Bonne Année!
I'm not sure a blog by definition exists if there is only one post? I had high hopes last year of conquering my fear, hesitation, procrastination (whatever I want to, or will call it), of writing a blog post each day. One week passed, a month came and went, and now here it is...an entire year later.
An entire year after a wonderful year of reflection.
I'm not much for resolutions, but at the end of each year I do like to spend some time thinking about the previous months. How did I spend my time, where did I travel, what did I eat and drink, who did I meet, did I read, what did I envision and what did I see, did I learn, was something gained, what was lost, what did I experience?
Last January I had just wrapped up a role leading a digital marketing agency that had lasted eight years. Actually, I was ending a 20 year career in advertising and technology. I wasn't sure that I wanted to end my entire career exactly. But I did need a break. My husband called it my gap year. According to Wikipedia a gap year is a time to, " engage in language studies, learn a trade, art studies, volunteer work, travel, internships, sports...all for the purposes of improving the self in knowledge, maturity, decision making, leadership and independence." I was interested in pursuing this gap year--with gusto.
We started the year with a special trip abroad. A week in Paris with my husband, his brother and our sister-in-law. We had never traveled together but the group quickly slid into a comfortable groove, each day following one another up and down the romantic streets and alleyways. We indulged ourselves and our senses with architecture, art, food, wine, history, markets, and then more food and significantly more wine! We walked for miles and miles, bundled up in wool coats, hats, gloves and scarves. We had our trusty smart phones and old fashioned guides (actual books!), and spent entire days on self guided tours from one end of the city to the other. Of course we had a few tense moments too, one person ready for espresso, another a nap; another jazzed about the cute chapeau shop across the street, and another ready for a nice Pastis.
“But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden money, nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight.”
“Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual.”
In the spirit of Bicycle Morning, sweet things along this trip included...
Cozy evening cocktails at Hotel Montalembert .
Wonderful pastries and espresso at Hotel L'Abbeye.
A local farm to table curated dinner at Septime, featuring seven exquisite courses and a wildly out of the ordinary wine flight (surprise to my husband who exclaimed, "yes--of course we want this experience"--he thought it was included in the already decadent package).
Traditional French tartare and frites with our friend Marine at Restaurant Bouilllon Chartier.
Treks to as many museums as we could possibly manage including Museum of Montmartre and Renoir Gardens, Musee d'Orsay, and Centre Pompidou.
“To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them.”
“I’ve seen you, beauty, and you belong to me now, whoever you are waiting for and if I never see you again, I thought. You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil.”
We talked, laughed, led, followed, debated, pondered, acted out, imbibed, shopped, noticed, cuddled, enjoyed, expanded, observed, argued, supported, encouraged, challenged, agreed and loved. It was the start to my personal moveable feast.
“Méfiez-vous de la merde de chien!”
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”