On Friday morning this lovely building, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, will be my home for a week. It's in a quiet neighborhood, near a still-working canal, (below) and about a mile or so from most of the museums I want to go to.
The distance between the apartment and our intended destinations is, suddenly, critical because, as of midnight tonight, there's going to be a transport workers strike, so there will be no metro or trains service at all. We'll be doing LOTS of walking and some taxi taking. Luckily I lived in New York for a while, so I can fight off the most determined cab stealer, French or otherwise. This is the bedroom where I'll rest my aching feet at the end of the day. Oh, c'est jolie!
The last time I went to Paris was on my honeymoon, 23 years ago. The new husband and I stayed in a lovely little hotel on the left bank. It was January and as we wandered the streets, it snowed. We ate cassoulet at a neighborhood brasserie, and visited my husband's French relatives, one of whom was a famous surrealist painter. It was all impossibly romantic.
This time I'm going with my 81 year-old mother, so romantic it will not be. But we are going to have a blast. We've been going to museums together, talking about art, making each other crazy, and laughing at (and with) each other since I was tiny. So we'll do that in Paris too and it will be wonderful fun.
I've packed my walking shoes, and I'm brushing up on my French - "Je sais que les travailleurs n'aime pas M. Sarkosy!" I've been humming the Marsailles all day and doing the can can (only in spirit, because You don't want to see me throwing up my skirts in real life). Wish me a bon voyage or wish you were coming with me! Either way, Hurrah! I'm going to PARIS!!!!!!
10 comments:
Have a wonderful time and be safe!
We await your post when you get back...
Bon voayge baby. Eat all the fabulous food, visit as many dazzling musuems as you can fit into one trip, revel in the general charm of it all and just remember, I AM SO INSANELY JEALOUS.
luv ya
Lilylove: Thanks! Who knows, perhaps the 10th arrondissement will have a petite internet cafe, and i'll blog from there....
Mr. P: I know, it's lovely to go to Paris for a week. But when I get back I'll still be livin' in Pittsburgh (PA not CA), and you get to live year round in San Francisco. So I, too, AM INSANELY JEALOUS OF YOU when I read your blog. I pine for my Bay Area days....
how wonderful! You do know we expect lots of photos. And how fun for you and your mommy to be doing a girls' trip! That is really special. I hope you both have a fantastic time.
I think Paris may have been instrumental in my eventual vegetarianism -- a slab of some sort of steak was still moving - or mooing - on my plate.
cb: "Still Moo-ing on my plate." Ha! Yes, best to avoid the steak tartar. I'm hoping there will be an adorable patisserie near the apartment, where we'll be buying perfect baguettes, crusty on the outside....
Well it wasn't supposed to be steak tartare ... but it was.
Have a fabulous time -- good luck with the hotel proximity, I've been hearing the strike is causing a nightmare for commuters.
Welcome to this side of Atlantic. Have a great time and remember "Don't drink the water!" Well at least that's what my mother told me the first time I went to Europe.
Bon voyage!
Dear E-beth and beloved mama T.,
I am imagining, as best I can from here, your wonderful time together, there.
Together, in Paris, in museums, the deliciousness,the shopping? just two ladies, no matter the weather, the traffic, the rudity, the planning tangles, the Kirklessness, the Billlessness, the shopping? It is another kind of magic. Mixy Magic. You are so lucky. I am a little jealous of that too, (since you gave me permission), but you cannot send it in the mail to me, you wonderful, dear, dear, sweet, friend. 'Cause I'm jealous of not being with you on your adventures. It makes me miss you and love you even more to think about all the amazing things you are sharing and seeing and tasting and loving, and not loving, and all the jokes I am missing. That really makes me jealous. yes . the jokes I am missing.
I love you all so much. Hooray for you Elizabeth. You are an inspiration. AND Hooray for your Mama and for your Kirk.
Oh sweetie, It would have been very, very fun to have you with us. I'm tres jetlagged so will write a full report later. xoxoxo
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