Friday, April 18, 2008

I Love Paris

I haven't written a single post since February seventh. Since that time, I spent ten days in Paris with Marsha and Jane. Before the trip, when I was working like crazy to be able to get away, I thought ten days of vacation would seem like an eternity. Little did I know it would fly - just fly - by, and now with each passing day, I hanker just a little bit more to go back to that beautiful gray lady of a city.

We stayed in an elegant apartment, with a lovely kitchen, on Rue du Cherche Midi, in the same block as Poilane so we had thick toast every morning and thin slices of bread spread with the amazing cheeses - all raw milk and unavailable here - that we ate every night while drinking copious amounts of Sancerre. We cooked our own dinner on four of the ten nights because we found good food to buy and cook in our neighborhood and got a rotisserie chicken from the Sunday outdoor organic market on Rue Raspail.

There's too much to tell - the museums; the young American who proposed to his girlfriend in front of a Monet and caught the rapt attention of everyone in the gallery and bowed when we all clapped when she said yes; the Berthillon ice cream I finally got my hands on; the tour Mike, my NY neighbor's friend, gave us of his fifteenth century restored home in the Marais, etc., etc., etc.

The other great thing that happened is when I got home to New York, my friend Mandi, who lives in Melbourne, Australia, arrived on Easter Sunday for a ten-day "holimoon."  A holimoon is a holiday you take with Reagan, your 6-year-old daughter, AND Scott, your husband of 23 days.

We waited and waited for that ten days and then, in the blink of an eye, it too was over. They ice skated at Wollman Rink in Central Park, went to the American Girl Place, spent an evening at McSorley's hosted by Geoffrey, and went to the farm for the weekend where we had a great dinner at Margaret and Tom's on Saturday night and tobogganed down Walter's field on Sunday morning.  When it was all over, Mandi left me enough licorice to last a normal person six months. (I won't tell you how long it lasted me.)


And now today, at long last, is ice cream day! The sky is (sigh) September eleventh blue, the temperature is in the high sixties, and everyone who is outside is strolling around with a smile on his or her face and an ice cream cone in his or her hand.

Welcome, spring. I hope you stick around a while.

5 comments:

  1. Oh Vic... Sancerre in Paris. Ice cream day in New York. You are in a good place.

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  2. Welcome back and it's good to hear about your wonderful trip! Yes, we were a little worried about you until you told us that you disappeared to Paris. Maybe we'll runaway from home and end up in Paris one day!
    My mouth dropped with envy reading about your raw cheese and wine fest. The wine fest, we can duplicate here, but the raw cheese is limiting in the US!
    I wouldn't be surprised that the chicken cost $30, considering the value of the dollar vs. euro. Hey, you're in Paris...live large!
    Marriage proposal in from of a Monet? Hmm....we're not married yet, but it would be so romantic if SOMEONE proposed to me! ;)
    Thanks again sharing and we look forward to your trip next year when you have Clotilde's book! That will be a feast of a trip!

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  3. Wick, thanks for the mention. As you know, I think it is completely normal to eat copious amounts of licorice for a main meal, and "wash it down" with Shaw and Smith!! We had Lindt in bed for breakfast the last day in NYC. This is what life is all about!

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  4. Wow. I'm envious on so many levels, there's no point in even mentioning details. Your trip sounds just perfect, and what a GORGEOUS apartment.

    Welcome back! I'll be looking forward to seeing what you're up to next.

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  5. Your trip sounds lovely, and has made me hanker after a return to Paris myself! I lived there for a year as a teenager and just loved it, especially the Berthillon raspberry and chocolate ice creams...

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