Hindsight is a beautiful thing, DITHOT, isn't it. But it's a case of something seen from afar being distorted. Memory is an unreliable lense, and rose-tinted at that.
So yes, the last paragraph worked, but it was oddly wistful and a change from the blunt writing he put Paris in in most of the book. One look backs on the times when one was newly independent and free of so many responsibilities and there is a sense of loss. Times past are times gone, but I like how he shrugs it off and moves on, pragmatic.

Do we all havea "Paris"? Yes, even if it's just close, maybe where we went to college. Wherever we were when we struck out alone and started adult life, the place where we had so many firsts.

This seems generally true for any place - if you respond with awe and a sense of wonder, and pour yourself into a place, in my experience, it's "always worth it".

I dont have to romanticize my memories..why wait for the memories !
I romantize my here and nows!

But seriously, I guess I would have to say my "Paris" is London. Some cities just feel right from the moment you step off that plane, or train, or out of the car.

London is closest to my heart. My first day there, I couldn't wait to ditch the group and go off on my own. I went everywhere. It was so great !!

But Paris...that is definitely in a whole other class...that city just bewitches me, it sparkles and everyone looks beautiful !! Like a faity tale. I am not quite as comfortable there as in London due to my bad French.

And I never traveled a lick until I was almost 40. Its never too late!

Strangely it seems that word Endora used "Wistful" seems to go hand in hand with anyones favorite "Paris". It seems the college years or younger years spent in these places seem to give them the extra beauty. The spot doesn't even really have to be beautiful just the rememberances that go with it.

Kittycat, the first time I visited England, it felt like home to me. (Probably strikes the UK Zoners as strange.) I know someone else who had the same sensation the first time she went to France.

I think we probably all have places and times in our lives that are special and are a source of joy and comfort, even if only in memory (maybe especially in memory). For me it includes my first big trip as a middle-aged adult to Seattle where a good friend took me to see sights I never could have imagined (and later trips to Washington DC and New York with the same friend). I can envision those places and the things I saw and the way I felt! I guess my Paris came kind of late in life. But it was a turning point for me.

I agree, Gemini. I've been thinking about this question since I started reading the responses yesterday. So I definitely do have a "Paris". And it can be a place you find in your college years, or much later in life.

It was interesting to here several people say they felt a sense of belonging to a different place when they first visited. That happened to me in my college years, and it wasn't a college or a big city, just a small town that I still love.

I know it's in the body of the Guernsey Literary and Sweet Potato Peel Society book, and, if I remember correctly, it's the first line on the jacket (I got it out of the library and have long ago returned it.) It just seemed to be perfect, both for ONBC and for me.

Btw, I highly recommend the book. They still had it at Costco last weekend when I was there.

Kate

Thanks for the info, Kate! I'll add to to the ever growing stack!