time!  i had even had a lamp in it’s shape in my apartment before andrew & i got married-he sold it in a garage sale after deeming it “tacky” & far too “girly” for our home.  after a long walk we arrived at the bottom of the tower & decided to walk up.  we climbed the stairs as far as we could go.  my heart thumped so quickly & loudly in my ears that i was sure i would have a heart attack.  i wondered what would happen if i had a heart attack on the way up… how would they get me down?  we kept climbing & then took the small service elevator to the very top.  getting there was as wonderful as i’d imagined it to be!  paris seemed so small below us & i could see how the city was laid out… it made sense!  ahhh, paris!  now i knew i really was there!  i wanted to yell “bonjour!” loudly, but didn’t.  we took pictures & visited all four corners of the structure.  we passed the champagne bar… 13 euros/glass… andrew asked me if i wanted some… of course i did, it was champagne at the top of the eiffel tower!!!  so, andrew, thomas, & i shared a small plastic cone of champagne at the top of the eiffel tower… perfection!  i stuck the little cone in my purse & babied it until we returned to the states over a week later.

when i look at it i remember our trip.  thomas’ little french apartment in the latin quarter of the city… his girlfriend sarah making us orange & nutella crepes… going to montmartre & imagining that we might run into amelie…  breakfast every morning in thomas’ dining room with enough fresh juice, fresh pastries, & delicious butter to keep me happy for quite a while!… walking the entire city… eating pistachio macaroons every time we passed a shop… sitting at a street cafe sipping espresso… a delicious dinner with thomas’ family at his mother’s lovely apartment on the champs elysees… feeling quite french not having to speak in public except for the occasional “merci” or “au revoir”… trying to wear the wrong shoes entirely to the louvre & taking them off to walk around the gorgeous building in my socks… eating croque madame… wishing i spoke french… laughing about our very expensive & very small french hotel room that had a folding chair & a tv on a shelf like in an old hospital room… understanding why so many people romanticize the city to such extremes.  my memory was encapsulated in a small, dirty, plastic cone…

every time i look at it sitting on the shelf in my office i remember. and i know… what might look like a dirty, plastic cone to one is actually the memory of a trip & a lifelong dream fulfilled in paris to me!