It was on our second night in France, when we were walking to Le Tastevin, that I realized that the doors in Paris are amazing! I like doors and I always notice doors that stand out in some way, and on that walk from our hotel in Le Marais to l'Île Saint-Louis, I remember thinking as we passed by each door, “Wow, this door is awesome!” I thought this many times after that during our two weeks in France. I have never been in a city where all the doors were so interesting and unusual. Some doors have been there since the Middle Ages and looked ancient; some doors were beautifully carved or had bas-reliefs; a lot of the doors were very tall and wide. There were doors of all different colors, imposing doors and welcoming doors, and doors that just looked weird. Something I noticed that was different from American doors is that the doorknobs are in the center of the door, not to one side. I think the doors definitely add to the beautiful facade of Paris. (And I also think that I’ve never before written a paragraph where the word “door” appeared so many times.)

Alina Griner