Admittedly, I often miss the feeling of being lost in a concrete jungle, also known as New York City. Feeling so small amidst such grandness has a certain appeal. Perhaps it’s the feeling of so many lives being lived vertically, that behind each window another story is unfolding. And simply to look up is to feel alive! Rather than hop on a jet and cross the ocean I hop on the 1 train. Destination: La Défense. 

Recently I had some business to tend to in Neuilly Sur Seine, a wealthy suburb to the west of Paris. What most appealed to me were the views of the skyscrapers ahead, or what is actually Paris’s major business district. Beneath a moody sky, I decided to walk. My Italian lunch date awaited.

I crossed the Seine from the peace of a small French village into the energy of concrete motion.

En route I was impressed with the many artistic displays, both on the ground and in the architecture.

One particular place is my favorite. A wooden boardwalk behind the Grande Arche, overlooking a blanket of trees and a cemetery. It is here where we often sit. And I think of the many lives once lived below and the many being lived above. 

Soon La Défense will be wrapped in holiday lights. A view from the top of the Grande Arche beckons.