An afternoon by the Seine

(written yesterday after a walk down the Seine)

Today after spending the morning exhausted, legs achey and nearly unable to muster up the energy leave the hostel (Rafael talked me out with slow and steady persistance) I ended up walking 2 1/2 miles down the Seine River and thinking and thinking. I spent about four hours meandering northeast from the intersection of Avenue de New York and Avenue Albert de Mun near the Eiffel Tower and to the Île de la Cité. My legs feel like they might fall off right now.

My thoughts began with the idea of me Living in Paris, Being in Paris, Raising a family in Paris, Being happy in Paris. I could see it in front of me unfurled like a dream. I drifted as quiet as a cloud between sitting on the waters edge and walking through the trees; up the staircase to peer out across the river and back down to hop like a kid between the stones. And I thought. I guess at some point my thoughts turned melancholy.

I wonder if its possible to be in Paris alone and be light and airy the entire time, if there isn't some sort of melancholy built into the air that gets in through the soles of your shoes and makes you reflect on everything. The view of the Seine is enough to make anyone's heart ache.

Being there for hours was enough to turn my thoughts from the trivial to matters of the heart to the nature of love to my achy knees.