The Great European Adventure

I Know Nothing About Architecture

Paris, November 2012
Paris, November 2012

Facebook keeps reminding me that I was in Paris 4 years ago today and, on the one hand, I appreciate that. It’s nice to be greeted at the top of my newsfeed with a smiling photo of me and my mother. We had such a lovely time on that trip. On the other hand, it makes me nostalgic, and a little jealous of past-Emma, and also, didn’t I tell facebook to turn off that feature?

Anyway, I was looking through my photos from Paris and I stumbled across the one at the top of this post. I can’t remember anything about this part of the city or the moment I took this shot… but isn’t it lovely? Don’t you wish you were there? One of my favorite things to do when I travel is wander neighborhoods and people watch and admire architecture and take photos. So, even though I don’t know anything about this street, when I look at this picture I feel a little wistful. I can imagine how I felt when I was there — the pleasant surprise of looking down a cross-street, seeing something unexpected, and pausing to capture it.

Emma Holliday is well-traveled. After 5 years in Boston, she and her husband upended their lives to move to Berlin where she is currently writing a (funny) book about travel and grief and attempting to learn German.

One Comment

  • Stacey

    Hi Emma~ still lovin’ the posts. I love that picture of Paris too, and that last line about being pleasantly surprised about seeing something unexpected, and stopping to capture it. That’s great. What a privilege we’re fortunate enough to have that quality in ourselves to envision such beauty around us, and wanting to share it. Thank you for pointing that out. I liked one of the other last posts too, when you were musing about the future, and E grunting in response…no wonder, that was a hard one. But, nice to hear some of your thoughts. I enjoy knowing some of the workings of a different brain at work…other than my own. Hope you’re not done with the musings or the postings, now that the new month has arrived. Keep it up, at least in some capacity. I’m sure others enjoy them too.

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