Paris is my Holy City. It is Jerusalem and the Vatican all wrapped into one. I can't explain it but ever since I was a small child watching Camay soap commercials on TV the picture of the Eiffel Tower had a strange draw for me. It was a powerful pull, just telling me, "You should come here, you should be here, you belong here." The first thing I did when I decided to take charge of my life and start building my own dreams was take a solitary trip to Paris for Christmas, 1991.
I lift this entry from my journal, from that trip.
Paris, 12/27/1991I feel energized, senses perpetually full and intense, healed, healing, at home-- strangely at every turn...I feel alive, joy, reverie, a childlike sense of wonder, caught up in the spectacle of the city, my spiritual home, my "Mecca," my "Jerusalem." ... The art here (as always) awkakens me to the beauty of humanity, the splendor of each person. I see it through the artist's soul as the paintings reveal what I/eye cannot see.