Isn’t this inspiring???

I was never really a fan of French culture, language or food, and I never had the desire to visit the City of Lights – Paris. But everything actually changed when I started reading Die For Me in the summer of 2011 and instantly fell in love with the story, the characters and especially with Paris.

The way the characters and the city are connected to each other just fascinated me. So immediately after finishing the book I went online and looked up all the places Vincent and Kate visited. I imagined their romantic dinner at Les Deux Magots and their stroll along the Seine. It was clear to me that I had to go and see these places for myself. Fortunately one of my best friends was going to Paris for six months to study there. So I saved up some money asked one of my friends along and went to Paris in February 2012.

The first night there already felt magical and I immediately understood why you chose Paris as a setting for this story. When you’re in Paris and visit Notre Dame or the Sacre Coeur you get the feeling that it might be possible that ‘supernatural’ creatures lurk around the corner. I of course nagged my friends to visit all the ‘important’ places from Die For Me, like the Cafe Les Deux Magots, which is a beautiful Café and indeed the perfect place for a romantic dinner, however, the waiters weren’t really friendly to us since we were only travelers on a budget but it didn’t matter because I imagined Kate and Vincent sitting there sharing laughs and enjoying themselves so all was well for me.

The main point of my Revenant Tour was ‘Pont des Arts’ which instantly became my favorite place in the world. It is the most romantic place/bridge you can imagine. So this whole experience of looking at Kate and Vincents Paris was so wonderful to me that I had to go back again, which I did in July 2012.

So on my second trip to Paris I visited the Pont des Arts as often as I could, checked out the Rue de Bac area and strolled around Village St. Paul and tried to imagine how Jule’s art studio might look by peeking in the windows. All in all I can only give a big thank you to you, Amy. You’ve opened up a world and a city to me I never thought I would love that much and for that I am really grateful to you. The photo collage is just an excerpt of some of the pictures I took on my trips to the City of Lights. And I’m already planning my return.

I was in a book shop
And I thought this book looked good
I finished the whole thing in a day
And then felt that I should
Tell every person that I knew
How fabulous it is
Because honestly, I mean it
Die for Me is the biz-
Ness, because there’s cafés,
Museums and some art,
Love, a swirly cover
And some sword fights that I ‘heart’
There’s Jules, who’s cool
And Kate, who’s great,
But this last line will be messed up
Because I can’t think of anything that rhymes with Vincent.

by Olivia Johnston

Isn’t this gorgeous? Note: white lilies!