When Carol Gillott first glimpsed Paris, she was a 16-year-old Philadelphia girl, following in the footsteps of her older sister who had already visited the City of Light. Seven decades since she arrived in Paris by boat for that short stay as a tourist, she now calls the city home.
But she hasn’t lived in Paris all her life — or even most of her life. Gillott only took the leap to move to Paris full-time at age 72.
For decades following that initial teenage visit, she maintained a long-distance love affair with the French capital, and the French way of life. But she made a career for herself as an illustrator in the US, working mainly in New York, and would visit France several times a year, sometimes attending painting workshops.
