My Last Musings Before I Left Europe Last Spring
My love affair with Paris was slow. Slow and Gentle. It was so slow that I didn’t realize that I loved the city until I left and was able to call it home. The bridges became my bridges, the streets my streets, the soul of the city mine.
When I arrived in Paris, I only had a very vague idea of what I was getting into. I had never traveled in Europe before and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. It was the great unknown for me, a place that didn’t seem real. But the hostel I stayed in near the Bastille as I searched for a place to live made it real. All too real.
I had no idea where I was going. I could not figure out how to use the metro. I had no place to stay. My first week in Paris was night compared to the day of my last week.
As my time in Paris studying rolled along, my confidence as a student of the world grew. I learned how to travel; I learned how to be open to meeting new people. I learned to not be shocked by anything and to readily cast off the net of disillusionment.
So when I realized I had 3 weeks left to travel (and drain the rest of my savings) after I finished school I decided I was ready, ready for the trip of my dreams, to visit the lands of my imagination.
When I was a kid (and now too, actually) you would not have been able to find me without a book. My books of choice were fantasy novels with witches and wizards and faeries, set against the backdrop of the battle between good and evil. I loved reading about the folklore of Ireland, the misty highlands of Scotland, and the royalty of England. And so I planned to spend a week in Ireland, a week in Scotland and a week in England.
When I arrived in Ireland I still had one paper to write for school, which is not easy to do when you are traveling in the Emerald Isle. But I finished it with days to spare and was able to enjoy the natural beauty of the Island. I walked on the Cliffs of Moher (the cliffs of insanity for princess bride fans), and climbed the diamond hill at Connemara, which made me feel like I was floating above the earth.
After 2 days in Dublin I flew to Edinburgh, the capitol of Scotland. I did not know what to expect of Scotland besides the pictures I had formed in my mind reading novels, but I could not have expected Edinburgh. The skyline was dominated by the Edinburgh castle, and from the peak of the hill of Arthur’s Seat you could see the sea. I went on a “Potter walk” where I saw sites of J.K. Rowling’s inspiration in Edinburgh, as she wrote the first 4 Harry Potter books there.
But the whole time I was there I felt that I was just distracting myself from the days ahead, from the thing I was most nervous and excited about. I had set my heart on completing the Great Glen Way by myself, which was a 70 mile hike through the highlands of Scotland, in 4 days. The hike went coast to coast in Scotland across old canals and lochs on a journey I would never forget.
The journey was breathtaking. The path passed over mountains, rose above the lochs. It was a different world, and a quiet one at that. One of the reasons I had decided to do this hike was that I was sick of the city, of the noise and bustle. I wanted quiet, and I got that. And I met some amazing people along the way. I will never forget the family from Glasgow that I hiked with that bought me a heavenly bowl of lentil soup after a day of rain.
When I started that hike I thought I was crazy for choosing to do it, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. I felt true, breathable peace for the first time in my life in the highlands and I will never let that go. And I’ll be back to the highlands, as there’s an even longer hike in the West Highlands.
And since I’m crazy I decided to go down to the Moors of England and hike another 20 miles along the coast. I hiked along the Cleveland Way and it was as beautiful as the highlands, though in an entirely different way. It was lambing season, and the trail took me directly through fields of livestock. I do not have any pictures from then on, as my phone broke on the way, which was my means of photography.
After the Moors I would visit York, Stratford-upon-Avon (the birthplace of Shakespeare), Oxford and London before returning home to Paris. As beautiful as those cities were, I was most affected by the peace that I found in getting away from everything, in living without a phone and learning to rely on actually having to ask people for help in finding my way. Each day was a new adventure, and I had to learn how to be very thrifty, as there’s only so much you can carry on your back when you are hiking for 90 miles.
Even though I saw so much beauty and found peace in the British Isles returning to Paris was like a breath of fresh air. It was familiar, which was a shock to me. I found it to be more familiar than the English speaking countries I had just visited. Paris I had expected to be like another planet, but I expected the UK to be more familiar, like a sister Earth, but I found it to be even more foreign to me than France.
When I arrived back in Paris I had about a week left so I decided to go and do all of the things I hadn’t had an opportunity to yet, having been busy with school. I visited the Sainte Chappelle, a beautiful church which hundreds upon hundreds of stained glass windows, visited an exhibit on the Tudors, and had picnics at parc Monceau, the best park in Paris, in my opinion.
I had a glorious last week in Paris. I tried to imprint all of my favorite parts of the city into my memory forever. The memories that I have made, of the peace I found in Britain and the home I found in Paris will never leave. They will be with me forever
When I arrived in Paris, I only had a very vague idea of what I was getting into. I had never traveled in Europe before and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. It was the great unknown for me, a place that didn’t seem real. But the hostel I stayed in near the Bastille as I searched for a place to live made it real. All too real.
I had no idea where I was going. I could not figure out how to use the metro. I had no place to stay. My first week in Paris was night compared to the day of my last week.
As my time in Paris studying rolled along, my confidence as a student of the world grew. I learned how to travel; I learned how to be open to meeting new people. I learned to not be shocked by anything and to readily cast off the net of disillusionment.
So when I realized I had 3 weeks left to travel (and drain the rest of my savings) after I finished school I decided I was ready, ready for the trip of my dreams, to visit the lands of my imagination.
When I was a kid (and now too, actually) you would not have been able to find me without a book. My books of choice were fantasy novels with witches and wizards and faeries, set against the backdrop of the battle between good and evil. I loved reading about the folklore of Ireland, the misty highlands of Scotland, and the royalty of England. And so I planned to spend a week in Ireland, a week in Scotland and a week in England.
When I arrived in Ireland I still had one paper to write for school, which is not easy to do when you are traveling in the Emerald Isle. But I finished it with days to spare and was able to enjoy the natural beauty of the Island. I walked on the Cliffs of Moher (the cliffs of insanity for princess bride fans), and climbed the diamond hill at Connemara, which made me feel like I was floating above the earth.
After 2 days in Dublin I flew to Edinburgh, the capitol of Scotland. I did not know what to expect of Scotland besides the pictures I had formed in my mind reading novels, but I could not have expected Edinburgh. The skyline was dominated by the Edinburgh castle, and from the peak of the hill of Arthur’s Seat you could see the sea. I went on a “Potter walk” where I saw sites of J.K. Rowling’s inspiration in Edinburgh, as she wrote the first 4 Harry Potter books there.
But the whole time I was there I felt that I was just distracting myself from the days ahead, from the thing I was most nervous and excited about. I had set my heart on completing the Great Glen Way by myself, which was a 70 mile hike through the highlands of Scotland, in 4 days. The hike went coast to coast in Scotland across old canals and lochs on a journey I would never forget.
The journey was breathtaking. The path passed over mountains, rose above the lochs. It was a different world, and a quiet one at that. One of the reasons I had decided to do this hike was that I was sick of the city, of the noise and bustle. I wanted quiet, and I got that. And I met some amazing people along the way. I will never forget the family from Glasgow that I hiked with that bought me a heavenly bowl of lentil soup after a day of rain.
When I started that hike I thought I was crazy for choosing to do it, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. I felt true, breathable peace for the first time in my life in the highlands and I will never let that go. And I’ll be back to the highlands, as there’s an even longer hike in the West Highlands.
And since I’m crazy I decided to go down to the Moors of England and hike another 20 miles along the coast. I hiked along the Cleveland Way and it was as beautiful as the highlands, though in an entirely different way. It was lambing season, and the trail took me directly through fields of livestock. I do not have any pictures from then on, as my phone broke on the way, which was my means of photography.
After the Moors I would visit York, Stratford-upon-Avon (the birthplace of Shakespeare), Oxford and London before returning home to Paris. As beautiful as those cities were, I was most affected by the peace that I found in getting away from everything, in living without a phone and learning to rely on actually having to ask people for help in finding my way. Each day was a new adventure, and I had to learn how to be very thrifty, as there’s only so much you can carry on your back when you are hiking for 90 miles.
Even though I saw so much beauty and found peace in the British Isles returning to Paris was like a breath of fresh air. It was familiar, which was a shock to me. I found it to be more familiar than the English speaking countries I had just visited. Paris I had expected to be like another planet, but I expected the UK to be more familiar, like a sister Earth, but I found it to be even more foreign to me than France.
When I arrived back in Paris I had about a week left so I decided to go and do all of the things I hadn’t had an opportunity to yet, having been busy with school. I visited the Sainte Chappelle, a beautiful church which hundreds upon hundreds of stained glass windows, visited an exhibit on the Tudors, and had picnics at parc Monceau, the best park in Paris, in my opinion.
I had a glorious last week in Paris. I tried to imprint all of my favorite parts of the city into my memory forever. The memories that I have made, of the peace I found in Britain and the home I found in Paris will never leave. They will be with me forever