Two years after I mentioned Paris to my new love, Miss Gail, we arrived. Airports are the same all over the world and even though I was anxious to feel the romance we needed to drudge through Immigration and baggage until we settled into the cab for a ride into the city.
I had been to Paris twice, once about 50 years ago and again about 20 years ago and I count myself very lucky that I was back. I worried that what I remembered of a beautiful city built around a river full of sounds and smells like nowhere else in the world really was just something I imagined and maybe was just a figment of my romanticism. Miss Gail, the experienced world traveler, sat beside me, soon to be my wife, she gently slid her small hand into mine and squeezed, gave me a smile, and winked.