After 26 hours in the airport, I finally made it. Although geographically, I’m here, it’s only been bit by bit that I’m realizing that I’m in Paris. After a long week, I am ready to embrace this new culture that I’ve surrounded myself with but have been too numbed with shock to really feel.
I stood on the Eiffel Tower today for the second time in my life but for the first time through this perspective. I was not passing through another landmark in a city with a grand view and souvenirs for every moment. Today I looked out over my new backyard where I will eat, explore, speak and live. The scene below me is waiting for me to become a part of its routine.
I descended the 1,665 stairs as the sun was setting over the river. A woman was trying to take a picture of herself and her son on the lower platform. I offered to take it for them. As it turned out, they were American like me.
I turned toward the metro, getting out my Navigo pass. For dinner I would pick up some sausisson at the Franprix to have with the baguette and brie in my room. Maybe I’d take the long way home through the Luxembourg Garden and stop and the crepiere near where I live. I wondered as I strolled along with the Parisians if these places, my personal landmarks, could be seen from the Eiffel Tower.