Bonjour Paris, Ça Fait Longtemps Qu' on Ne S' est Pas Vu - Day 52

     Today was a hellish day of travel. I cannot believe that for a 55 minute flight from Luton to Charles De Gaulle, I spent ALL DAY in transit. I left my apartment at 11am and got into my apartment at 7:30pm. A little ridiculous. But anyway, no complaining. I'm here. I arrived. And I'm in Paris. So there is NOTHING to complain about! 

     The studio apartment that I am renting is in Le Marais, which for those of you who don't know, is in the center of the city, pretty close to Notre Dame. It is in a fabulous location. The studio is tiny, but that is something I'm used to. (I mean, have you seen my London flat?!?) It's tidy. It has internet. And it's a place for me to rest my head at night. Mind you, it is a lofted bed that I have to climb a ladder to access. Ahhh, good ole Paris.

     My plan for the night was to chuck my stuff in my room, take a walk around while it was still dusk to scope out the scene, grab dinner somewhere (maybe write a little), and then tuck in early so that I can maximize my day tomorrow. During my stroll, I found a little Italian restaurant up the street from my flat called Cafe Vito's, which looked perfect. And let me tell you, I had the BEST DINNER EVER. Yes, the food was fantastic (what do you expect, it's Paris - food capital of the world!) but the dinner and my night was totally made because I made friends with a TOTAL STRANGER who was sitting next to me at the restaurant. (It's common here in Europe to sit ungodly close to other tables. It definitely takes some getting used to. Europeans aren't big on personal space.) Anyway, he was like 60 years old, so don't be getting any ideas, but we had the greatest conversation. Laugh out loud, awesome conversation - ALL IN FRENCH!! I was actually really sad when dinner was over that's how much fun I had. 

    To be honest, I was a little nervous about traveling back to Paris all alone, but tonight made me super grateful to have an experience and to make a friend I otherwise would not have made if I hadn't been by myself. I would have been engaged in conversation with my travel companions and would have completely missed out on such meeting such a great person. For my first night back in Paris, and after not speaking real French for a VERY LONG TIME, I really held my own. (Wine helps. I'm far more fluent when wine's involved.)  But when I would stumble or get flustered, he was patient with me and would help me find the words I was looking for.  

     Long story short, he just made my night. That dinner was exactly how I wanted to kick off my little trip to Paris. Traveling alone isn't easy, but it's experiences like this that make it worthwhile. I really wanted to take a picture of us, but I was afraid it would SUPER freak him out - rightfully so.

    

An afterthought: 

      London is an amazing city, one that makes me feel like home. I truly never want to leave. 

But Paris is magical. 

In a totally different way, this city has a feeling about it and a certain je ne sais quoi that makes you feel like anything is possible. It's hard to explain. Paris is like a crush where all you feel are butterflies and all you see are possibilities. It's romantic but you don't have to be in love to experience it's romance. The 'romance' exists between you and the city. As I said, it's hard to put into words, but tonight's dinner really reminded me of that magic and the reason I fell in love with this city in the first place. Don't get me wrong, if I had a choice, I'd settle down permanently in London. But you can bet your ass I'd be visiting Paris whenever I'd have the chance.