My year in Paris has officially begun!!! Actually it began last Thursday at 10:58am France time when my plane landed 30 minutes early at Charles de Gaul airport. I welcomed myself to my new home upon pulling up to the jet way, but it didn’t really hit me that I was absolutely in Paris with no return ticket until I heard my first, “Bonjour.” Yikes! And then I looked around to see all the signs in some foreign language. Bigger Yikes! The reality of the dream took hold in that moment…no longer was it a romantic fantasy…..here I was. In Paris. To live.
Day 1!
I am in posed in one of the neighborhoods in which I am looking for apartments. It is in the 17th arrondissement…and not too far from the Arc du Triomphe and all that shopping on Champs Elysee (please excuse lack of accent marks over the “e”s in Elysee…it is but one of the things I have yet to learn how to do here…that and speak French.)
However, one thing I have learned is that I do not pass at all, let me repeat, at all as a Frenchy :). I can be walking down the street eating a baguette, wearing a cute little scarf, NOT wearing white tennis shoes and not saying, singing or humming an English word….yet if I am bumped or if I just look in someone’s direction I am greeted with perfect English! WHAT! Can’t they pretend I speak French and let me stumble around with my words enough to tell then I don’t…if nothing else it would be amusing to them! The other night I determined my lack of blending was at the ridiculous level when I stepped into a restaurant to use their bathroom. Before my mouth even opened, the server looked at me and said, “Toilette? Eet eez downstairz.” Sigh. So downstairs I went….stomping the whole way.
On my first Saturday in Paris I met up with a dear girlfriend, Kisara, who I haven’t seen in 13 years!!! She and I lived in Costa Rica for a year back in 1998. It wasn’t until now and in Paris that we were able to reunite. She currently lives in Dusseldorf, Germany and was in Paris on business. Kisara was just as remarkable and joyous as had I remembered, and meeting her husband, Das, was an added bonus! He flew in from Germany to accompany Kisara on her business trip. We were quite the international group; Kisara from Japan, Das from India, Jen from America and my friend, Adel, from Algeria. We met at Willi’s Wine Bar which is credited as being the first wine bar in Paris. It opened was in 1980 by an Englishman. We all took great pleasure in a glass of tasty Touraine Sauvignon Blanc (okay, maybe I had 2!). The wine was almost as perfect and harmonious as the English all the servers spoke there. It was clearly an Anglo-Saxon hangout….which was a purposeful choice of mine.
So I have been to the museums of Paris, I have been to the shops of Paris and I have been to the restaurants of Paris, but never have I been to the flea markets of Paris. That all changed on Sunday morning when I decided to go visit Paris’ largest and oldest flea market, Les Puces de Saint Ouen (or just Les Puces…which translates to The Fleas…appropriate, eh?)
My idea of a flea market is clearly different than Paris’ idea.
I had visions of dusty antiques in open stalls where I would barter with gypsy-looking folk who may or may not have missing teeth. Hardly. At times I felt like I was more in a museum than in a modest market…..like I had literally walked into one of Napoleon’s apartment rooms that I had seen at the Louvre last November. Mirrors were ornate, furniture was gold gilded and the tapestries were all silk. It was clear the 40 Euro I have shoved into my Tumi purse before I headed out the door to hop on the metro wouldn’t get me far in this place! But it was incredible. Once I get my apartment, I will head back to Les Puces to find a few vintage prints to dress my walls! I have become a fan of the Paris flea market scene.
Much to do tomorrow…and it is midnight now…plus I am fighting my first cold in France. A girlfriend asked me today if a “cold feels better in Paris??” 🙂 I can’t say they do, but the “Bonne Nuit” Ricola cold medicine sure was fun to try….in fact, I am going to take some now. Bonne Nuit!
Up-close details of one of the four main sculptures on the Arc du Triomphe.
La Résistance de 1814
Driving up Champs Elysee!
What a site!
