Last Days

If I do say so myself, I ended my time in Paris LIKE A BOSS. Besides finishing a first draft of my novel, I gave proper goodbyes to everyone I loved, ate everything I wanted to eat and enjoyed every last moment to the hilt. Here's how I spent my last days in the City of Light.

I enjoyed the weird stuff in my wonderful 1-bedroom apartment, also known as the Princess Palace.

(Below is the one and only non-pink, pastel or neon item in the whole joint)

I admired some of the loveliest wallpaper I've ever seen at a café up the street:

I cried looking at the late afternoon light, both from rue Oberkampf:

And out my bedroom window, where my eyes would drift during my writing hours:

I had the most incredible, delectable, delicious and decadent chocolat fondant at a teeny restaurant on Passage Molière (the key to this dessert was a slightly salty interior chocolate):

And shared it with the eminent connoisseur of chocolats fondants of France (who gave it his hearty approval):

I got a surprise au revoir party from Elsa and the Parisiennes (ooh! That'd be a good pop group). I had them pose as "French":

Then "American":

I'll miss these girls.

I had one last gossippy lunch with Daisy on the church steps of l'Eglise Saint-Phillip-de-Roule:

I kept looking out my window.

I was beyond honored to be the Featured Reader at Paris Lit Up, and got an entire 20 minutes to read selections from my, ahem, oeuvre, centered around the theme of the elongation of a single moment:

And the following Monday was also pleased to be a "featured author" at ANOTHER event, Sylvia Sabes' literary salon "Words and Wine," an honor I shared with my dear friend Lisa, who read the first chapter of her book:

I went on a food tour of the 17th arrondissement, which included a behind-the-scenes tour of a boulangerie/pâtisserie, and we got to watch the pastry chefs create hundreds of galettes des roi for the upcoming holiday season:

And also I ate an insanely good eclair from the same chefs:

I discovered a favorite new cheese, the Brillat-Savarin, at the legendary cheese shop Androuet. This particular fromage, a triple-cream brie with a thin line of herb-infused truffle oil streaking through the center, is named after 19th-century lawyer, politician and gastronome Jean Antheme Brillat-Savarin, who not only famously said "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are," but also uttered the less-famous quote, "A day without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye." This is my kind of guy.

I saw a free concert of a new favorite band, Lake Street Dive, courtesy of my sister-from-another-mother Amy of The Bluegrass Situation. They rocked the house! They even got Parisians to dance!

And later went with Rafael to check out his artwork adorning a nearby hotel. He did all the engravings in the hotel, in every room (seventy in all!) and also hand-painted the tables in the ritzy bar (where we got free drinks courtesy of dandy bartender Antoine).

I ate a delicious foie gras at the little wine bistro near my house (where I went with Lisa, Aurélien and Adrien after they helped me move into the neighborhood) along with tiny mountains of sea salt, freshly-ground pepper, and carmelized onions... accompanied by a lovely pinot gris and a view that was both delightful and melancholy-inducing.

I also got my fill of French onion soup at Les Editeurs in the 6th later that week. I was running late and asked for my check as soon as I was finished with my soup, and the waiter said, "Relax! Relax! All you Americans just want to run around too fast! Just enjoy your life!"

I enjoyed my life, and the view, from the rooftop at Adrien's office (pas mal!):

I packed and packed and packed, as has been my life at least for the last few years, and took a final look at my Paris map, decorated with dots at every friend's address around town:

I celebrated December and friendship at a little fête at Lisa and Aurélien's apartment, where we drank champagne, sang along to silly Christmas songs, posed in front of wintry decorations and danced the night away.

I had a beautiful last evening, starting with dinner at Elsa's and ending with whiskeys with Adrien at a café at the top of Parc de Belleville, which boasted a glorious view of the Eiffel Tower as well as this boulangerie which was featured in "Le Ballon Rouge":

It was a good run, Paris. You done me right. I did and saw and ate and experienced more than I ever thought I would in my time there. Merci.

Another Novel Finished.

Just in time for my departure from Paris - and that deadline made it happen - I've finished a first draft of my second novel. The first one I considered "for practice," but this one I worked harder and longer on, and I'm proud of it.

It's a beautiful thing to accomplish a goal. This is what I came here to do, and dammit, I did it.

Here's the gift I gave to myself to celebrate. A garnet ring from an antique shop two doors down from the Closerie des Lilas. I think it's quite "Jenna."

December in Paris

From Adam Gopnick's wonderful book Paris to the Moon:

"The hardest thing to convey is how lovely it all is and how that loveliness seems all you need. In that moment on a December at four o'clock when you're walking from the bus stop to the rue Saint-Dominique... you feel as if you've escaped your ghosts if only because, being you, they're transfixed looking at the lights in the trees on the other bank, too, which they haven't seen before, either."

Lately

Here are a bunch of photos I've taken in the last few months, just now getting around to posting them...

I have a new favorite flower: the dahlia. There was a gorgeous "exhibit" at the Jardin des Plantes with row after row of different dahlia colors, sizes and shapes. A lovely way to spend an autumn afternoon...

Particularly the Brazilian red dahlia.

The rosy night sky just before I left Montmartre:

And just enjoying Montmartre in general...

Hello beauty...

Enjoying the new neighborhood and the sunset view from my window:

Nice store name!

Celebrating my birthday at Lisa's house, with pink champagne, shrimp bites, mini crispy cheese sticks, and roquefort blue cheese "cigarettes" or roll-ups:

And sparklers, and dancing to the Beatles' "Happy Birthday":

And later with flowers...

And a trip to the opera...

Now I've done just about everything I wanted to in Paris!

Including dancing on a Monday night with fifty other American girl bloggers:

It doesn't get much better than that!

Autumn In Paris