It was G’s father who first warned me about looking up.
We were living in Calgary when G’s parents made the offer to look after the little travellers so that we could go away for a weekend. We immediately chose New York as the destination. I think G’s Dad was as excited for us as he would have been for himself. He’d travelled to New York in the past for business and the city held a lot of memories.
G’s father is originally from country Queensland, a guy who had moved to the city and then through a mixture of hard work and good luck found himself working for a large International Insurance firm. They were expats in the 70’s. Hard core.
“You have to be careful in New York” he said with a smirk. You’ll find yourself staring up towards the sky at the enormity of the city. I found myself constantly walking into things.”
I loved the visual. They boy from country Queensland wandering through New York City, captivated. Take a look at me now.
A few years later and we got lucky again, this time it was Paris. G needed to go for work and we managed to wangle a flight for me by using points. I sheepishly asked if I could have a day off from work for a long weekend. Everything miraculously fell into place. On top of it all, G’s brother and his wife flew over from London. It was one of those weekends I’ll remember forever (apart from the bits on the Champs Elysees after our sixth bottle of wine, those bits are a bit of blur).
We were outside of a restaurant in one of those beautiful pebbled back streets of Paris waiting for a table to become free. While everyone stood in line either chatting, looking at their phone or staring at their feet, G’s brother very quietly said “Look up, isn’t that amazing – look where we are.”
And for a few seconds we both just stared at the buildings above. They were stunning, the best view was right above us and I’d forgotten to look.
Not this time.
Occasionally I had to remember to look down…
And then there was this, looking out.
Looking up, looking down, looking out. The enormity of it all. Just beautiful.
Sign up for the best bits here
Sign up for the best bits from our community of forty thousands expats. Every Saturday morning we’ll shoot you the five hottest topics from the world of expat.
So beautiful x
just stunning
Gorgeous photos that make me quite nostalgic for our three years in Paris. But that is not where I thought you were going with the warning about looking up. We used to tell visitors not to walk while they looked up. Guaranteed you were going to step in something unsavory as Parisians do not clean up after their dogs! But it’s so hard not to, when there is so much beauty above you!
You are right! We do need to look up more often, no matter where we are. Often expats can become a bit blasé about their travels and forget to enjoy their surroundings. Often it’s about the small things and enjoy the different smells, sounds, sights and tastes of your surroundings.
WOW. Paris is one place I have always wanted to visit. After seeing your photos, that desire is all the more fervent! x
Thanks gorgeous girl. These pics may be the only way I get to see Paris! Love this “look up” notion too. I even do that in Sydney! D x
We have the same photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with Stacy tho! I thought it was more of a look up and OH OH!
Denise, being from Sydney I’m so glad your taking time to LOOK UP and DOWN, and LEFT and RIGHT. It’s not Paris or NYC, but it’s an amazing city all the same for different reasons
x
Absolutely and I think I can pick exactly where you where when each photo was taken. 🙂
So true. I always try to remember to look up when we travel. Especially inside old buildings, some ceilings are amazing and would be missed if you didn’t look up.
As a native NYer … I still look up … all the time. 🙂