The irreplaceable Charles Dickens

Those who know me know I have a great affinity for Charles Dickens. The atmosphere he was able to create in his books could be matched by no other. I am immediately pulled into another time and place every time I open a Dickens novel. Not only am I pulled into his world, but I'm temporarily left void of any recollection of my own. I actually credit him with the reason it is a dream of mine to get to England one day, and even France.

Not too long ago, I came across a letter written by Charles Dickens to Count d'Orsay in 1844 after just visiting Paris. In my opinion, even his personal letters are a masterpiece:

"I cannot tell you what an immense impression Paris made upon me. It is the most extraordinary place in the world. I was not prepared for, and really could not have believed in, its perfectly direct and separate character. My eyes ached, and my head grew giddy, as novelty, novelty, novelty; nothing but strange and striking things, came swarming before me. I cannot conceive any place so perfectly and wonderfully expressive of its own character; its secret character no less than that which is on its surface, as Paris is. I walked about streets - in and out, up and down, backwards and forwards - during the two days we were there; and almost every house, and every person I passed, seemed to be another leaf in the enormous book that stands wide open there. I was perpetually turning over, and never coming any nearer the end. There never was such a place for description."

The highlighted area is my favorite part of the letter. Now who wouldn't want to just get up and fly to Paris after reading that?!