A few days ago a good friend emailed to say she was headed to Paris for a long weekend and asked for a few sightseeing recommendations. Though she’d been to the City of Lights before, she wanted to view Paris through the lens of the characters in A Paris Apartment. As one Goodreads reviewer pointed out, Paris is its own character in the novel. So I thought this could make for a fun series of blog posts!
DISCLAIMER. I am no way a travel expert and no one will mistake me for Peter Greenberg. In addition, while a wealth of travel information can be found online, I still believe in booking trips the good old fashioned way – through an agent. They are the true experts and provide insight beyond what you could ever possibly Google.
On top of that, this is Paris. You could recommend 1,000 different places to 1,000 different people and still have room to go. Everyone has his or her own reasons for visiting. I can’t tell you how to enjoy Paris but I can tell you what the city means to my characters.
The hundreds of thousands of Locks on the Pont Des Arts Bridge, Paris France.I will start this ongoing series with the location of my favorite scene in the book: Pont des Arts. Indeed this veers somewhat touristy, but no matter. Something does not have to be avant garde to be awesome.
Pont des Arts is a footbridge in Paris crossing the Seine, on which couples hook “love locks.” Sometimes these lock are utilitarian, like you might’ve seen in your high school gym. Sometimes you can even find a lock of hair. Regardless, I challenge you not to feel a bit wistful when you step across the bridge.
You’ll have to read A Paris Apartment to find out who puts a lock on the bridge. From the novel:
“He stopped and pulled from his pocket one lock, golden in color.”
Stay tuned for other landmarks from the City of Lights! Do you have a favorite spot in Paris?