ADVENTURES IN A TIN CAN: Disappointed by my disappointment

One of the places my Main Squeeze and I went to during our summer vacation was France. Actually, it was Paris. We planned the whole trip through France just to get to Paris, because, you know... it's Paris.

I didn't like it. Neither did he.

We had allotted up to 5 days in Paris, staying in a campground that was a 20-minute train ride outside of the city. In the end, we wound up going there only twice.

While I am not obsessed with Paris any more than the average tourist, it was certainly someplace I wanted to visit: I had dreamed of going to the City of Lights, especially with someone I love. I had pictured us walking along the Seine, holding hands. I had visualized us in a bohemian cafe, eating very small portions of something covered in a rich sauce and drinking wine, or a kir. I had imagined being up in the Eiffel Tower.

But Paris disappointed me. And I am utterly disappointed by my disappointment.

I speak a little French. In fact, I spoke enough to make it through France. I had conversations where I was able to communicate and understand. For anyone who has ever gone to a foreign country where they studied the language but had never had the opportunity to use it in real life, I'm sure you understand the anxiety about attempting to speak. Especially in a country known for being stereotypically snooty with people who don't speak the language. But I managed. No, my disappointment had nothing to do with the language. Nor did it have anything to do with the people. I found French people to be kind, open, and helpful.

Paris is indeed a beautiful city full of culture and architecture. And while we did walk around to look at some of the iconic structures, we didn't want to traipse all over Paris just to look at buildings. We went to the Louvre, but we didn't go in. We went to the Eiffel Tower, but we didn't go up. We went to the Arc de Triomphe, but we weren't feeling adventurous enough to try to cross the street to get to it. We went to Notre Dame, but we didn't go inside.

And the food. Perhaps we should have researched, but we did not eat anything at all that wowed us. I love food. I love eating. I want to be wowed! And I was definitely not. Oh, disappointment!

Being in one of the most famous cities in the world and feeling this way led to an interesting conversation between me and my Main Squeeze. We had expected to love Paris, but when we analyzed our expectations in light of the reality, we realized that we were not being true to ourselves. We wanted to love Paris because we were expected to, not because Paris offered what we loved.

Paris is a large city, with its iconic structures spread out throughout the arrondissements. To get from one famous place to another involves either a lot of walking, or taking the metro or other public transportation. We did all of those things, but at the end of day two, we were exhausted.

Paris is well known for its culture. It has world famous museums. But my Main Squeeze and I are not really museum-goers. We went to the Louvre to see the glass pyramid entrance, but neither one of us could muster the enthusiasm to wait in line to walk through miles of exhibits that we didn't care to see. We didn't care to go to the Centre Pompidou or to the Musée d'Orsay either.

When we talked about the other places we had been to that we loved, we realized we enjoy walking around and seeing a city if it was concentrated in one manageable area. We had been to Prague, and every day, we would venture out, walking through the center of Prague, seeing everything we needed to see within a manageable radius. Paris did not have a manageable radius. We also realized we enjoyed nature. We enjoy walking through parks. I love being surrounded by trees and if there are animals scattered around in their natural environments, even better. We walked through one park, the Jardin des Tuileries. I did enjoy seeing all the people who sat in the chairs scattered throughout the park, just taking in the sun; seeing the children pushing wooden boats in the fountain with sticks; seeing the groups of young, beautiful Parisians having picnics. But my Main Squeeze and I didn't have the energy to go to any other park. We enjoy riding our bicycles through towns, just to explore. Paris is no 'town' and we weren't going to ride our bicycles in such a large, congested city. I am not a confident bike rider.

While I would have loved to fall in love with Paris, the experience brought me and my Main Squeeze closer together and made us more self-aware of what we want to get out of traveling.

Paris was definitely not all bad. We did, after all, see the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysée, the Seine, and Norte Dame. The biggest surprise was that we literally walked right into Bastille Day celebrations. The Champs de Mars, the park where the Eiffel tower is located, was packed full of people, a stage and speakers. There was a classical music concert, followed by 45 minutes of choreographed fireworks shooting out of the Eiffel Tower. My Main squeeze and I found a spot where we could hear the music and see most of the fireworks. Unfortunately, I was standing behind a man who was taller than me, so all of my pictures have his head in them.