19th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Travel
JE NE SAIS QUOI. An ineffable quality not usually associated with a Moped!

This was our first day in Paris. Our 55th wedding anniversary trip. We stayed in a boutique hotel across from Cafe de Flore on boulevard St. Germain. While taking a walk in the neighborhood, I saw a bus that would give me a height advantage for taking photos. My husband gave me the coveted window seat so I could. Soon we stopped for a traffic light. My heart pounded. No reflections from the windows, please. It's just after noon here on a cool fall day. Here was the cliche of Paris chic just outside the window. She looked like a young Catherine Deneuve. Perfect match of fine suede boots and leather cross-body bag, fur-trimmed jacket, an animal print scarf with a de rigueur helmet doing the starlet stare so no one could puncture the facade. Heads turned as she waited on her Zip Car Tucanourbano for the pedestrians to cross. I clicked the shutter. I remember the air on that day. Perhaps a fleeting scent of Chanel No. 5?

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 10.2019
Date Uploaded: 11.2021
Photo Location: Paris, France
Camera: NIKON D5300
Copyright: © Julie Bohl