I've started this post four or five times now.Each time I struggled with what I wanted to say. Having written professionally, I am keenly aware of good and bad writing and cheap sentiment, and all I could produce was mediocre sentences and, I'm sorry to say, cheap sentiment.
What I tried to say is this: It's April and for two of the past three Aprils, I've been packing and planning for Paris. I'm not doing that this year.
But I've felt this intense longing lately, almost a physical pull. Yes, it is a physical pull, because Paris is like a lover whose scent and touch and breath you miss, you ache for.
I love spring. Once we landed in Paris on a perfect April day, arriving at our hotel in the early afternoon. After a shower and a nap, we took off to explore our neighborhood in the Latin Quarter.
It was a Thursday, and it was balmy and breezy and possessed all the qualities of spring days when the weekend is just ahead.
The daffodils and chestnuts were in high bloom and the air was scented with a mix of scents: flowers, exhaust, bread and that dank, musty smell that emanates from basement windows and vents. Paris: Elegant, sensual, gritty.
The phrase (and movie title) "unbearable lightness of being" somehow described our feelings as we walked the streets in search of just the right café. Businesspeople, students, au pairs with their charges - everyone seemed to be in the same mood.
If you haven't been to Paris, please go. You can do it on the cheap, even with the dollar nearly worthless. Paris is everything it - no, she! - is reputed to be and more. Find your own Paris, even if you discover it only once.
Go.
23 comments:
Yeah, I knew I shouldn't come here and read this today. Now I'll be longing all day, night and week and month, well until our next trip and there's no date on that yet.
Paris is just Paris and nothing else touches it.
I'm going in , quite precisely, ten minutes. I'm not sure the April in Paris weather is going to be up to our expectations, though. I will definitely think of you!
PS: I can't believe it's been a year since your last trip!
Mimi,
It pains me to post this comment because even though I just left Paris less than three days ago to fly to Moscow, where I sit in my hotel room typing this, I too feel the pull to go back.
I thought about you as I walked along the streets on Saturday ducking into a shop here and a bakery there and while I sat at a cafe at the foot of the Notre Dame watching spring in Paris.
I hope you get back soon. I know it refreshes your soul.
Tanna, now we can year for Paris together.
Ooh, Betty, you lucky thing! I will have a few days there in the fall. But it's not spring...
Oh, Breadchick, I have sat in those cafes and watched the passing parade. You, too, are very fortunate. Did you make it to that little place behind Notre Dame?
Autumn in Paris has a lovely ring to it, too, and the months until your next trip will pass quickly. It's lovely to miss a place that has so infiltrated your soul.
Mimi,
You make an excellent point- even though the dollar is in the toilet Paris is something to be experienced (often). Forget about the cost- it's still the best value for your buck.
Lydia, I have a widget on my home page that counts the days. Infiltrated is the precise word - trust a journalist to get it right!
Misplaced, I have been lurking on your blog for a while now. I hope you can stay in Paris. In Paris, if you have a place to stay you can live on air.
How can a city capture souls like Paris has?
I'm sorry to hear that you won't be going this year. Paris will be waiting for your next visit.
She does create a longing, doesn't she?
Loulou, I will have a day or two in the fall, but it will be a quick visit on the way to somewhere else. It's tough when you can only get away for two weeks once a year.
Aaah Mimi, I feel your pain! It has been 3 and 1/2 years since my last trip to Paris and I miss it dearly! Our neighborhood here in Tokyo has a lot of French influences, which is wonderful, but it is no Paris!
Fuji Mama, it would be nice to have some French influences in your neighborhood.
I hope you can get to Paris soon!
Hi Mimi. I am sorry I have not been here but I am now a Grandma! First time. We have had a problem with little Carlos health wise but I hope it will all get sorted out soon.
My Mother who is 73 and I are off to Paris this may for 16 days. The euro has always been a shocker for us in australia and don't go there with the price of the long air flight - but it is the PULL of PARIS that makes you say - hell with it , I might be dead tomorrow - lets go today. That is exactly why Mum and I are going! Life is short. I wish you were in Paris this May - would have loved to have met up with you Mimi!!!!
What fun that would have been, Lady Jicky! Meeting in Paris is so glamorous.
Last year, we met Richard Nahem of I Prefer Paris on Ile St. Louis. We were exhausted, but Richard was very cordial and full of fascinating information. We felt bad that we were so darned tried.
Congratulations on becoming a grandmother! Grandparents seem to enjoy their children's children so much!
Having just returned a month ago from a week in Paris, I know just what you mean! And, dollar or no dollar, it's still the best value for your money of anywhere I know! So much to see and do, so much to taste and try, a feast in every way!
Zoomie, we have always been able to eat well in Paris on very little by buying the basics at Franprix or Ed or LeaderPrice and then going to outdoor markets for meat and produce. We buy carnets (went through four on the last trip) and spend time outdoors when the weather is nice. There are so many free museums, and so many places to people watch.
Paris is the best value around - you are correct!
I love spring too. I've never been to Paris but reading this makes me sigh at the thought of Paris in the spring.
I was just talking to someone about an hour ago. This person had lived in Germany for some time, and said she took every chance she could get to get out of Germany and go to Paris instead.
How would a Wisconsin Schmuck like me who can't speak a lick of French fare in a place like Paris?
Julie, I hope you can go soon!
Bruised Orange, you would do fine. Many, if not most, shopkeepers and officials (like museum staff) speak English. There are some excellent phrase books out there, too. I recommend Rick Steves and Frommers for pocket-sixed books.
I enjoyed reading this post along with all the comments about the "Pull of Paris".
It won't be long now Mimi, the next few months will pass by very quickly...before you know it you will be in France again.
And you will be in the state, Fiona!
I know exactly what you mean. I am a flight attendant for the ubiquitous "Major Airline." (As a WI resident, you probably know which one I mean). After almost 30 years, we now have non-stop flights from Minneapolis to Paris and I have done two of them this month and will do three more next month. Paradise! No one but a Francophile can understand what Paris means. Even my husband who does not speak more than one or two words of French has declared that if and when we win the lottery that we will be moving to Paris.
My husband says the same thing, Kitoko. We noticed the Mpls-Paris flights just the other day. Who knows, we may go that route in Sept, but we usually go through Detroit.
But wait, wouldn't I get more FF miles by going Mpls???
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