In the 1980’s I fell head-over-heals in love with Europe, its culture and its people. And if all of Europe became a love affair, Paris became the one I want to marry. My heart seems to flip every time I think of the City of Light.

I’m not even sure I know why it thrills me so. The hotel rooms are small, the elevators smaller. The prices are high. The food runs from exceptional to below average – but is always expensive. The people barley tolerate you… or each other. You have to dodge the dog poop everywhere. And at first glace, it’s just another big, busy city with crazy drivers trying to kill each other, especially the pedestrians.

The best of Paris may be the baguettes – the most wonderful bread in the world. Or, it could be the cobble stone streets running between five story, slate topped buildings. It could be the statues on the bridges over the Seine. Maybe it is the Orsay or the Louvre, or Sacre Coeur, or St. Chapelle. Perhaps it’s a special three-hour diner on Ile St. Louis, or the awesome architecture of La Defense. It could be the quartet playing in an alcove in the Metro, or sitting in the sun by the sailing pool in the Luxembourg gardens. Maybe it is the shy smile of the waitress serving morning espresso. Of course, it is all the above, and more. Fore me, it is symbolized by the Tour, the Tour Eiffel. It is the city. If you can see the Tour, and you can from most everywhere, you always know where you are.

They say if you pass under the Pont Neuf Bridge and wish to return, you will come back again to this wonderful place. I make it point to make that pilgrimage every trip so I can promise myself another.

Visions of Paris makes that trip possible whenever I wish to make it. Here you will not find stereotypical photographs of avenues and monuments and churches. What you will find, are images of some of those small parts of that mosaic that make Paris so special.