Be Weekly – A Blog from Be You Portraits

I’ve always wanted to go to Europe. And when you think Europe, of course Paris comes to mind. Such an iconic place for fashion, for food, for lovers and the list goes on. And just couple of months ago, my good friend Diane had asked me “Where do you want to go? We can go anywhere…” I remember without hesitation just saying “Paris…” All of sudden with those words we were planning our trip to Europe. It was the first time in a while that I would actually be traveling without my husband. I’m blessed as he was my biggest fan, knowing how much this trip would mean to me. Paris in itself to a lot of people, including myself is such an enamored ideal. I tried to come down from the high clouds and mentally prepare for the fact that as Americans, we wouldn’t be well received. But I never in a millions years could have imagined the things that were thrown our way. It’s an understatement to say this trip in a lot of ways wasn’t how I pictured it would be. We had a rocky start with our plane having to turn around half way to our destination, hence missing a day in Paris with our night spent at the JFK airport. Than a cab ride to our hotel that broke down once, twice, and about four more times before giving out. Spending our days in Paris without our luggage because it failed to arrive was pretty brutal. And let’s just say we got major arctic chills when it came to the Parisians. Despite all this, I wouldn’t change a thing. Paris was still amazing. The unexpected turns and twists of our trip made it all the more memorable and I’ll have stories to tell a lifetime. And even when the going got tough, I could look over my amazing friend Diane and we could smile and yell together “We’re in Paris!” We learned here that we were made of that American spirit with Jayz lyrics blasting in our ear “Dirt off shoulder, you gotta get that.” And get that we did! In one instance we were admiring the spectacle that is the Notre Dame, the ominous clouds burst open to a downpour of heavy rain. We ran along with the other bystanders like stampede for cover. But like a scene from a tragic movie, the gates of Notre Dame shut us out. That was epic. Diane and I laughed in the rain as we ran with the others for a change of venue. The night at the Moulin Rouge was full of dance fever and lovers full of smiles that I’ll never forget. The Louvre was beyond breath taking in all its glory. And the Eiffel tower was our love. We may have seen it during the day, but we braved to make the night call even if it meant the subways were cut off.  Even though we had hardly slept and were running on fumes, when we saw the Eiffel tower light up the night sky, it was everything. At that moment, I realized it’s adventures like this that you experience in life, where you can actually see yourself grow and you transcend beyond tourist status. And on our way back to the hotel, when reality hit that the subways were cut off, we met this cute young couple that came to our rescue. They insisted walking us to our hotel as it would be on their way and they chatted with us about our trip and without us uttering a word about our difficulties, apologized for any cold shoulders we might have gotten as in their words “the French can be quite moody, you know?” It was a shame we forgot to take a picture with these adorable people that helped to end our trip in Paris on such a high note. Shout out to my lovely friend Diane, I’ll forever cherish my growing pains with you in Paris. Next week, look forward to a post on Italy~!

my lovely friend Diane. She makes a night at the airport look good!

First night, we had the Moulin Rouge to look forward to

Last picture I was allowed to take before going in

Next day we were on the search to find the very first Chanel store as I have a special place for CoCo

But we spent quite bit of time at the wrong one before we found the original, featured on the right. Coco’s flat was above the boutique.

we took a bus tour to get our feel for the city

and there it was the Eiffel tower in the daylight

The Notre Dame

Our luggage finally arrived and we were able to start our visit to the Lovure refreshed

Not gonna lie, headed straight to the Mona Lisa.

The sculptures were breathtakingly real…

Coming in 2013 Lovure in Abou Dabi!!

Louvre courtyard

Eiffel tower in its night glory

Paris is really a city of love in it’s quieter moments. Found this couple by the Seine river enjoying the sunset. The next morning as we were packing to leave Paris, I found a love note from my husband, wishing me the best on my adventure <3

Untitled from Adonis Acuario on Vimeo.