Hindsight is 2020: A Paris Story

In hindsight, it's fitting that the best of 2020 may have taken place during the first minute of the year. That's not to say the rest of it was a total wash - we did get married after all, and it was the best day of our lives. But one day alone does not make for a year that was otherwise filled with uncertainty with each rising sun. For many reasons, 2020 will go down as a year worth forgetting. The global pandemic, civil unrest, the election; these things, and other life stressors, affected us greatly. But oh how optimistic we were on January 1st. 

For us, 2020 began with a bang, culminating a wondrous week through Europe, setting us on a course of excitement to plan the next adventure. There was an engagement to celebrate, wedding plans to be made, combining houses, and in time, changing careers. Those things kept us occupied and frenzied for a couple of months to follow, and just as we began to exhale and reminisce on our year end journey did the world get turned on its head. The thoughts of leisure travel fell by the wayside - both as a future plan, and even in our quest to dwell on our past memories. Everything was full stop, and we've only slightly made strides to return to normal since then.

We eventually married in June, not as previously planned in August with 150 guests in our favorite downtown Detroit theatre, but on the lawn of our family home on Lake Huron in Tawas, MI. There were just eight of us, and it was perfect. The memories of that day will always carry us through the pain of 2020 that preceded or followed. 

But if we roll the clock back to the very beginning of it all, it's there that things were at the very best. For better or for worse, 2020 will always be for us, a memorable one, if for nothing else, for the moment the clock struck midnight on January 1st.

From the Travelogue archives - December 31, 2019 - January 1, 2020

In an ideal world, one would have more than a day and a half to spend in Paris. But seeing as that’s how it goes sometimes, I’m thankful for any time spent in this wonderful city. 

As I wrote about in describing our whirlwind adventures in Budapest, the plans for the marriage proposal were always meant to be in Paris. Planned the second I bought the ring last Fall, after which we immediately began planning our Christmas holiday to Europe. For weeks on end, I would concoct the perfect plan; an early morning setting at the Trocadero, the light shining through the Eiffel Tower. 

Unfortunately for Paris, I couldn't last that long. A close call in Amsterdam at Schipol Airport with security exclaiming loudly as my backpack passed through screening “Oh, a ring! Will there be a proposal coming?”, and the impossible luck of Kayla lagging behind to fix her shoe, thus being out of earshot, made my anxiety go through the roof over yet one more potential airport experience to navigate. 

As such, the plans shifted a couple days early and it all came together in Budapest as if that was the plan all along. By the time we got to Paris it instead became the perfect backdrop for engagement photos. With the aid of timers and tripods, we were able to capture so many great moments that we wouldn't have had if I had waited until New Years Eve to pop the question.

Day and night, we went everywhere, covering quite a bit of ground. To our delight, motorized scooters were plentiful. It's the best way to get around, economical and fun. Climbing atop the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, visits to the Louvre, a Dinner Cruise on the River Seine- Paris offers ample opportunity for stunning experiences at every turn, and we did it all that first day. We stopped to take some photos at the Trocadero as was my plan for weeks. It was all very wonderful.

Typically ones to favor the under the radar gems, it had seemed we were in the mode to instead splurge to celebrate our engagement. We had dinner at Les Ombres, one of the finest meals of our lives. Our dinner views perfectly captured the Eiffel Tower at night. Afterwards, we bought a bottle of Dom Perignon - expensive, but seemingly half the price of what it would cost at home. 

We were enthralled with the sights and sounds on this celebratory evening. 

Though we had splurged a bit on the 30th, New Years Eve was even better, but at little cost. We spent the day in glorious winter sunshine, walking around many of the same sights we scootered through the previous night. In the early afternoon, we stopped into a deli for an array of cured meats, cheeses, and a baguette, threw in a six pack along with our bottle of champagne from the night prior, stuffed our backpack and away we went. Our meals were on the go, wherever we stopped to take in the sights. Usually we'd drink on the hour as the lights sparkled and flashed on the Eiffel Tower. In the various parks nearby, hundreds, maybe thousands of couples, sat doing the very same thing. 

As the sun began to fade, we headed to Avenue des Champs-Élysées around 8pm to join the masses. And I mean masses. Somehow, security missed our unopened bottle of champagne and remaining beers while thumbing through our backpack at the checkpoint. We hadn't been aware it was prohibited, and things were under strict watch. Not just in the typical large crowd gathering fashion, but due to the ongoing public transit protests and unrest that was sweeping through Paris. It had proved a bit complicated when we arrived as many of the trains into town were shut down, and other popular attractions were closed off as well. 

All sorts of different languages filled the air. For those we could recognize, there were conversations not unlike ours, wishing away the past decade, hopeful for the best that was yet to come. It was freezing, but amidst the hundreds of thousands of people, it felt warm and cozy. Every half an hour or so, we ducked down the stairs to the subway and found an open underground parking garage that many others including ourselves used as both temporary warmth and privacy for a drink away from the security. There were of course no bathrooms anywhere, so as things got closer to midnight, these underground ventures auspiciously served as relief (when you have to go, you have to go).  

A half hour till midnight we realized we had not yet opened our champagne, a bottle of Dom Perignon to celebrate our engagement, that we were not intent on wasting. One final visit down the stairs to pop the cork, and chug the most expensive gulps of our lives. Man, was it good though.  

The ground buzzed and our senses went into hyperdrive. We were hundreds of yards from the Arc de Triomphe but nevertheless we had a pristine view of the countdown show. By 11:59 things were fever pitch, and as midnight came, the town erupted in celebration.

The decade ended in a flurry- a countdown so grand that you had to be there to experience it. Looking behind you, a sea of people for what seemed like eternity. Nearly a million or more just in the general vicinity, nevertheless the rest of town. Fireworks, lasers, the whole bit. This was Paris on New Years Eve, and if those first moments were any indication, 2020 will be our greatest year yet.

One year prior, we had gone on our first official date as a couple. Now, we walked hand in hand, engaged, through the Paris streets, drunkenly trying to remember where our hotel was (or what it called).

We’ll never forget this night, this city, this trip. I wonder what this next year will bring? I’m sure we’ll plan a wedding soon, and we can't wait to see our family and friends and celebrate in our joy together and tell them all about this adventure. We grew a lot this past decade, and we will keep growing yet. 

Onward to 2020. The sky's the limit for us all.

Travelogue:

Iceland

Coming next week

January 11, 2021