Paris

Although I first visited Paris on the Magic Bus in 1978, we passed through, stopping only for a breakfast of croissant and café, gazing astonished at La Tour Eiffel.

I returned in 1980, still poor, and stayed a week at Hotel de France off the Place de Clichy, the bar a home of exotic transvestites. 

I visited again many times, with work, on vacation, for conventions and twice for shopping weekends, taking each of my daughters there for Christmas shopping as they turned sixteen.

Most recently, I passed through again, spending an evening dining in Gare de l’Est as we waited to board the Orient Express to Venezia.