by Vince Coyner
American Thinker
On New Year’s Eve 1999, I was tending bar at Outback Steakhouse in DC. As midnight rolled through each time zone, celebrations from each city were shown on TV. At 6:00, I looked up, and what I saw would change my life. It was Paris, and I was captivated. Everything seemed to be outlined in lights. The bridges, the Eiffel Tower, the walks along the river, the Louvre…seemingly everything. I was enchanted and turned to a friend and said, “I have to go there…”
Five months later, I was standing on one of those bridges I’d seen on TV. It was my first visit to the city, and it was the most beautiful place I’d ever been. I remember staring at the Eiffel Tower and saying to myself, “I have to live here someday.”
The next day, I would meet my future bride in the form of my guide in the gardens of Versailles. I spent a week in the city and easily had the greatest week of my life.