Gershwin’s Paris adventure

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Gershwin. Now, Gershwin was an extremely adventurous adventurer. He’d been on many, many travels in his time. He’d been to forests. He’d been to the desert. He’d been to the North Pole. He’d even been down under the sea in a submarine. But he felt like he needed a change from adventuring. He felt like he needed a city break.

So he went down to the nearest airport, went to the desk and said, “Where is the most exciting city that I can go to right now on a plane?”

The woman looked at the board and said, “The best place to send you right now would be Paris. There is a plane waiting, and there is a perfect ticket waiting for you.”

So he paid, went to the plane and jumped on, and set off on his way to Paris. It wasn’t a very long flight because Paris wasn’t far away. But as he flew, he could see all the lights of the city below him. He was flying in the middle of the night so that he could get an early start in the morning, looking around the city.

He landed early in the morning, went to his hotel and dropped his bags. “I’m going to see what Paris has to hold.”

He went out of his hotel and walked around the streets. He’d never been to Paris before, but the buildings were so beautiful. They were very old and looked like they’d been there for thousands of years. Some of them were crumbling a bit, but they still held a charm that he’d never seen before in his life.

As he walked around, he saw a building with a windmill on top of it. The windmill was lit up with beautiful red and orange and black lights. Gershwin had heard of this place before, and he knew it was called the Moulin Rouge.

He decided to go in. He paid his entrance fee, which was seven euros, went in and sat down at a table. A waitress came over and gave him a little plate of food and a lovely glass of water. Before he knew it, a lady walked onto the stage and started to sing. She was singing all kinds of beautiful, slow songs that Gershwin couldn’t understand because they were all in French, which made sense because he was in France.

Gershwin waited and listened for a bit. Very soon the lady on the stage said, “Bonjour. Do you have any requests for me?”

Gershwin raised his hand and said, “Do you know Coco Jambo?”

“No, no, no. I speak French. I’ve never heard Coco Jambo before.”

Gershwin opened his rucksack and pulled out a record player. “Come over here, and I’ll let you listen to it,” said Gershwin.

The lady came over, and he played a little bit of Coco Jambo on his record player.

“Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes! I know that song. I go sing it now,” said the French lady.

She went back up on stage and started singing a French version of Coco Jambo. Gershwin loved it very much because it was one of his favourite songs, and this new version in French was really exciting. He decided that next time he saw the lady, he would ask her to record it for him so he’d have it forever.

But right now his time in the Moulin Rouge was up, so he headed out. Next door was a shop that sold macarons. Gershwin really liked macarons, so he went inside and said, “Bonjour. Do you have any chocolate macarons that are vegan?”

The man behind the counter said, “Oui, oui, everything in here is vegan. These are all vegan macarons. I give you a sample box. You take away and you enjoy. I make sure there’s a chocolate one in there.”

Gershwin got his beautiful box of macarons. He tasted them straight away. The chocolate one was his favourite, as he thought it would be. But he tried some of the others. There was a coffee-flavoured one, which was quite nice, but he thought his dad would probably have liked that more. So he left a bit of that one for his dad when he got home. There was an almond one that he knew his mum would like, so he left that for her as well. But he ate a couple more and enjoyed them very much.

He carried on walking around and thought, “What shall I do with the rest of my day?” Then, in the distance, he saw a boat and realised that it must be on the river. He sped up down the road and very soon saw the Seine, the river that ran through Paris. There were boats on it all day, doing tours up and down the river.

He got on one of the boats and went for a tour. He sat on a chair, and the commentator told him all about the beautiful sights he was seeing.

“This here is the Liberty Building. It is very famous. It is where a very famous speech happened with the president. And on the right here, you will see the Paris Eye, which is very similar to the London Eye, but it’s in Paris, so it is better. On the left, you will see a very small replica of the Empire State Building.”

“And here, coming up on the left, you’ll see the Montparnasse Tower. It is one of the highest viewing points in the country, and we love it very much. I would suggest you check out the bookstore at the bottom if you have some time. There are some fabulous French books.”

After a while, the boat came back into port, and Gershwin got off. This was a different place from where he had got on the boat. He walked down the grass, and in front of him he saw the Eiffel Tower, the thing he’d wanted to see for his whole life.

It was so tall and so beautiful. It was getting dark now, and the lights of the Eiffel Tower had come on. There were beautiful searchlights at the top, laser beams flying into the sky, beautiful white lights, and the lights around the Eiffel Tower sparkled like stars. It was so beautiful. Gershwin took many, many photos.

But now he was getting tired. He’d spent a long day sightseeing, so he headed back to his hotel. He had a plan for tomorrow. He was going to fit in as much as possible before he had to head back to the airport. He got a good night’s sleep and woke up refreshed the next morning.

The first thing he was going to do was jump on the subway, or the metro. He headed into the metro, which was the underground train in Paris. He made a few stops and came out looking straight up at the Montparnasse building.

The Montparnasse building had an elevator, and it shot him all the way up to the top floor in under thirty seconds. It was the fastest elevator he’d ever been in. The view from the top, out of the big glass windows, was amazing. He really could see everything. He could even see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. He looked out and loved it.

Then it was time to head down, so he went down in the lift into the bookshop. Gershwin was staying in Paris for two nights, so he decided to buy two books. They were all in French, so he didn’t quite know what they said. But he liked the pictures. They were colourful and looked fun. He thought he’d translate them later on. He put them in his bag and went walking some more.

Very soon, he found a vegan hot dog store. Parisian hot dogs were not to be missed, so he had to have one. It was in a big, thick, crusty roll, with a hot dog and ketchup, smothered in melted cheese. It was so delicious. He was very, very happy having it.

But it was time to head to the airport now. He pulled out his phone for directions when all of a sudden it rang. He answered it, and there was a voice on the other end that he didn’t recognise.

“We’re really sorry to tell you that your aeroplane has been delayed overnight. We’re sorry, you will have to leave tomorrow instead.”

Gershwin didn’t know what he was going to do because he had nowhere to stay. He’d already left the hotel. “Okay, but where am I going to stay?”

“Oh, not to worry, sir. We have arranged the most beautiful hotel for you. You will love it. I will send you the directions, and a car will pick you up in the morning and bring you to the airport.”

Soon the text message came to his phone with the directions. He headed to the hotel, and it was the tallest hotel he’d ever seen. He thought to himself, “It must be higher than the Burj Khalifa.”

He went to the desk, and it was exquisite, covered in gold and silver and jewels. It was so beautiful. Gershwin couldn’t even see the top of the building.

He checked in, and they said, “We have arranged a very special room for you tonight. Because of all the problems with the airport, they have put you in the penthouse suite. I hope you’re not scared of heights.”

Gershwin wasn’t scared of heights, so he headed to the lift. He jumped in and went all the way up. The elevator opened straight into his room. It was a luxurious room. He stepped out and saw the view outside the window. It was beautiful. He towered above everything. He could see the whole of Paris from his window. He was above the Eiffel Tower, above the Montparnasse, above the Parisian Eye. He was even slightly above the clouds.

It was so high that when he tried to open the window to get some fresh air, it only opened a small, tiny bit. That was so nobody could fall out, but there was just enough airflow, so it was fine.

He put his luggage down and explored all the other rooms. They were just as amazing as the main living room, but he couldn’t find his bedroom anywhere. He had nowhere to sleep. He was very confused.

While wandering around the living room, he noticed a book slightly sticking out of a shelf. He went over to look at it, and when he pulled the book out, a door opened on the other side of the room. He ran over to the door. Inside, it was just a cupboard, which was confusing to him. But when he explored a bit more, he pushed on a little panel at the other side of the cupboard.

When he went in, there was a massive TV screen the size of a cinema and the biggest bed he’d ever seen in his life. It was amazing. This meant he could just lie in bed and fall asleep watching his favourite movie, and that is just what he did.

He had a great night’s sleep, and very soon there was a knock on the door.

“Mr Gershwin, sir, it is your driver. I’m here to take you to the airport.”

Gershwin followed the driver, gave him his case, and they went down, down, down the elevator and straight into the biggest limousine he’d ever seen. He was driven to the airport, straight up to the entrance to the plane. No waiting, no queues, no nothing. Just straight onto the plane.

He flew home, landed and headed back to his house, where he thought he’d sort out all his photos. But first he stopped at his mum and dad’s and gave them all the treats he’d decided not to eat and had saved for them.

Before he left, he pulled a tiny little trinket out of his bag. It had been given to him by a very small person on the plane, as a thank you for visiting Paris. Gershwin wasn’t sure what it was, but it glowed a little bit when he turned it around in his hand. He thought maybe it might be slightly magical, so he took it home and stored it in his drawer of things to think about. He’d investigate that another day.

But now it was time to print out all the photos, put them in his journal and get some sleep. And that’s just what he did. His visit to the city was amazing, and he loved it very much. He couldn’t wait for his next adventure.

The end.