Ride

During the summer months I always have travel on the brain. It was about 5 years ago, the summer after my sophomore year of high school that I was able to go to Paris, France with my family.

A friend of a friend, (my new friend) Laura Guidry, has a blog that focuses on transit. Her blog is really cute and quirky! She has asked me to be featured on her blog using a story about a car ride or some other "in motion" story. Here is a link to her blog!

With that said, here is my "Parisian Taxi Ride" 

It was the second stop on our trip, so the jet lag was still looming over our well-traveled heads. Our first stop had been foggy London town. We’d seen guards in thick red coats and tall black hats, made a trip to Harrod’s, stopped at a few museums and tried our share of fish and chips.

We arrived late at night when lights littered the sky like drops of water glistening on a spider web. There was something magic about it, the way the inky, black night held nothing but wonder and excitement.

A family of six doesn’t fit in one cab so we groggily stuffed our luggage in the back of two taxis and halved our crew, three in each car.

I sat in the backseat, my eyes gazing out the window. It was rolled down to let in the summer breeze and the air had that European smell that I would never forget. I’d never been to the city of lights before, but I had imagined it from cinematic displays in years past.

As I buckled my seatbelt, the driver pulled away and we were in motion to our local hotel.

What I thought would be an average car ride had my sleepy, blue eyes in a frenzy. I was zooming at 60 miles per hour, undoubtedly speeding, through the city I’d only dreamed of.

It whizzed by me, ancient landmarks and timeless structures of years past flashed before my eyes. The homes and storefronts blurred and a new world was created right in front of me. The late night hour had the streetlights and windows delicately twinkling but nothing was as special as when I saw it.

The Eiffel tower was like nothing I’d ever seen. I leaned further out the window, craning my neck with every turn to keep it in my view. It was lit up like a match, it flickered and shimmered, but it didn’t go out.

My hair whipped around my face and the air was electric in the Parisian night.

It was a car ride I’ll always remember, and a trip I’ll never forget.