2014... and now what?

I have definitely been absent for a while. 2013 turned out to be a complicated, crazy year full of twists and turns.

For 2014, I look forward to a return to, well, calmer waters. I have plans to spend the summer in England, teaching in both London and Oxford. I hope to take a bookbinding class, starting to learn a new skill... an "old school" kind of one.

I am also continuing my attempts to de-clutter my house and life, to get and stay healthy, to develop and strengthen my personal community, and to be more creative on all levels.

What's new, then, in the Pearl 2014 blog?

Recently I've been asked by no less than five friends to give them advice about what to see and do, where to stay and eat, and similar questions about Paris. Not surprising, really, since I've lived there twice (1999 and 2008) and visited multiple times since 1981. I know the city, although I am always learning more. Most importantly, I give great advice about things to do and see and buy while there.

I've decided to post my favorite 50 tips about visiting Paris. This will include information about travel, hotels, cafes and restaurants, shopping, museums and monuments, and even day trips. Since my travel budget was usually small, most of these will be inexpensive (verging on cheap), but some will be splurges worth every euro. I'll also point out etiquette along the way, manners and attitudes that will keep you from standing out as an Ugly American.

To my mind,the whole point of visiting someplace away from home is to engage with that place and its culture--not your own reproduced. Travelling broadens us because we aren't at home and can't act like it.

I'll also include a list of movies, books, and music that you can use to prepare yourself for visting Paris, or simply to indulge in a virtual visit.

This means every week will see a new tip plus new materials about Paris. So if you can't visit in person, you can still enjoy the City of Light.

Parisian market bike

If I were in Paris... Friday, October 29, 2010

The point of cafes is... nothing.

Well, that's a dramatic statement but in some ways very true. I am stting here, now, in a coffee spot in the Big D with a friend, and we're working. She has her laptop, her iPad, her keyboard, her Blackberry... all on. And she's listening to music (I think) through her headphones connected to said iPad.

I have my laptop, my iPod (playing Philip Glass's soundtrack for The Hours), and my phone.

I see 3 folks on laptops, with phones or headphones. Another 2 with notebooks, writing and scratching; one is doing Bible study.

Two women with children chatting... and five people in line for take-away coffee.

If I were in Paris, I might have my laptop, but more likely a book or notebook, scratching away not at "work" of any kind but... whatever. I would certainly be enjoying the people passing by or my book, but I would not be texting, or wifi-ing. I might be talking on my phone (Parisians are even more likely to be doing this, as Europeans have said "ciao!" to landlines long ago).

The "point" however is no point. Time spent... not doing nothing, which suggests wasting time, but actually putting time to good use for replenishing, considering, observing the world and the people in it, and enjoying time. Rather than rushing through it.

These are not new thoughts--even for me--because when I first returned from Paris, I was struck anew at our "cafes" (read this older post on my former blog!). But even here in the Big D there are few places one can sit and watch... let's face it: Starbucks is not exactly Paris, which is why Parisians hate the chain's invasion in their city. It is faux-Paris.

Don't get me wrong: I love me some American cafe where I can get good coffee, meet a friend, and do work. But I do not fool myself that it is the same, just different.

I miss "just" sitting. "Just" reading. "Just" people-watching. Sigh.

I knew it!

As soon as I wrote it... so now I am halfway through The Sun Also Rises and loving it... again, of course, and absolutely homesick for Le Dome and Le Select and La Rotonde, walking the streets of Paris in the soft, blurred evening... breaks my heart, every time. Damned Hemingway!