The Return and My Secret

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Bonjour mes amis. Ça va?

The French dictionary is being dusted off, my beauty of a birthday bridge camera is charging up and I am prepping my stomach for bread and cheese excitedly – it is time for the return. The return to Paris. (Not to be mistaken for The Returned – the harrowing yet wonderfully made French television series, haha!)

It is all a little last-minute as I booked my Eurostar ticket yesterday for MONDAY and I am frantically looking for a place to stay (within budget!) for my ten-day visit!

I can’t wait to go back to the city I have forever been in love with, even though I have been only once. And to think that it was a place that this whole Journey started from – it will now be somewhere I hold even closer to my heart. There are a million and one things that I will always wish that I had done with Mum. Going to Paris with her is undoubtedly one. But the ‘City of Love’ will always remind me of her.

Now what will I get up to…………

Paris To Do List:

Drink more coffee and eat more bread and cheese than I ever thought possible

Go easy on the vin rouge 🙂 (good luck on that one)

Find the most inspirational places in the city to write

Revisit lovely haunts from last year

Visit a hundred more that I never made it to

Put a lock on Love Lock Bridge

Take Project Inspire to France

Create a Paris version of my ’60 Postcards’ photo montage using letters

Talk to a bazillion people about my project – in French if possible (good luck on that one also, ha)

Make some new friends

I may even meet a postcard finder?…….

I feel excited, yet emotional – happy, yet I wish I could take my family with me.

Caroline’s birthday falls whilst I am out there, so she is hoping to join the fun for a couple of days. We can celebrate Parisian style! I have promised Miss Caroline that if she does – she will come out to a postcard treasure hunt and I have a surprise in mind that I am finding incredibly difficult to keep schtum about. Oh don’t worry – I will keep quiet. It will be oh so worth it. So there you go Caroline, the public announcement means this is all 100% certain! ;).

Now, you may be wondering what the blooming heck the second part of this blog title is all about? The return to Paris comes with the return of the cliffhanger.

You see, I have been completely honest with you in my writing – I have made sure of that. But there has been one thing I have been unable to talk about just yet. I have never lied, just never revealed.

I have a secret.

I suggest you pop back at the weekend where all will be out in the open. I just feel more than ever that there is one person in this world I just won’t be able to tell. It’s hurting.

The next post is my most exciting yet. It’s all a little mind blowing. It seems this 60 Postcards journey is affecting my life in ways I never believed possible……….

Until then, au revoir monsieurs and madames!

Rach xxxxx

P.S. Suggestions of Parisian gems are fully welcome – please email me at 60postcards@gmail.com or send me a tweet @60postcards.

P.P.S. I kid you not, as I am writing this I have heard back from Antoinette who owns the magnificent apartment that we stayed in last year. I asked if she had any recommendations for any smaller places in the area. She says that for three nights I can stay in her studio on the very same road as in December! Buzzing!