mardi 27 octobre 2009

Sous le ciel de Paris

"Sous le ciel de Paris s'envole une chanson
Elle est née d'aujourd'hui dans le coeur d'un garçon.
Sous le ciel de Paris marchent des amoureux
Leur bonheur se construit sur un air fait pour eux."

I love Paris, but you already know that.

This morning, on my hellish commute, I was thinking about how fabulous life in the city of lights is. Or, more specifically, how fabulous my life in the city of lights is.

Yes, it's expensive. Yes, it's polluted. Yes, it can be frustrating. But I love it.

I hate my commute, but every single evening the view from the C train as it crosses the Seine and heads to the Rive Gauche makes me happy. I look up from my book as the train leaves the station at Avenue Kennedy and the Seine opens up before me - the view is straight down the river and the Eiffel Tower fills the frame. My heart sings a little and I know that I'm almost home.

When I head out of an evening to meet friends in the Marais I always go on foot. 200 metres from the house and I'm at Bastille - the grande place with the striking Colonne de Juillet at the centre. The traffic is crazy, there are motards everywhere, the cafés are buzzing and the city is alive. Again, my heart sings a little and I thank my lucky stars.

Sunday morning and I slip out of bed. I throw on a pair of joggers and some kind of jumper and head to the boulangerie Bazin. I wait in line (there's always a line at the best bakers in town) and take in the sights and the smells. I buy my chouquettes, my pains au chocolat and a baguette. I head home, undress and slip into bed next to my boy. We sleep a while longer knowing that when we wake up the best breakfast ever is waiting for us.

I stand at the bar at my favourite nightspot - the Freedj - and I chat to my friends. We speak a mixture of English and French together, depending on who's in town. We laugh - boy do we laugh - we share our ridiculous weeks and we down a few drinks. We leave the bar and head off for cheap chinese food.

Crossing rue Beauborg, we pass the Centre Georges Pompidou - beautifully lit at night and causing controversy even when closed, even so many years after it was opened.

the Pompidou centre reminds me of myself in so many ways. It is so clearly not born of the city in which it has been planted. It has a style that is different to the local style. It expresses itself using a different language. But despite this, it has been welcomed into the hearts of Parisians....even if they didn't like it particularly at first.

I love Colette, Monoprix and Galeries Lafayette.

I love donning my sunglasses and strolling 'les Champs' on a crisp, sunny Sunday afternoon.

I love taking taxis (alarmingly inexpensive) and riding the last métro home. I love ordering a noisette and a tartine for breakfast, vite-fais. I love a Salade de Chêvre for lunch and a carafe of rosé. I love walking 'la Coulée Verte'.

I love Paris, but you know what? What it is that I love most of all?

I love being in love in Paris.

But I think that's a different post altogether.

16 commentaires:

Breenlantern a dit…

Sounds wonderful. Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you via your blog. I wish I could say I love living in Albany (well, technically Guilderland now) but I CAN say I love LIVING, so that's something, eh? Still, it's no Paris....

Anonyme a dit…

I can well understand how you love your life in such an amazing city and how all of that is only enhanced when in love!

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Hi there BL, well, the main thing is to love life, right? No matter where we are!

Rob, it's not so bad, right? he he

Daryl a dit…

Oh now you make me want all the more to be there ... I feel the same way about New York ... I love it I love living here ... but I long to pretend I live there not here .. le sigh

aims a dit…

I remember when you were not so happy about moving to Paris and leaving Lyon.

It's a new world out there isn't it sweetie?

A Lewis a dit…

You are, indeed, one fortunate man. But it sounds like you already have the wherewithall to realize that. I have the same feelings about Portland....Not a day goes by that I don't comment on how much I enjoy it.

Audrey a dit…

Can I have your life please? Paris was the only place I never wanted to leave. I'm just biding my time until I can return! Til then you've just motivated me to sit down with my grammar book for a while!

doomed to be fabulous a dit…

Now you'll have to change the name of your blog! "In Love And In Paris."

The Mutant a dit…

Oh go right ahead and rub it in.

"Oooooh, look at me and my fancy Parisian life."

"Check out my awesome, high class adventures."

"Don't you just love my fanastic, wonderful boyfriend, isn't he wonderful and fantastic?"

"I'm so happy and in love right now I could just... blog about it!"

That's enough out of you lady. Time for a dose of reality I say. Get your arse to Melbourne, I want you here freezing your tits off 350 days of the year and getting sunburnt the rest, I want you slumming it in urine soaked alley ways or in the carpark at the Melbourne Cup and I want you to spend some time with a lazy boyfriend whose mother still does everything for him even though he's in his 30s.

Then we'll see what you've got to crow about then, hey?

xox

Anonyme a dit…

I don't love where I live as a place - but I love living there because of the tight knit circle of friends I have there.

So what are you going to rename the blog as ;)

travelling, but not in love a dit…

D, I love NY too - how would one ever choose between the two? Maybe a home in both?

Aims, it's crazy right? But you know, I don't miss Lyon at all. I feel no sense of attachment or longing to visit the place. I'm as happy here as I've ever been...;-) x

Lewis, happiness is a good thing, right?

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Audrey - get on with the grammar dear...how's your subjonctif?

Doomed - there's no blog name change on the horizon....just yet!

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Mootant - you're a lovely boy. really. Such a bundle of joy.

12oti - a lot of my Paris happiness comes from the friends. Without them, it'd be pretty ordinary. Well, ordinary in a Paris kind of way, ha ha.

Anonyme a dit…

That warmed my celtic soul
I could feel and smell the whole scene with you
Lyfli lyfli lyfli
du garidu iawn , nice place to be

cb a dit…

I don't think I've really ever thanked you enough for sharing your Paris with me when I visited.

I love the chatelet metro. The scoobidoos at that Fantastic boulangerie. Seeing the Eiffel tower twinkle from the terrace at Palais du Tokyo. Walking back from the Marais in the wee hous. Discovering the magic of the musee d'Orsay. The whole floor of manbags at the Galleries Layfayette. The gargoyles of Notre Dame...

So many times I almost cried at the beauty of it all.

Damn, I had a good trip!!

travelling, but not in love a dit…

VM - too lyfli for me, really ;-)

CB - I loved your visit...those were good days, eh? I'm looking forward to the next one....