SEKY September 2022 | Page 38

� Parliament Square in London , England on May 30 , 2022 .
� A man dressed in a historic police uniform outside the famous 221B Baker Street in London , England on June 1 , 2022 .
� A view of the Eiffel Tower at sunset from the Champ de Mars in Paris , France on June 6 , 2022 .
� Macarons at the Ladurée on the Champs-Élysées in Paris , France on June 6 , 2022 . myself up to speak French for the first time as I left our train ’ s platform , approached a custodian and said , “ Bonjour ! Où sont les toilettes ?”
His agitated look and quick , confused response , which I could not understand , filled me with an anxiety that lingered as we finally gathered the courage to leave Gare du Nord .
Those first 24 hours continued to be the hardest of my life .
En route to our first destination , the Eiffel Tower of course , I struggled not only mentally but physically .
A tragically timed sinus infection left me trying my best to ask for a decongestant in a nearby “ pharmacie ” moments before our first time ever trying to navigate a subway was not only in French but included an authentic pick pocketer .
By the time we finally arrived at the foot of this monument that I had romanticized my entire life all I felt was that I had let down my childhood self , who had dreamt that I would magically transform into some Disney princess when that moment came .
Yet , when we woke the next morning there was a newfound determination to find our footing again in this French soil , and we did .
I found myself again while studying the brush strokes of my favorite artist , Claude Monet , at the Impressionist exhibit of the Musée d ’ Orsay .
Rejuvenated by the beauty of French art , we explored the Île de la Cité where a man stood in front of the devastated Notre Dame
Cathedral and filled the air with bubbles for children to chase . Where Sainte-Chapelle ’ s collection of 1,113 stained glass windows surrounded us in a warm embrace of purples , blues and pinks as the sun set . As the days progressed , so did we . We ate snails at the Bouillon République . We ordered a rainbow of macarons at the
Ladurée on the Champs-Élysées . We climbed to the terrace of the Arc de Triomphe where we saw breathtaking views from the Sacré Coeur to the Louvre .
Jalyn slowly sipped a chocolat chaud as I tried to emulate one of my favorite photographers , Peter Turnley , at his iconic spot at Café de Flore .
Then it was time to return to the Eiffel Tower on a mission of redemption .
We sat in the grass of the Champ de Mars and spread out our baguettes , Chardonnay and macarons for a final picnic at twilight to see the Eiffel Tower become gilded in shimmering lights as our own French finale .
As the lights began to dance across the tower ’ s body , the sounds of “ La Vie en Rose ” played in the distance . For those few minutes I finally felt my Audrey Hepburn moment , and knowing it came from our own perseverance and inner strength is what gave me a true fairytale ending to Paris .
When the sun began to rise so did our plane from Paris ’ s Charles de Gaulle as it flew us across the Alps to Venice Marco Polo , and our final week in Italy was underway . In Venice , a gondola glided us across winding canals and beneath white
38 • SEKY - Life in Southeast Kentucky September 2022