Dreaming of Paris: A Vacation Contest with @nuoctuong

Perhaps cliché’ to some, but I dream of visiting Paris! Of course I’d love to see the Eiffel Tower under a full moon or across a mall of cherry blossoms in spring, or even one late and lazy afternoon on summer solstice?

I recently took one of those online, Facebook type quizzes, the ones most of us skip over because who has the time to find out which rock star you’re most like? But the one that tells you in which city your very personality would flourish pulled me in. I answered a gazillion questions and was delighted when Paris flashed as my final result, always feeling I’d love to live in a city-flat off a cobblestone street, close to public transportation and an open-air-market. I’d buy fresh-cut peonies and rich cups of coffee every day!

And, if only a visit, I’d like to stay at least six weeks, take my time wandering blissful and aimless. I’d like a mate who doesn’t rigidly plan, but likes instead to follow little leads, go with the flow, wander into and be guided by old women or little birds to our next splendid destination. “Take the train to 154th, get off and catch the A bus until the end of the line, ask the man who works at the corner bakery…”

Perhaps, a concert at the Rex Theater and a romantic dinner-cruise on the Seine? We could picnic with a bottle of cabernet, baguette and smoked salmon in Pare des Buttes Chaumont! And, we must see La Sainte-Chapelle, the two of us holding hands under the stained-glass arcing its way to heaven in colors to beam all of Christ’s light.

And as a poet and romantic, I would like to visit bookstores on nights when others read their carefully crafted pieces, let the shelf-elves show me the book I just can’t live without, we’d buy new pencils and sketch books and set out to draw and write our own creative interpretations of the city, Pierre angrily smokes at the next café table as Ines pinches her arm, pulls at her curls, tells him she’s found another lover. I can see just how you'd draw her doe-like eyes, the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth.

If you'd like to enter contest too please visit:https://steemit.com/travel/@nuoctuong/my-dream-vacation-destination-is-writing-contest-over-20-sbds-prize-pool

Photo Credit: Jack Anstey/unsplash
Photo Credit: Micheile Henderson/unsplash
Video Credit:youtube/La Sainte-Chapelle visitor website
Video Credit: youtube/Crane.tv