Minkgirl Muses

Thursday, November 08, 2007

PAR-EE

We went to Paris last weekend - Lord Limescale and I - alone. It was our last hurrah, a final opportunity for romantic revelry before we fully succumb to the joyous riot of double-parenthood. And it was a revelation to be just ourselves for 48 hours. I didn't bend over once, and my belly thanked me for it. We sucked the marrow out of the juicy chicken that is made from sleep, sex and serious eating. We walked and walked along the beautiful autumnal Seine and up and down the hills of Monmartre, and I felt fine - no aches and pains, no sciatica, no irritating pounding in my head from all the extra blood shushing around.

Paris is truly a great city - maybe the best city. I like London, but Paris beats the pants off anything the Big Smoke can offer. The best part about being there was how it is exactly the same as it was when I first visited 20 years ago. Paris has succeeded in retaining the charm and originality of its inherent character, rather than succumbing to the contemporary plague of marketing ads that cover every square inch of public space and the nauseatingly ubiquitous chain stores that seem to have completely taken over London. Okay, we did see a couple of Starbucks, but they were on really touristy streets, and they had small signs! I look forward to returning to Paris in another 20 years and finding the same bistro we had dinner at this time and being served the same menu, possibly by the same waiter!

Here are a few of the highlights from our 48 hours of freedom:

1) Walking through the quaint narrow streets of Ile St-Louis while floodlights from riverboats cast dappled shadows on the whitewashed buildings.

2) Sharing an entire bottle of vin rouge w/ Lord Limescale over dinner and having no one look at me funny.

3) Looking out over the city from the top of the Pompidou.

4) Eating raclette in a tiny family-run restaurant in Montmartre.

5) Eating fresh croissants while riding a boat up the Seine on a gloriously sunny morning.

6) Eating oysters and a huge plate of cheese for lunch.

7) Seeing an amazing breakdancing show on the street.

8) Going to a jazz club in a basement in the Latin quarter and squeezing into a tiny room with 300 other people, some of whom were doing the lindy hop in about 10 square centimeters.

9) Going back to bed.

10) Getting exactly what I ordered in French and actually being able to hear the difference this time between "on y va" and "en hiver".

If you've never been to Paris, you should go. I don't think it matters when, with whom, or for how long. There is something so elementally good about the city, that its pleasures transcend economics, weather, and less than well-suited traveling companions. The first time I went was in the blazing heat of August when I was 20. I was visiting a friend - a fellow student - who promised me he had a place for me to stay. This turned out to be false. His plan was that I go to Shakespeare & Co. and charm the notorious womanizer George into letting me crash on the floor of one of the communal apartments upstairs. I used all my money to book a flea-bitten motel instead, subsisting only on baguettes, but nonetheless I had a delicious time wandering the streets in the heat. The second time I visited with David. I was 25, and it was our first trip together anywhere. We were living in SF, and discovered it was cheaper to fly to Paris for Xmas than it was to fly to New York! It happened to be the first year in 10 that it snowed in the city, and we were freezing the whole time, but we didn't care because we were in love. The last time before this one was 5 years ago at the tale end of our 3-week European tour. We were tired of traveling, it was Bastille Day and everything was shut, but we still spent an idyllic afternoon lying in the grass underneath the Eiffel tower.

Paris is a city for dreaming. I dreamed of Pickle while we were there this time. And while I can't remember what she looked like, I know I dreamed of how she's gestating in a rich international soup - San Francisco - Edinburgh - Florence - Washington DC - Paris - and how little bits and pieces from all these cultures are going to be embedded in her like bits of colored glass in asphalt - making her journey through life just a little bit more sparkly.

Be well.

Labels: My Favorite Things, Rebirth