a weekend in paris

we came upon paris early in morning- with the rain. 

the next three days went by quickly, blurring and running into one another. 

cold hands, lovers wrapped around one another under birch trees, a corner cafe to rest and coffee to warm, running around the louvre alone and tripping up the stairs, a woman selling chocolate eclairs- her hair in pin curls, the last bus home on a late night, laying on the grass under the eiffel tower, sleeping on a bench under the eiffel tower, eating bright pink cotton candy under the eiffel tower, old men selling beautiful old books with woven covers, sticky sweet macarons from laduree, more rain, sitting at the window in marie antoinette's bedroom, little parisian school children who wave hello, and walking through and in between streets with names i couldn't pronounce. 

yet with these... sunsets, that somehow recall

my buried life, and paris in the the spring,

i feel immeasurably at peace, and find the world 

to be wonderful and youthful after all

- T.S Elliot

           

             "it's possessing joy that makes you happy"

            i am leaving for Paris at midnight.

there is a day
when the road neither

comes nor goes, and the way

is not a way but a place.

-wendell berry

italy

there is something very satisfying in reflecting on a trip through photos. I always make sure to sit down with a hot drink while sorting through each shutter click- hoping to soak up the last bits of my recent travels.

these snaps are from this past week which was spent running all over italy. verona, venice, rome, florence, and pisa to be exact. all the sunshine was a refreshing change from the constant cloudy weather in germany.
I tanned my shoulders, made three wishes at the trevi fountain, walked around rome under the stars until my feet were sore, ate enough gelato and pasta for a lifetime, admired botticelli's the birth of venus, crossed the sea to venice, and saw so much beauty in a place I'd never been.

italy was terribly romanic, so much so, it was almost a shame to be there without someone I was terribly in love with.