Slice of Life Tuesday - Paris on my Mind!

I revisited Paris this past week through a fellow blogger's posts who was vacationing there.  Her posts and pictures from Paris sent me back in time to my French classes in junior high.  We had a dynamic French teacher in the 60's (I'm dating myself here) who did all kinds of interactive projects with us.  Everything we did in her class encompassed multiple intelligences, long before Howard Gardner's books.  One of our big projects for the year was an evening fund-raising event in the S. Arch Thompson auditorium for our parents and friends complete with French skits, songs, and dancing.  With a teacher who immersed us in the language and culture, it was natural that the culminating event of our French classes was a trip to France.  The evening performance was one of many fund raising projects.  I yearned to join my friends for this once in a lifetime opportunity.  It was not to be for my father refused to budge on this issue.  He did not think that a fourteen year old had any business traveling to a foreign country.  Receiving postcards from friends on the trip that summer was a bittersweet event!

Fast forward thirty plus years and my husband was scheduled to attend a business conference in Paris.  Plans were made, friends contacted who had traveled to Paris, lists compiled of places to visit, guide books acquired, and good walking shoes purchased.  Much to our dismay, the conference was canceled!

In the summer of 2009, our son completed a study abroad in Madrid.  Our family planned to meet in Paris - our last trip with just the four of us since our daughter would be getting married in August.  How can I describe the delight of finally visiting this city I had longed to visit for more than forty years!

Precious memories fill my mind:  musicians on the train and in the subway stations, the museums, the bread, magnificent stained glass windows in Sainte Chapelle, the Eiffel tower at night, hot chocolate  and pastries at the Angelina, sprinting through the Louvre to reach the Mona Lisa ahead of the crowds, art that took my breath away and left me speechless in Musee de l'Orangerie, Notre Dame, a boat ride on the Seine and so much more. It was a dream fulfilled!

And now for a final connection to Paris.  When I nominated Elsie for her comments, I received a prize, a DVD - Mentor Texts by Aimee Buckner.  Before our trip to Paris in 2009, I read about a contest hosted by Stenhouse Publishers.  They wanted to know where we took our professional books and asked us to submit pictures.  I took Aimee Buckner's Notebook Connections and requested pictures of myself reading the book near famous landmarks.  My kids became quite weary of the requests, and the worst part - I never actually submitted any of the photos to Stenhouse!  Shhh!  Don't tell my family!