Vive la France en 2012

When I finally go to France, there are several things and places I want to see – some obvious and some I think might surprise people. However, there are a couple of places I’m not sure I could handle seeing.

The Conciergerie became known as ‘the antechamber to the guillotine’ during the Reign of

Terror. The Revolutionary Tribunal would sit in the Great Hall and between April of 1793 and May of 1795 they sent nearly 2600 prisoners to their deaths. Their most famous prisoner was probably Marie Antoinette. She entered on August 1^st as prisoner 280 and was executed on October 16^th.

The cell in which she was kept was converted into a chapel dedicated to her sometime during the 19^th century by Louis XVIII however there is also an exact replica of the cell on premises.

After her conviction, our dear Toinette was taken to the Place de la Concorde (Place de la Revolution) where she met her fate.

So much sad history. Part of me – ok, most of me - wants to be in the places where she spent her last days and part of me knows I will spend the entire time crying my eyes out. Does anyone have any thoughts on visiting these places? Has anyone been there before? I’m really on the fence. Thoughts?

PS. As an aside, I was really, REALLY excited about planning for our France trip last night and was promptly brought back to earth by being told it will never happen for me. Discouraging to say the least. I just want to say thanks to Jess for creating this blog. It's going to be a real source of encouragement for me. I'm going to need it.

My friend Martina, the crazy Canucks girl, sent me a link today that talks in decently specific terms about wheelchair accessible hotels in Paris. These hotels are near public transportation areas since most tourists obviously won't want to drive in the city. We should keep this link in mind.

http://www.sagetraveling.com/Accessible-Paris-Hotels/

For several years, I have felt the intense desire to visit France, specifically Paris. It has always been a "someday" idea - a faraway dream of a place in postcards that conjures images of all the fairy tales I read as a child. After all, I am just a quadriplegic living mostly on government benefits. I dream about going to that faraway place but I never really pictured myself making that dream come true. I lived in and around Paris in the late eighteenth century and I visited the country in the late nineteenth century, so I always thought it would be interesting to go back for a third time and see the places I once knew in the past. It was a nice romantic idea but I tend to dream up nice romantic ideas without any practicality to back them.

A few weeks ago, my very good friend, Maryka, came to me and asked point blank what I thought about setting the goal to spend my thirtieth birthday in France. I agreed readily, thinking that it would be the best birthday of my life in all likelihood. Suddenly more and more of our close friends jumped on the idea of making a big group pilgrimage to what I call the motherland. With the support, energy and ambition of many people toward the same goal, I have begun to think that this could be real. This could be happening. In February of 2012, I will turn thirty. I'm being dragged toward thirty kicking and screaming because I'm not looking forward to aging at all. The possibility of going to France that spring makes thirty easier to bear.

One of my best friends in the world, Sissy, is a practitioner of The Secret. While I don't literally practice The Secret, I do believe in the Law of Attraction; meaning whatever thoughts, emotions and deeds you send out into the universe will be returned to you. If you think poorly about yourself and don't believe you can accomplish anything with your life, that's exactly how other people will see you too and you truly won't accomplish anything. A big reason why we started this blog is to put our collective energy toward creating this journey to France and making it an authentic and important moment in our lives. We will post places that we want to see, things that we want to do and support each other in the effort to save for all of the travel costs.

With enough positive energy and personal effort, a person can accomplish and dream. This is our dream.