My Trip to Paris

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for over a month. I have no excuse for my tardiness except that I've been both busy and lazy. So I decided to sit down today and finally write about what I did while in France.

Remember the ever-expanding wish-lists I made before I left? I'm sort of embarassed to say I got to do barely three things out of my entire list. I was there for 6 days which I thought would be more than enough to do and see everything I wanted to. But I wasn't counting on how time-consuming my photo workshop would be and how little time it would leave for other things, especially because I had to go back to my apartment and do some (unrelated) course work before turning in for the night. We finished with the workshop around 7 p.m. which meant there was no time for museum visits or many of the other things that I had planned. .

However, the plus point was that I got to spend 3.5 days walking around Paris with 7 amazing women from around the globe who are all now friends. Despite the fact that the workshop around 10 hours a day, the pace was perfect and & we all had fun while seeing the city and learning about photography.

Sophie is very charming, extremely personable and a very encouraging teacher and I came away with a lot of practical information on technical aspects as well as a new perspective on composition.

At least I can now finally move away from the 'auto' modes on my camera and play around with more features. The workshop was definitely the highlight of my trip and I wish I could go back and do it all over again!

On my last day in Paris I took an early morning train to Vernon with a friend from the workshop. We reached at 8 a.m. and decided to walk the 7 k.m. from there to Giverny because we had read so many rave reviews online about how wonderful the walk is.

I wouldn't want to disagree because the village really is charming but we didn't have a lot of time to stop and look around given our intention to get back to Paris on the first train in the afternoon. And, for us, the long walk just meant we would have less time seeing the village and Monets' gardens.

On the way we stopped to talk to this lovely old lady here who told me how she brings apples for this horse every day. . .

When at last we reached Monets' house it was early enough in the morning that hordes of tourists weren't yet there and we could walk around and photograph some of the many, many beautiful flowers.

The house tour itself took no more than 20 minutes & looking out of the windows on the upper floor it was easy to imagine how inspired he must have been by all the colors in his garden.

My favorite rooms in his house were the sunny yellow dining room and the little sewing room on the upper story. The latter offers a broad view of the entire estate and I assume Monet's wife kept an eye on their eight children through the windows while she sewed.

We could have spent the entire day in the gardens photographing the many varieties of beautiful flowers. But an hour after we arrived the place was hit by an onslaught of tourists and it became impossible to walk without bumping into someone else who was stopping to pose for or take photos.

We spent a lovely morning there, regardless, and only wished we'd had more time to explore the gardens at our own pace. We decided then that we'd just have to come back next Spring and spend all day in Monets' gardens, taking photos!

Once back in Paris, time flew. I had just enough time to meet Paule of Promenades Gourmandes and then rush out to buy gifts for my kids before shops closed for the day.

I took a walk to Rue des Rosiers for the second time that day to get some famous Fallafel but was finally rewarded with a sign that said the restaurant would remain closed for another week. There was nothing to do but walk back and grab a quick meal at a small Vietnamese place around the corner from our apartment. My plans to take a last trip down to Trocadero & photograph the Eiffel Tower at night fell completely flat since I lacked the energy to do any more walking that day.

There's always next year . . or the next. I'm sure I'll go back. I must!
 I love Paris - just walking around the charming, winding streets and seeing the old with the new. Or the unexpected ...


This is a love affair that's not ever going to end. I can't wait to be back there again . .

Countdown to Paris

Two days to go! 

Bags packed - check.

camera packed - check.

enthusiasm - check. (well, almost. currently suffering immense anxiety at leaving my kids behind; especially this one)

My wish-list of things to see has grown. I don't expect that I will be able to do everything because most of my time on this trip is eaten up by the workshop I'm doing with Sophie Pasquet, but there's no harm in expanding the list all the same:

1. re-visit Musee d'Orsay to see their new Manet exhibit

2. Institut du Monde Arabe

3. Sainte-Chapelle

4. Tour Montparnasse just before sunset

5. check out the exhibit 'Charmed life of the Brothers Caillebotte'

6. bread & cakes at La Fougasse 
7. coffee at Merce and the Muse
8. Musee de l'Orangerie

write to you from paris!

Paris Encore

 

(photo credit: taken by my son last summer)

I'm going to Paris again!

Here I am again, less than one year after my previous (and first) visit, counting down the days. Only 18 more to go! 

A friend and I made a spur of the moment plan to make a trip to Paris together for une petite vacance & it seems luck was on our side because once the decision was made, everything else fell into place. Our immense excitement overrides any trepidation we might feel over the prospect of leaving our respective spouses in charge of our kids while the two of us enjoy our week away. 

On the agenda: staying in & exploring the Marais, strolling through the Marche aux Puces on our first morning there, trying out Poilâne's famous bread (something I missed out on last time), wandering around the city & taking photos with Sophie Pasquet & a group of photographers, meeting the lady behind Promenades Gourmandes,  and visiting the home & gardens of Monet at Giverny. So far these are the few big things on my list. In the midst of it all I expect to unwind & get my groove back. 

I can only hope the weather cooperates.

I may not blog a lot between now & then but I hope to make some updates during my trip. 

à bientôt!

Care to join me for another walk through Paris?

I am not ready to leave Paris behind as yet, so please indulge me a little longer if you will. 

There are so many reasons why this trip was so special to me. I've been meaning to visit Paris for years and gave up an opportunity to be there for a brief visit almost a decade ago. How I regretted that decision for years! Being there now, finally, I was hit with a strong wave of nostalgia: a reminder of many, many good times and lovely friends.  

How could I feel nostalgic about a place I have never been? Because the very first formal job I ever had was at the Alliance Française in my hometown. I worked there for a few years and was immersed in a completely 'French' environment. I made a lot of friends, was exposed to not only the language but also French culture & got to meet a diverse group of artists from France; some of whom became friends that I have kept sporadically in touch with over the years. But sadly, there are many friends that I lost touch with - through my own fault, more than anything else. Being in France gave me the opportunity to look them up and reconnect with a few. And it felt wonderful. 

As we approached Paris and prepared for landing, all I could see below was a bed of thick clouds. It was like descending into nothing - which was a little disconcerting but at the same time reminded me of what Baudelaire (I think it was him) said, " J'aime les nuages.. les nuages qui passent la-bas . . des merveilleux nuages!". That thought came out of nowhere & was the first of a series of random literary references that swam through my head the entire time that I was there. 

After a rainy landing, we were there. 

It took a while for it to sink in that I was really there, I was in France. 

I barely slept that night. After taking a nap for two hours, I was up again because I had to work on an assignment for school. I got over with it around 5 a.m. and then, because I couldn't sleep & because I couldn't stand it any more, I went for a walk at 5:45 a.m. The guy at the front desk of our hotel gave me a very strange look as I was walking out the door and I should have understood why: because the only other people out on the streets at that time were trash-collectors. 

 

We were close to the Champs Elysees, so I walked down the avenue, down Boulevard Haussmann, and then through winding streets until I reached my hotel after almost two hours. Paris was a very sleepy town, there was little traffic - even at 7 a.m.- and I felt completely wide awake: intoxicated by the beauty of the city. 

I finally managed to take another brief nap before we went out to explore the city later in the morning . . and then I went and got really sick later that night. I think it was just a combination of lack of sleep & jet-lag, but I had to sit around nursing a really bad case of flu for the next two days. All I had energy for, was bus-tours. And while I got really good photos out of the experience, my kids were essentially tortured for two days! 

And then I was back on my feet and walking all over the city again . . 

Or taking little Cafe-breaks and sitting around just watching traffic and passersby. 

 

Or taking photos of cafes . . 

Or of my other obsession: Parisien Metro signs

  

And while winding streets are charming . . . 

. . some of them also contain surprises:

 Walking through streets is not all that I did . . among other things we did with the kids, we went to the fantastic Jardin d'Acclimatation & it was hard to tear my kids away at the end of the day .

 I wouldn't mind living in the Jardin d'Acclimatation - it's magical and beautiful, with lots of surprises. Like this little guy who decided to take a walk alongside us:

I felt a bit like this statue upon leaving France . . 

"C'est comme une rêve" remarked a child, sitting in front of me in the plane, as he stared down at the city we were departing from. And he was so right because it really was a dream. . 

Did you enjoy the walk with me? I have lots more photos where these came from and I took them doing what I do best: walking randomly and aimlessly across cities. A friend of mine once asked me in a letter, years and years ago: " fais-tu toujours de grandes promenades?"  (do you still take longs walks?) and I would have to say, yes I do and I love it still. 

Paris - one last time

I took the train to Paris for the last time yesterday morning, leaving my sleeping family behind so that I could have one last visit. . I got there early in the morning and here's the route I took . .

Rue Montorgueil was sleepy-town when I got there. .

But there were still temptations to be found:

Back near the Quartier Latin

Gotta love Parisien windows

Au revoir Paris

Que Je T'aime, Paris!

This is why I'm so quiet... No words needed. . Just enjoy the promenade with me . . .