A Return to Paris

Its been 10 years since I was last in Paris; everything is the same and everything has changed. I am certainly a different person, and Paris too has grown up. I remember Paris as a charming city, that always smelled  of baking bread and pastry. It was a simple image and a vivid memory. The Paris of today is much more complex, at least for me. She bears the scars of the Paris bombings, and the Charlie Headbo attacks, history I have witnessed and felt, not just read about in a history book. The Cemitiere du Pere Lechaise holds new graves, of people I recognize and mourn. Even the Eiffel Tower can now be viewed through the Peace Monument, a thing that seems to beg for peace rather than remind us of its presence. While Paris is as charming as ever, with its pastry shops, street cafes, and grand boulevards, for me it is more somber then it once was. The Paris of my youth has aged as I have, whether I will it or not. C'est la vie.