The Trail's Our Thing

On Saturday morning Kelly and I found ourselves at the Champ de Mars, a large and very green park that extends from the Ecole Militaire to the Eiffel Tower. This area brought back some very special memories.

In September 1994 we visited Paris for the first time as a family. Charley and I had only been married a little over two years, and Kelly was 14 months old. We weren't experienced European travelers at all-- I had been on a whirlwind two-week trip a few years before with two girlfriends (including three days in Paris), and we had honeymooned in London. We rented a studio apartment for a week on a tiny side street (Rue Herold) near the famous market street Rue Montorgueil. I didn't know it at the time, but this was our first experience with Slow Travel! It was really a wonderful week, and we saw so much of Paris... mostly on foot, pushing Kelly in a large stroller or carrying her in a backpack. We had no idea that this would be the beginning of our love affair with Europe and that we would end up so connected with France.

On that trip we also found ourselves one morning on the Champ de Mars. There was a little playground, and Kelly had great fun there. She had just begun to walk, and she was so cute in a little hat we bought for her at a department store.

I spotted the same little playground on this morning. And I think we even found the same helicopter bouncy-thing... just painted different colors. So here's my beautiful daughter in that Paris playground then and now: 14 months and now 14 years.

Kelly in Paris (14 months old - September 1994)

Kelly in Paris (14 years old - August 2007)