A Few Things I’ll Miss (until we meet again)… Old & New Paris Friends — The Seine — Walking — Sounds of Cascading Fountains (big & small) — Street Scenes — Classic Cinema — Horns & Sirens — Night Lights — Diversity— Hidden Wonders — The Cornucopia of Creativity — Everywhere, reminders that no matter how crazy the world might seem, the earth still spins on its axis and life goes on!
Paris Spring 2019…
Week 3—Flâneuring through the streets and covered passageways of Paris is a welcome break from writing. It’s still not high season for tourists, so sometimes you get places all to yourself. I try to catch twilight near the Seine as often as possible — it can be dazzling even on a dreary day. Peonies are still blooming. Got to spend special Paris time with best buds Amy (for a week), Cronan for a couple of days and Suzanne (for a few precious hours). And I know it looks like I walk around the city grinning, but that just happens when no locals are around to wiggle a finger of disapproval at such public displays of joy. Finally, speaking of joy — I wrote the last line of my first novel! Lots of editing to come. After that…who knows?
Birthday in Paris — To celebrate my birthday, I hosted a brunch for good friends from far and wide at the home of Phillippe and Dzianis who fixed a fabulous feast… and then smiled the night away as girlfriend —and soulful songstress — Joan Minor, rocked the house at Club Lou Pascalou.
Back where I belong in Le Marais. I’m getting my daily essentials — bread, butter, flowers, friends, walking, Paris-energy. The grand dame’s (Notre Dame) reconstructive surgery is in progress. I returned to my Sunday writers group and got a collective “She’s Back” that warmed my soul. After our literary stimulation, we repair to a classic pub for libations. During the week, I’m writing in a grand bibliothéque (library) in the Hotel de Ville. The internet is bad there so very few distractions from the task at hand. I’ve seen 5 movies and met the director of one. I’m recognized at my gym. It’s the season for peonies, my favorite flower, and I am here long enough to get a different color bouquet every week at my favorite neighborhood street market (Richard Lenoir on Thursdays) which is where I also get my weekly rations of salmon, veggies, cheese, olives and these great little caramel pastries from Breton. The guy who sells sea salt is a comedian. Life is good.
Best-buds Cronan and Sebastian were there for my 3rd SpokenWord reading. Girlfriend and jazz singer extraordinaire, Joan Minor (Google her if you’re into jazz) and her husband Paul, hosted a lovely dinner party. Then, after agreeing that cathedrals get old if you’ve seen too many, Cronan and I took the train to Chartres. We lucked up (big time) because 85 year old world renowned Chartres Cathedral historian Malcolm Miller was giving a tour. I learned more in 2 hours through his interpretation of biblical stories portrayed in stained-glass windows dating back more than 1000 years, than I have in a lifetime of going to church. And to top off the week, I got into the Sorbonne on one of only 2 days every year it is open to the public. It was phenomenal! One of my most valued privileges has been a good education, and this is where the most privileged have been educated for centuries. Even knowing I wouldn’t have been allowed in until recently, being in such a beautiful place of learning brought tears to my eyes.
Museums and Rock & Roll — I visited and ate lunch at the anthropologically focused Musée de L’Homme which has some fantastic views of Paris from inside and out. Then, just because I thought it would be fun, I went to a Janelle Monae concert (I’m more familiar with her acting than singing) at this huge venue, where I mixed with all her, mostly, younger fans. She is fascinating and puts on a good show, but half way through the concert, after 3 hours of standing like a sweaty sardine packed in a can, I cut out and headed to the bar for an adult beverage. Today I saw a high-fashion photo shoot taking place on the banks of the Seine that made me think of Audrey Hepburn, as I made my way to the Petit Palace museum which has a lovely collection of art, sculpture and artifacts.
I usually cook at home in Paris, but because of my “foodie” friend Karen, from Japan, I’ve eaten delicious food in a number of elegant settings, including saffron risotto at the Prince De Gaulle Patio Bar followed by coffees (practically the only thing we could afford) at the Four Seasons George V where the weekly flower bill could send five students to college. For a few days I walked home from the gym right at sunset and caught a particularly spectacular one with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The City of Light shows its luminescence in many ways. My PAA buddies Holly and Sebastian came out to hear my second reading at Au Chat Noir.
Can’t do this in Michigan…Walk home from a late evening movie, past Notre Dame – with it’s saints and gargoyles -traverse the light-reflecting Seine river, enter a centuries-old courtyard, march up four flights of stairs and open a bedroom window with a vista of the rising moon.
Paris Summer 2018 Episode #3–Considered an epitome of stained-glass and Gothic architecture, the acoustically perfect 13th century Sainte Chapelle was perfect for a string quartet’s classical concert. I mediated a dispute between an irascible artist and two young French musicians in front of Les Deux Magots and then headed home across the Seine, by way of the Louvre. Paris is full of statutes where people rub parts of the noted person for luck, so I suppose the foot of French philosopher Montaigne does something to stimulate intellect. As I walk home from the gym most days, I’m treated to various scenes where Notre Dame is the backdrop. Thomas, my wonderful French tutor, increased my vocabulary 10-fold and got me speaking sentences and conjugating verbs and I’m actually talking a little more, albeit hesitantly, to people on the streets. As usual, hanging with gal-pal Holly brought forth tears of laughter. Galignani book store could be the most dangerous shop for the pocketbook of a person like me. Had a delicious lunch with my girlfriend Karen, from Osaka, at the Hotel Meurice’s Dali restaurant. Sunsets on a bridge in Paris – self-explanatory.
To Paris and Beyond! 