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Paris is the City of Light, the city where the great modernists writers lived and met each other, like James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald and more. It's the city where Ben Franklin did diplomacy and wrote for more than a decade. It's the city of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities. And it's also the coty of love.
As the city came out of the darkness of night, we crossed the Seine in silence. Without the traffic we walked right down the centre of the street and not far away lay The Eiffel Tower, like a skeleton of metal projecting up into a sky that was rapidly becoming blue. A morning like this should be foggy, misty at the least, but in contrast to our mood it looked determined to be a story-book perfect day in Paris - only without any parisians daring to leave their homes.
Standing at the base looking up I can truly say I never appreciated its size. The legs are as far apart as your average town plaza and the metal is dull. I reach out to touch it, cold of course. But then what was I expecting? We push on for the stairs, no electricity means no elevators and to be honest I don't think I could get in a little box right now anyway. The clang of our feet on the steps echoes around and by instinct I look around, fearful. No-one comes. Of course no-one comes. We're the only idiots foolish enough to try. We climb countless stairs until we reach the top, a far smaller space than below and I rush to the edge - Paris. It's spread out, a living map of classic architecture...
"Beautiful isn't it!" Louis says as he points to the view. It's perfect. "yes." I smile.
flashback
"Do you guys have everything?" Mrs Partridge asked, "yes" we say in sync. We get downstairs walking to the car. Mr Partridge was in it, with Millie and Issie ,in the backseat. Oh by the way, my sister was okay to let me go to Paris.
"I'm gonna miss you Eliza!" Millie says almost crying, Louis puts his hand on his chest, pretending he's hurt, "what about me?" he says sarcastically as I giggled.
