It will have been five years since I last visited Paris when I go again in November. Paris is one of those places that just calls you back, but because of the pandemic, two previously scheduled iterations in 2020 had to be cancelled. Even now, it’s not a cinch I’ll be able to go, but the odds are in favor of it. This time I’m going with my cousin, who has wanted to go with me for quite some time. It will therefore be a somewhat different kind of trip, but we will have fun in any case. We’re going over the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states, which may mean smaller crowds in Paris, certainly smaller crowds of Americans. But it’s hard to say.

My big objective will be, of course, to take more photos of the city and its people. Because Kathy, my cousin, has not been there before, I will necessarily visit some places that I’ve seen before, but like a lot of Paris, these don’t suffer from repeated viewing. I’m still fascinated with the Eiffel Tower, the Trocadero, the busy-ness of Mont Martre, the Alexandre III bridge and the Musée d’Orsay. Notre Dame is, of course closed during the repairs from the fire, but the exterior is still beautiful.

So plans are underway — let’s just hope Europe doesn’t go for another lockdown in the fall. That would be a disaster.