I Love Paris in the Fall

I’m not sure I will ever be able to get over the dramatic changes that accompany my life as a “traveler”. Two days ago I was in Paris, eating small jam cookies in the Swiss Embassy (more on that later), today I’m in the north of Scotland lying on the floor of a yurt. I’m currently staying with my beautiful, wonderful, inspiring friend Emma Dines who is doing a program in an eco-village outside of the village of Findhorn. I have a lot to say about Scotland already, but I have to pace myself and return to my thoughts on Paris.

Many of you will know that I was in Paris last march visiting my sister Amy while she was studying there. As a result I didn’t feel a great urge to spend my time and money in Paris on this trip. Of course, art won me over in the end. I kept returning to the amazing experience I had in Musee d’Orsay on my last visit and I came to the conclusion that that was as good a reason as any to go back to Paris.

What I didn’t know was that Paris was a much-needed dose of medicine for me, in my sort of burned out state. I know my way around a lot of Paris, I understand the metro system, I have favourite bars and restaurants, and I speak enough French to function. I needed that familiarity, and, as such, I was able to regenerate a bit.

When I arrived I had to do laundry right away, which proved to be more difficult than it should have been probably because I was tired, and discouraged I felt like maybe it had been the wrong decision to come. After that I collapsed in bed, feeling the first prickings of a sore throat, and slept away the afternoon. I probably would have stayed in bed all night if I hadn’t been interrupted by the arrival of Jade, an Australian traveler who immediately perked me up with her enthusiasm and easy conversation. She made me come out with her for a coffee, and after that I felt inspired to go out and embrace Paris. Jade was already going out with a friend of her’s from Melbourne now living in Paris, but I rounded up another girl in our room, Elvira, and she and I went out for a drink at a bar that looks on Notre Dame. From there on in I had non-stop fun.

Jade introduced me to her friend Kate, and Kate’s Parisian boyfriend Issam, and together the four of us went out into the “real Paris”, where we sat in thickly clouded bars drinking Ricard and Beer trying to blend in with the locals. On my last evening we had “Champagne Night” in honour of Jade who had never tasted it before, and I learned that one can buy what would be incredibly pricey champagne in Canada for next to nothing here. Although I have met lots of interesting people along the way, Jade is the first friend I have made, and Paris just wouldn't have been Paris without her.

Some of the other parts of my Paris stay that made it so enjoyable were seeing my friend Emily from Toronto who was visiting friends, having breakfast at the Swiss Embassy with my Dad’s friend and then having his driver take me to meet my Airport Shuttle, and the fact that it was sunny and clear for the first time in weeks.

Walking through the city I remembered how charmed I was by it when I first traveled there at age 16, and I left with a bit of that old Paris magic stuck in my back pocket.