Two years ago I spent the winter holidays in Paris with my parents and one of my older brothers Scott. It was really special experiencing and exploring parts of Europe with my family for the first time. So I was definitely excited to go back to Paris with the rest of my family. It was the last stop on our European holiday and it would be our longest stop as well. We had originally planned to go to either Brussels or London, but with time and being tired, we decided to just relax in Paris and see the nearby sites in Versailles.
It was also amusing for me to be back in a city I had been two previous times. I liked looking back at the pictures and seeing how changed or the same places were, and what new things I still had to discover. There was always something more, something unique to discover with each place I had been to before, and that’s what I love so much about taking journeys. It’s not so much about the travel, but the actual journey I take to get there and while I am there.
Versailles was one new place for me, though. I wish that we could have seen Versailles in the spring or summer–flowers and trees blooming and birds singing in the skies. But it was still a very beautiful place, even in the midst of a cold winter and closed off areas. Plus it was fun being silly in the gardens with my siblings.
We rang in the New Year in Paris at a restaurant called Indiana Cafe because we thought it would be ironic. It had a face of a Native American on the menu though so I think they were going for a different angle. Either way, with red wine in hand and happiness on our tongues, we rang in another year, that will hopefully bring as much fond memories as those two weeks in Europe had brought us all.
Odelia Younge 