09/06/2026
I was about this age when I first arrived in Paris.
I remember packing my suitcase with cereal bars and all sorts of random snacks. When it’s your first time leaving your own country, you never quite know what to expect. I was 18, heading off for three months, and three months away from my family and friends felt like a lifetime.
It was winter in Paris, and I must have looked like the quintessential American student of the 90s—an oversized sweater, well-worn Doc Martens, and a backpack that seemed almost as big as I was. I can still remember exactly what I was wearing.
After dropping my bags at the hostel that would be my home for the next three months, I set off alone to explore. Those first few hours in the city are etched in my memory as clearly as if they happened yesterday.
That was the day I fell completely in love with Paris.
Back then, I was too shy to step into a café or a boutique. I felt like a foreigner in every sense of the word, content to admire everything from the outside. But Paris has a way of drawing you in.
More than thirty years later, Paris is still my home, and I love her just as deeply as I did on that very first day.
There’s something magical about a first visit to Paris. You can never relive that feeling of discovery, but the memories stay with you forever
-Christina Greveldinger Owner of Hotel de la Porte Dorée