Paris is always a
good idea
said Audrey Hepburn.
Feeling girls trip? Paris. Need a runway to walk wearing your newly discovered style? Paris. Need a lover Right Now? Paris. Is it time to make a core memory riding on the back of someone called Hugo’s moped? Paris. For me, I need a change of scenery, language, people from whatever merde I was stuck in - Paris.
I’d gone back to the UK to attend my grandma’s funeral, something that no one expected would be on the calendar of events to plan for overnight. Emotions that I wasn’t warned about having to face.
The few months prior weren’t any easier - from health issues to friendship breakups, the weight on my shoulders was becoming unbearable. Showing up to a photoshoot or a casting and being asked to whip out a smile, all I could give were trembling corners of my mouth as they tried to make that “U” accompanied by dead eyes that I couldn’t fix.
I needed to get out. Go someplace else. I needed somewhere that would take me in and let me be, exist but be invisible. But also would have traces of familiarity and entice me to participate. Keep putting one foot in front of the other to move forwards.
Charles de Gaulle
And where better than Paris - just a quick hop and an easyJet from grandma’s place - to the city of romance and hauteur, couture and forthright, late and stylish. Perfect.
Gare du Nord
Not overly chatty with a stranger, it was simple to seamlessly weave in and out of coffee shops and the vintage spots and pharmacies.
Rue de Poitou.
On the metro from here and there, I see chic, I see pda, I see tourists, I see a commute home all fatigué.
Bastille.
With friends who live there, I could facilement be led to wherever they wanted to take me and be on autopilot.
Orangerie et Tuileries.
A place bursting with beaux-arts I let myself be lost amongst the carves of Brancusi and folds of Dior.
Le 9ieme.
Du vin, des frites, with a cigarette in hand, on the side of the rue.
There’s a strike on and this is fermé, that is en retard. Classique, non?
Vin rouge, vin blanc.
It wasn’t even 72hrs. I barely slept. At least picked up a new skincare routine from the pharmacy.
Average of 20,000 steps.
But my friends listened, I listened, we hugged, we split the mozzarella, we hopped over the growing pile of rubbish on the street - collection eta tbd. There was a group chat, no what-ifs of me moving here but a when.
Paris is always a good idea, non?
featured:
Atelier Brancusi
White Coffee Shop
The Coffee
Merci
Gaijin Paris
Django
PAPI
Lolo cave à manger
Galerie Dior
Jeu de Paume
and all the streets and small spots.
