Category: Travel

A picnic and outdoor movie at Paris Cinema Plein Air where the original ‘Sabrina’ (1954) with Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden played under a full moon. I walked home on deserted streets. Moments of having Paris all to yourself is not too unusual in August, when the locals are away on vacances.

More photos from the Paris American Academy’s graduation bash on the Seine.

 

 

After 7 trips to Paris, and visits to lots of small museums, I finally decided to brave the Louvre. I signed up for a “2-hour” tour, with two friends. We ended up on a non-stop “3-hour” tour (think Gilligan’s Island.). Criss-crossing the palace with an enthusiastic guide, the three of us were dragging and dehydrated by the time we escaped–but I can now say I’ve “been there, done that.” ****I had lunch again with my “Shero” Holly who reinforces that laughter is always the best medicine.****Our month of classes culminated with a celebration on Quai Saint Bernard. Our illustrious cigar smoking leader, Rolf, handed out diplomas while wine flowed****I had cocktails at the recently opened Ritz Bar in the recently reopened Ritz Hotel, but only took a photo of the gold-plated bathroom fixtures so as not to appear touristy or gauche in the bar.****The man on the fantastical bike (zoom in and look at the details) was just one of many recent bizarre street sights–which included four monks dressed in colorful quilts that I dubbed the “Holy Order of Bedspreads.”

My beautiful Parisian landlady, Stéphanie, took me to lunch at a Montmartre restaurant with panoramic views of the city (where she explained why it is so hard for single Parisian women to find love and romance in Paris.) I went running (away from baguettes & butter) on the Viaduc des Arts – a lovely 2.8 mile trail with gardens that used to be railroad tracks. I sat on the same steps where Owen Wilson’s character in “Midnight in Paris” waited for Heminway and Fitzgerald to pick him up and take him to Gertrude Stein’s place.

Gotta love Paris graffiti! My family name is “Floyd”– not a name I associate with the French.

Bastille celebrations start the night before at local fire stations all over town where firemen and police host massive parties, serve alcohol to the public, DJ the music with a sound-system that can be heard for miles around, and dance and flirt with the locals. No one is worried about liability–something you’ll never see in the US.**** I started Bastille Day, July 14th,  at a brunch hosted by a French chef and her New Yorker husband, where the other guests were from Germany, Canada, Puerto Rico and England. Later, faculty and classmates from my writing program watched the Eiffel Tower fireworks from a boat on the Seine. ****The American Cathedral in Paris is a peaceful place to spend Sunday mornings.

I performed a reading of my work at Café Universal–a Paris jazz club. ****Love the constant show of lights at night outside my living room window. ****Went sales shopping at Galleries Lafayette.****Saw “Stage Fright,” a 1949 Hitchcock movie with Marlene Dietrich at one the cinemas I frequent–Christine 21, on the Left Bank.**** Found a bar dedicated to my father–“Cool Bob.”

Returned to classes at the Paris American Academy where, this year, I am a fellow. Imagine taking classes in rooms with beautiful crystal chandeliers, in a building with the sound of choral singers practicing nearby while outside, fountains gurgle. I’m making new friends and reconnecting with incredible faculty and old classmates.  And having a student ID card always makes me feel young! My new apartment is at a major intersection across from a Metro station–which provides great people watching. I love all the street noises. I take different routes home from school, and to the gym, and each day I discover little gems (like an ancient arena in the middle of a shopping district.) I’m also not far from the nightly tango, salsa and bopping that happens on the banks of the Seine each night. Met up with American friends on the 4th of July, at Joe Allen (Paris vs New York), had hamburgers and the whole restaurant broke out singing God Bless America. On Sunday, people line up to go to the church of Louis Vuitton and dealerships featuring race cars. My classmates and I had weekly outdoor soirées all over town.

 

The other day I went to see “Funny Face” and cried (and then laughed at myself for crying) because I was watching Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn dance and sing around Paris — in Paris.

A beautiful gloomy day in Paris. Although I could have taken the Metro, I walked a few miles in the rain, Does anyone have a trick for drying puddle-soaked leather shoes?

Last Sunday I walked through the Luxembourg Gardens on my way to lunch at Brasserie Balzar, near the Sorbonne. As I sat at a corner table looking out on the street, a man came up and slapped a card down with a handwritten phone number – no name. I had not noticed him in the restaurant and he quickly headed for the door as I looked up from the card. My friend says that is how casting directors sometimes scout “people who look interesting” for film and TV in Paris. I’m going to stick with the possibility and enjoy the ego boost rather than call and learn the truth.