Since once again getting myself inked in London after yet another inspirational Eurotrip (more on that to follow) I have been asked a thousand times what my new tat means. So here it is for the record for those of you who don’t know, with thanks to our friend Wikipedia:
"The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys (plural: fleurs-de-lis)is a stylized lily (in French, fleur means flower, and lis means lily) It may be “at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic.” While the fleur-de-lis has appeared on countless European coats of arms and flags over the centuries, it is particularly associated with the French monarchy in a historical context. It is also the ancient emblem of the city of Florence."
~ It can be summarised as an emblem of faith, love & hope for Europe, which came primarily from France centuries ago ~
Now, before I left for this most recent trip I wouldn’t know the meaning of this symbol from the next one. But starting in it’s city of Florence, for some strange reason I started to notice the Lily everywhere. It was on the leather handbag I purchased. Then imprinted on the city walls and sewn into the fabric of curtains and drapes at hotels we were staying at. Engraved in marble on the Amalfi Coast, then on the Old St Charles bridge in Prague. And of course, everywhere in Paris. I just kept SEEING it like a sign.
I was quite bemused as I had spent a lot of time across Europe previously and never noticed the thing. And for myself, a self-confessed francophile, this was strange. I even went to buy a ring from the markets in Barcelona and the one next to it was a beautiful silver design with the Fleur de Lis smiling back at me, politely. As if to say, hello! I’m everywhere! Buy me!
So together with my love of all things french and the broad “European” definition of the symbol I decided once back in London I'd return to Camden to get the next ink instalment tattooed on my right wrist. After all, it seems like the European gods of art were trying to tell me something, right?