The pleasure of a vacation comes in at least three parts: First is the anticipation. You makes lists, peruse websites, and weave fantasies about the place you’re visiting. Then comes the actual vacation. Finally — and perhaps this is the real meat of the pleasure — you fold the whole experience into stories you tell yourself and share with others, letting you live the good bits over and over, and allowing you to absorb the more puzzling parts.
I’ve only spent a meager three and a half days in Paris so far, but if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to get started on stage three — the telling — in bits and pieces:
- First, the smells. I was barely off the metro, baggage in hand, stumbling to the apartment where I’m staying, and boom! there it was: the aroma of caramelized sugar and butter. Why is it I never smell it at home? Parisian patisseries must have special aroma boosters with fans to blow the fragrance street-ward. The metro itself has a singular scent of sweet rubber on warm metal and something else I can’t name. I forgot, too, how the old wood of a 100-year old building gives off an unmistakable, slightly dry smell.
- I’ve had two meals out, one terrific and one awful. I had a marvelous lunch at Vivant, a tiny restaurant in an old aviary with art nouveau tiles. All the food is market-fresh (jewel-like vegetables, slivers of duck breast, lightly sauced gnocchi, pineapple granita, corn soup) and the wines are biodynamic. Plus, look at the restaurant’s website and check out the hunky staff. Bonus: the bathroom had Aesop soap. My other dinner was a salad in a café. It had sheets of lox, flavorless cocktail shrimp, chopped canned beets, bean sprouts, lettuce dressed too sharply with lemon, and some of the freaky miniature corncobs you usually get with Chinese food. On the plus side, I was with a friend, and we spent three-and-a-half laugh-filled hours catching up. When she walked me home, it turned midnight, and to mark the hour the Eiffel Tower shimmered like a lit pile of rhinestones.
- Things change. Many cafés now advertise, in English, “happy hour” and “after work.” Electronic cigarette shops have sprung up. A few boutique cafés are roasting their own coffee beans. Bike lanes (many directing bicyclists against the flow of auto traffic) and bicyclists are everywhere. I even saw a Zumba class on the Champ de Mars.
- And some things stay the same. The French still like their boxed milk and English phrases. Today I passed a woman’s clothing store called Manhattan Gigolo and a men’s clothing store called Mensch. (Across the street was a guy dressed as a chicken. He was having a coffee.) Down the street stood a hotel appealingly named “Tourism Ave.” At noon, people still scurry home with baguettes tucked under their arms. Church bells still sound at odd times. Despite all the electronic cigarette stores, smoking is as popular as ever, and I saw a group of policemen puffing away outside their paddy wagon this afternoon.
- While my neighbors on the metro are likely to be dressed in the same sweatshop-made clothing that fills American malls, buildings remain solid and beautiful. I love thinking of all the artisans who bent and molded the intricate ironwork on balconies and who crafted the heavy wooden doors and the Pershing roll-sized brass doorknobs planted smack in the middle of those doors. I love the painted glass in the windows illuminating stairwells with twisting wood handrails. I love the engravings dedicating one building to the Society for the Future of the Proletariat and announcing the year and architect’s name of another.
- Last but not least, perfume. I’ve had the chance to smell the newest Serge Lutens, called Vierge de Fer. It’s quiet lily, soft and clean, and it dries down to a gentle sandalwood. I’ve also tried a spritz of the Cartier Baiser Volé Essence de Parfum. It’s a completely different lily than Vierge de Fer. It’s more diffuse, peppery, and earthy, and I’d say it wears closer to the extrait than to the EdP. I might need a bottle.
That’s all for now! I’m finishing up a glass of Bourgueil and need to get started on dinner. The rain is coming down, but it’s warm enough that I can crack open the French windows. In the distance is the “ee-ah” of an ambulance, and Chet Baker is on the stereo.
Yes, life is good. It’s in the telling that it hits home. Really, though, my everyday life is also wonderful. Wouldn’t it be great if we could experience every day with the same attention we give vacation?
Note: top image shows interior of Vivant Table, via Vivant at Facebook.
It sounds like heaven (OK, not that salad), and you tell it wonderfully! Thanks for giving us t little virtual vacation.
You’re welcome! I feel very lucky to be here.
Mensch is German (and Yiddish).
I was told that I might be able to go to Paris and the transportation and housing would be paid for (the family I’m staying with in Germany has a brother in Paris) and I wasn’t really interested but now I really really want to go to Vivant.
Why not give Paris a try! Especially for free! Vivant was terrific. If you do go, I’d love to know what you thought.
Good point on “mensch.” I’ve heard it so much in regular conversation that I’ve taken it as part of everyday talk.
What neighborhood is this in? Opera? I just google mapped and I saw a lot of stuff with Opera in the name nearby I know absolutely nothing about the neighborhoods in Paris.
It’s in the 10th arrondissement, and to me it looked like a former garment or fur district. It was on a small street in a neighborhood that didn’t look too touristy or trendy, but the nearest metro station is down on one of the big boulevards with lots of hotels.
Wonderful descriptions! Makes me long to run away to Paris right now. I am surprised that the Lutens is quiet – I imagined something huge with a name like that but I suppose that is what he likes to do – confound your expectations! Hope you have many more great meals and perfume opportunities.
I’ve really started appreciating quieter fragrances lately–but I hardly expect Serge Lutens to come up with them! I’m looking forward to reading some good reviews of it.
I know what you mean, Angela. I have really turned around on Bas de Soie. I don’t like lily so this one’s not for me.
It’s nice to have quieter fragrances in your arsenal, I think. More and more I find myself reaching for them. If you don’t love lily, though, Vierge de Fer probably isn’t for you.
Your trip sounds magical – thank-you so much for sharing with us. Had to laugh about a men’s shop called Mensch – kind of a brilliant name. Looking forward to the next installment…
I know–isn’t it hilarious? I should have asked the guy dressed as a chicken if he shopped at Mensch.
Mensh is a Yiddish slang for a “good man”. I used to work for a Jewish man who used many Yiddish phrases. I haven’t been to Paris since the early 80’s but it sounds like it is still somewhat the same. I would love to revisit Paris some day but once I went to Italy, I never have gotten back to France. I fell in love with Florence, Rome, Venice, Sorrento, and many beautiful little towns in Sicily. I was surprised how many perfume shops there were in Italy. And the scents were beautiful! Too bad a lot of the ones I fell in love with were in little shops and strictly their own house fragrance.
Angela, what a wonderful description of your first few days in Paris.
I feel like I revisited it just by reading your post.
Merci!
You’re welcome, of course!
It is also German for human being, like in the most basic sense.
….a good general word, then, for a clothing store.
I’d love to spend some time in Italy! It’s hard to venture elsewhere when you’ve fallen in love with a place.
Wonderful piece, Angela. I always enjoy your writing.
Thank you so much!
Thank you Angela for sharing your trip with us. Paris is my favorite city in the world (We used to go every year during the 90’s, Air France had a Winter Special, $250 roundtrip from NY!!!! Good times!) Look forward to reading more “chapters” on your trip.
Wow–what a fabulous fare! I’d be tempted to be here all the time.
Hello Robin…if you enjoy bike riding there is a company that offers daytime and night-time supervised bicycle tours of Paris. I went on one years ago and it was a blast. On the night-time one my tour included a short ride on a boat in the Seine River where we went right past the “little” Statue of Liberty. When the French gave us the big Statue of Liberty they kept a little replica of it. We had some wine on the boat. It was a great ride. Do you have any music with you? I loved the sountrack CD to the Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris” – jazz standards from the 30’s…wonderful music for visiting Paris, even if Woody Allen is not your thing. Enjoy and remember…remember, Paris is a “Movable Feast” – so a part of it will always stay with you!
I think I’ve seen some people on those night time bike rides! I love riding my bike, and I could definitely see myself zipping all around town on one. Next time I come to Paris, I’ll have to try to get a credit card with a chip so I can use one of the city bikes.
I loved Midnight in Paris!
I took a boat ride past the mini Statue of Liberty, too!
Nice! Too bad they didn’t have a mini-Ellis Island. Then the whole experience would have been complete, in miniature!
Oh Angela, I so love the way you write. Cannot wait for the rest of the stories. I just looked at the map of Vivant and noticed I stayed right around the corner from it on Rue D’Hauteville last October! How did I miss this? Oh la la la la. Next time! May the rest of your trip be magical. 🙂
Thank you so much! Yes, next time definitely check out Vivant–no matter what part of town you stay in.
Mensch is Yiddish for man, but it also Yiddish for a virtuous ideal of manhood, best (but imprecisely translated as “Stand up Guy”). Great name for a store.
American Gigolo as a store for women? Do they sell Richard Gere, or at least the other services of Gigolos? A gigolo can never be a mensch.
As for that Aesop; how nice to know an American cosmetic company is considered chic in France.
Mensch is actually a great name for a men’s clothing store–but still somehow it strikes me as kind of hilarious.
Aesop is Australian…
I wondered if that was the case. What great soap.
Oh. I stand corrected. I always thought of it as a very California brand.
Although, perhaps there are certain cultural similarities between California and Australia (good weather, a preference for casual rather than formal elegance etc).
I think in general Americans and Australians have lots in common.
Chuckling at Gigolos and Mensch. I’m glad you’re enjoying Paris. It’s wonderful to visit anytime of the year, but I love vising in the autumn and spring. Winter’s also wonderful with the illuminations. I have the Cartier Baiser Vole Extrait, but would love to try the Essence de Parfum. Bonnes vacances!
I do love the extrait, but now I’m starting to get mixed reviews from others who know it better on the essence as far as how it smells on its drydown. I’ll have to try it more thoroughly and see what I think…
Oh Angela, thank you for this post – so timely! We are visiting Paris and greater France on 18 October, so this is parfait!
Hope you are having a simply lovely time in la belle Paris.
xx
That’s terrific! Between the comments on this post and my last post, there should be plenty of ideas of things to do, if your schedule isn’t already full.
Oh thank you for the heads up! I am beside myself in excitement as I feel la française in spirit.
Do you speak any of the language, Angela?
Yes, a little and poorly, but it’s nice to have even that.
Enjoyed hearing about your first few days in Paris and hope you will provide us with more details of upcoming events as they happen over there.
Thank you! Hopefully more fun is yet to come.
Just lovely, Angela! Reminds me of another wonderful trip to Paris!
Aren’t we lucky?
When I was in France, I ordered Orangina with almost every lunch and dinner. As always, I enjoy your writing. Thanks for sharing!
I love the Orangina bottles, but I’ve been focusing on, uh, more adult beverages.
I am visiting Paris next month and am dying to go to Mensch. When I search for it online, all I find is a sex club in Paris by that name. Whereabouts in town is it?
When in Paris, one must visit Chanel, Dior–and Mensch! It’s on the Rue du Commerce in the 15th. When you get to Manhattan Gigolo, cross the street and it’s down a block. Watch out for the guy in the chicken suit.
I love that Woody Allen line contrasting Paris lights with the cold, dark physical universe. Oh, how I miss Paris or, as our Senegalese friends used to say, “la capitale mondiale de l’Afrique”. How can a huge, diverse metropolis feel so cozy and romantic? Have a great and fragrant time, Angela!
You bring up such a good point–Paris does feel cozy, despite being such a huge, cosmopolitan city. Thank you for your good wishes!
I am glad you are having such a good time. May it stay thus till your return!
I read your pre-Paris post only yesterday. ( I am just back from a holiday myself). I was very sorry to find out that your dog had died. I have a dog myself who is getting old and frail so I can fully appreciate how difficult it must have been.
It was AWFUL, and although Tex died well over a month ago now, I still have pangs about it from time to time and expect I will for a while. Even so, having him in my life was completely worth it and made every day that much better. I wish you the best of luck and many more enjoyable, tail-wagging days with your little guy (or gal).