I am planing on going to Paris in the spring. This spring. With London and Amsterdam on each end. I say ‘planning’ because even though I am generally an optimist I am just pessimistic enough to be afraid that something will happen to keep it from happening. If everything goes according to plan, I will find myself in Paris and London, two cities I have written about but never seen.
The cover of my first novel, I’ll Be Seeing You, was originally published with a picture of Big Ben on it, and when I rewrote and re-released it, I used a stock photo of Big Ben as well. I wrote about James and Fiona walking through war torn London, but I have never actually been there. The same is true for my Louvre Trilogy and Think Of Me, which all take place in the city of lights.
The internet allowed me to describe these places I had never been, but I am looking forward to actually seeing them in person. I have a poster on the backdoor to my classroom at school that is of the Louvre as it is today and the caption” How teachers wish they could teach art” and it shows a group of school kids in front of the glass pyramid. The teacher asks “Now kids, who can tell me what American architect designed the pyramid?” ( I Pei in case you didn’t know- the same artist who designed the Vietnam Wall.)
I hardly dare to think that in April that will be me, with a group of high school students and assorted others in tow. That I will actually be able to view the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the La Jaconde (French for Mona Lisa) and the rest of the treasures of the Louvre that my protagonist in the Louvre Trilogy, Alain Darnay, views each day. That I will be able to walk up the stairs of the Garnier, and be awed by the Chagall ceilings and legendary Box Five as Madison was in Think Of Me, my YA novel set in the Paris Opera House and inspired by Phantom Of The Opera.
I am sure that I will be inspired to write something else while I am there, and I look forward to seeing the places that my characters have been. In my mind’s eye I am sure that Mollie and Jack from my latest release The Blue Butterfly will be with me in spirit as I look down from the Eiffel Tower. But it is months to go and a lot of writing I can do until then. You can see how my characters fare in those European cities before I get there by checking out my books at http://www.booksbylynnmurphy.com. More on my adventures when they actually happen. Until then, Paris is always a good idea…..
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