Paris!!

“There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even – the French air clears up the brain and does good – a world of good.

Vincent Willem van Gogh

I knew that writing about Paris was going to make me cry. 

It’s fabulous to be able to write a memoir about Paris and yet it’s sad that the memoir is only a memoir now - because my feet are no longer scurrying down the sidewalks, chasing great ghosts through the magnificently beautiful city of love. 

I don’t feel worthy of writing about Paris without quoting people who have elegantly described this amazing city so I am compelled to substantiate my memoir with a bow to travelers before me.

“Paris was a universe whole and entire unto herself, hollowed and fashioned by history; so she seemed in this age of Napoleon III with her towering buildings, her massive cathedrals, her grand boulevards and ancient winding medieval streets – as vast and indestructible as nature itself.”

Anne Rice

Yes, I get lost in my head full of memories as I read what people have written about Paris while picturing Jolynn and me there,  standing small on the streets, and looking up in every direction at stunning beauty and early architecture, American strangers in a strange land trying to take it all in. 

"What an immense impression Paris made upon me.
It is the most extraordinary place in the world!"

Charles Dickens

Deep breath……

Extraordinary – yeah, ditto.   Trying to compose myself.  You see, Paris has this effect on people and for good reason.  It’s Paris.  It just is.

Standing at the top of the gently swaying Eiffel Tower sharing a plastic, odd shaped goblet of overpriced champagne, terrified to look at the view yet mesmerized by every nuance of the experience, we took in Paris, we drank up Paris, gobbled it up and buried it deep into our cell memory and soul. 

“Casablanca:  We’ll always have Paris.”

You know what was really cool?  Having dinner on The Seine River while live music played on the boat and we went under bridges and past monuments and drank excellent wine and ate desserts that one can only dream about and then the whole Eiffel Tower spontaneously put on a stunning light show just as our boat was in front of it.  We were all on the top level of the boat at this point and there was this collective “ahhhhhh” and silence and gasps as the Tower sparkled a remarkable display of lights and we huddled together in the Fall air, standing there – Jo in her black suit and me in my long black dress and we were in Paris.  The French air really did clear up our brains and did us a world of good, Vincent.

Yes, we were in Paris.  We sat on marble benches in the Louvre and stared at beautiful statues and we let huge paintings hijack our minds and smiled back at the Mona Lisa.  Big Bus took us all over the city and we hopped off and on just like we were supposed to do.  We sat on the top tier of the bus and put our earphones in, turned the button to “English” and memorized the songs and music that played in the background of the humorously narrated stories about the history of Paris and antics of famous and infamous Parisiens.  We walked and walked and walked – oh we walked!  We took a tour of the historic Montmartre and peeked in every church we dared to and said a little prayer for the young man who tried to pull the “ole gold ring scam” on us.  We walked in reverent silence in the glorious Notre Dame and had an authentic Paris lunch in the Latin District; we sat on the sidewalk and had dinner, eating things that were not on our American diet and sat next to people who smoked, something else we wouldn’t have done in America.  We immersed ourselves into the culture, soaked it up along with the unseasonably wonderful sunshine and warm Paris air.

"When spring comes to Paris the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise."

Henry Miller

And as if there wasn’t enough spectacular-ness in all that we did and saw in Paris, then there was still the hotel where we returned each fabulous evening, for four nights.  Dare I inject my review of a hotel into this glowing memoir of Paris….yes, I have to.  I absolutely must.  It is so uncommon for our lifestyle that it bears it’s own paragraph.  

Grand, Splendid and Stunning – The Paris Hyatt Vendome, located in a section of the city where watches were on sale for 75,000 euros in the window next door to the hotel.  From the outside, this famous building is a well kept secret but when you walk in the doors, accompanied by men who are falling over themselves in an effort to help in any way whatsoever, you find yourself in the most elegant of elegant buildings. 

Elegant.  Our room was magically turned into a suite with a little twist of the wand by the beautifully dressed front desk staff.  French red wine awaited us with 2 glasses on a wooden tray on the puffy, white bed with big orange pillows.  A family of 6 could have lived in the oversized bathroom with separate areas for the two of us to unpack.  The bathtub/shower combo dazzled us even before we knew that they had provided us with illustrious bath products from a local boutique – the kind of bath products that are locked up in a display window in the elegant lobby.  And then there were the French window panes that opened up onto our balcony on the 6^th floor, overlooking Paris………...yes now do you see why I had to give the Hyatt Vendome their own paragraph? 

But I would be totally amiss if I didn’t mention the legendary dining room forested with Orchids, or as the Hyatt writes on their website:

“Exquisitely arranged Orchids set a fashionable yet tranquil mood, as the see-through fireplace lends the perfect measure of contemporary warmth.”

The breakfast buffet that we had in this room every morning was definitely exquisite; the service was embarrassingly wonderful and the food was absolutely outstanding.  We couldn’t stop the tears from running down our cheeks as we swallowed the last drop of the most expensive orange juice that we will ever drink and said goodbye to the fabulous restaurant manager on the morning that we left Paris.

And if you’ve been reading my blog, then you know the punch line here. 

It was all free.  The room and the breakfast.  Free.

Yup.

Free.

But I can’t end this memoir on that note. 

It was beautiful and magical and wonderful and intoxicating beyond our wildest dreams....It was Paris!!

I wish I had said this first, but I didn’t, but it’s true.

“Paris is always a good idea.”

Audrey Hepburn as Sabrina Fairchild in Sabrina

And yes, Jolynn…..we will ALWAYS have Paris!

Je t’aime.

Copyright ©2012   Jeannine Cristina    All Rights Reserved