I’ve been lucky enough to visit Paris many times. In fact, it was the first place I saw outside of the U.S. It was the first big city I ever visited. I remember that car ride from the airport as if it were yesterday. Paris was noisy and glamorous and unpredictable. There was music on the sidewalks and Parisians leaning out of apartment windows. Children were eating pain au chocolat and dogs were barking for a taste. People were smoking. People were kissing in public! My seven-year-old eyes had never been wider.
This place is crazy, I thought.
I love it.
I mean, je l’aime.
I believe that first, early travel experience has shaped how I’ve felt about doing it for the rest of my life. I could almost feel my brain growing from all of the new things I was seeing and experiences I was having. This is the number one reason why I continue to travel. It’s good for the brain. It’s educational. It challenges your ideas about why we were put on this planet in the first place, because everyone around the world is doing it differently. And yet, there are things we are all doing the same.
Tomorrow we return to Paris for one week. It’s the first time I’m seeing the city with a toddler, so I’m sure to get a crash course in Parisian playground politics (which is a real thing!). This trip will be less about leisurely, rosé-fueled lunches and more about sandboxes. If that’s your kind of thing, feel free to follow along via my Instagram stories.
Meanwhile, here are some fun links to get you to the weekend:
How to visit Paris with a baby
My all-time favorite book about Paris for children
The busiest days to fly this summer
Bakersfield Blonde 