It may be cliche to love #Paris as a travel destination, but I love her anyways—in no small part because France was the first place I daydreamed of visiting as a kid. My birthday is July 14th (Bastille Day) and apparently that was enough of a reason for 11-year-old me to choose French over Spanish in school, thus beginning more than two decades of learning about French language, film, music, and literature. . I got pretty good at French, actually, though it became rusty (especially as I tried to add Spanish and Malagasy to my language repitoire). So, this last fall, I used a 2-week trip as motivation to get a tutor and pick it back up. I sometimes feel really self-concious that I’m just OK, not effortlessly fluent, and let that stop me from working on my language skills for a long time. But this last attempt showed me that even adults can improve, and even an imperfect attempt at a language can open you up to seeing different sides of places, and people. . 📍@hotelrochechouart - a beautiful, small #boutiquehotel near #montemarte . . . #smallluxuryhotels #boutiquehotelparis #parisfrance #vieparisienne #sacrecoeur #sacrecoeurparis #bestviewsparis