i was looking through our photos from our vacation (and workshop) in paris when i came across this fresh faced lass atop the arc de triomphe. rosie and her dad visited the observation exterior of the trumph the day i taught the paintover workshop or maybe it was the day i helped renee richetts teach her workshop in metal book making, in any event, they ended up here. of course, they didn't get there the way i would have gone, they decided to dodge cars at the busy roundabout, a main and wild thoroughfare which is NOT recommended*, then took the 284 steps up to the top!!!
rosie didn't mind, but my husband was ready for wine and then a nap when they got back.
later, he declared that although the steps were many, it was NOT the same as the steps up the duomo in florence. i reminded him, there is no busy street near the duomo in florence though.
unfortunately i did the steps in the duomo with them on a stifling hot summer day, no air conditioning, of course, but no AIR at all. the endless steps to the top were narrow and the people coming down shared them with us. about halfway up i had a claustrophobic panic attack, but couldn't act on it since there was no where to turn. we were just being threaded tightly through the eye of needle sized stairwell to the top, which we finally reached truly out of breath, only to have our breath taken away again by the lovely spectacle of the town below!!!! it was worth it, and unforgettable.
*i just read this entry to my husband and he denies that they walked through he traffic to get to the arc. he laughed and said that would be like walking through a blender. i said, but you and rosie were laughing about standing in that traffic. he said, well, that was when we decided to get a better angle for a photograph. we stood in the traffic! rosie piped up just now and said, yeah, momma, we would have never tried to walk across the street, it even said in the idiot's guide to paris NOT TO ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE ROAD!!!!
yeah, i'm glad they read that first!
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