The Last Time I Saw Paris

Almost everyone can point to a memory of the last place they traveled to on vacation before COVID arrived in the United States in early 2020. Looking through some photos this week, I noted that my last overseas trip was to Switzerland and Italy in July 2019, which seems a lifetime ago.

My husband had never traveled to Switzerland and it had been a few years since I had been there. We saw Lake Geneva, the Matterhorn, the lakes in Northern Italy, and never thought that it might be our last trip outside the United States for some time. I recall talking about how close we were to France, and whether we should take a train from Geneva to Lyon for the day, or even a boat across Lac Léman to the town of Evian. But we decided against it, assuming we would go to Paris in November or even December, and have our taste of Paris then.

Paris, and France more generally, are very special to us, and over the last decade we have traveled there at least once a year. But COVID changed that, like so much else, and so our casual decision to go to Montreux instead of Evian meant no France in 2019, or in 2020 . . . or in . . . ? 

We know we are very fortunate, and that traveling overseas for holiday is a luxury, but we still miss it, the same way other people miss their annual family reunion, trips to the beach, or girls/guys weekends. And my husband did give me for Christmas 2020 a paper certificate which reads “One Fabulous Trip – 2021”, and we plan on finding a way to take that vacation as soon as we are vaccinated and can more safely travel due to COVID. Paris may not be first on our list due to restrictions for visitors in the European Union, and probably much of Europe and the UK more broadly through 2021.  But still remember the last time we saw Paris, and we will make our way back.