The Gargoyle
I did not expect the gargoyle to be the centerpiece of my first show. But I must say, it fit. Paris and I have a....shall we say fraught, history. My first trip there resulted in amazing photos, but not so amazing memories. Paris was a nightmare to navigate, incredibly overwhelming and unfriendly. All of these were really my fault as I was simply unprepared for Paris.
So, when I went back to Paris a second time, I was much more guarded. Quite a bit less enthusiastic going into the trip and way more intentional in my planning of it. The trip was based around two things, my birthday and an acupuncture conference given by one of my all time favorite acupuncturists. A friend and I decided to make the most of the conference and my birthday and we approached with with a simple plan in mind. I have to say, this was one of the best trips I think I've taken in my life. Part of it was the way we approached the trip, part of it was the pace, but most of it was in spending time eating and drinking my way through Paris with a dear friend.
On the morning of my birthday we got up, made our way through a leisurely breakfast and coffee and just wandered around near our hotel. We were doing a day/night guided photo tour with Aperture Photography that afternoon and had some time to kill. We decided to check out Notre Dame. On a whim, I asked my friend if she wanted to climb the towers. We got in line and started the trek up. I had just started to catch my breath on the first level when the noon bells started peeling directly above us. It was insane. And loud. And magnificent. And totally unplanned. My mania for photo taking was indulged and then we discovered that there was one more level to climb. The very top of the tower was insane. The view of the top of the church, the river, the surrounding areas, not to mention the lesser known gargoyles, the view of the 12 apostles and various other things was amazing. Going down was a bit of a bear on our knees, but we made it safely.
I had the opportunity to go back to the church in March 2019 before it burned with my brother and our two friends. While we didn't climb the tour (they're still bummed about that) seeing the iconic church is an even more precious memory now.
I'm not sure when, or if, but we won't talk about that, this view will be had again. But I am forever grateful I got to experience it.