Kathy Douglass
Paris Balcony

Mention Paris and my mind gets a sudden dose of mental magic: A feeling of elysium so much larger than myself. It’s funny, really, how—no matter how much time has passed—there are certain vivid memories we keep stored that, when conjured, return us to the most incredible sense of place and wholeness we have ever felt. Those memories incarnate moments that blur all lines between dreams and reality.

Walk up the steps from the St. Paul/Marais metro station, look across the street to Number 10 rue de Rivoli, let your eyes wander five stories up to where the gorgeous facade meets the tailored rooftop, and you will get a glimpse of my place—my balcony—where one enchanted evening I found myself wishing on a shooting star (in the City of Light!). And with that wish I made sure that place would remain forever held in the treasury of my soul and permanently painted on to the canvas of my mind.

Kathy Douglass is an associate researcher at TRAVELER.