"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, 1950

I feel like I could go on forever, describing my experiences in Europe, yet I would still never be able to capture just how beautiful it was.

Let me start then, with Paris.

In Paris, I could be doing a million insignificant things, but they will all stem out from me with such passion and creativity, that it is almost poetic. Yes folks, Paris does that to you. Everything they said in the movies were true. As I look back now, I can still see everything with detailed clarity.

I am gazing up at the magnificence of the Eiffel Tower, and cruising through the River Seine feeling like a star-crossed lover, a poet on a mission, even a gypsy on a mischievous adventure, all at the same time.

I am back in front of the Sacre Couer, where beauty and holiness coincide, and then I forget the entire purpose of entering a Church. I am once more inside the Louvre, amidst all those wonderful works of art – intricately-made sculptures, paintings of famous French and Italian artists, handwritten letters of Queens and Kings, artifacts and remnants from ancient civilizations. Egyptian. Mesopotamian. Roman. Walking through the halls of the Louvre was a dream come true. I felt like I was back in my World History class, gazing up with much enthusiasm at all these creations; evidence of man’s ingenuity and creativity, and ultimately, his passion for life.

Paris will always be Paris – the romance capital of the world. Even though I have imagined my Parisian experience quite differently, (perhaps, a little less tourist-y) I still felt like I have finally understood the phrase, ‘romance is in the air’. Not in a Valentine’s day kind of atmosphere, but in that genuinely poetic Paris scene at sunset --  families, couples, and groups of friends, having picnics at the banks of the River Seine.

While pleasantly observing locals waving good-naturedly at the sight-seers on the river cruise, or men blowing kisses from atop the bridges, I slowly felt the first few warm tugs at my heart, which eventually secured Paris as a special place.