jeudi 3 mai 2012

The Essence ...




Home now ... but what is home?  Is it true that old cliche "home is where the heart is..." ?  Of course I love my family but really my family is all over the world ... so is it safe for me to say one of my hearts homes is Paris?

Many people have traveled all over the world ...I'm not one of those.  I've been to many places in the United States, to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean.  This was my first trip to Paris and I feel like a Christian who has been "born again."  Like the Christian who can't but their hand on Jesus ... who can't meet God (except if one believes God is everywhere), I can't put my finger on one exact touchstone on why Paris feels like home to me.  I'm here, on Cape Cod and feeling blue and missing that city.

I think it is the Essence.

One thing I noticed is there are bookstores -- sometimes many of them on a single small street.  Librarie Ulysses bookstore was on the same street as our apartment.  A tiny closet of a space that sells only travel books.  I had read about it long before arriving not really knowing it was on our street however.

One night, we were heading out to dinner and as we walked by the shop, we noticed a small gathering of people inside, drinking champagne and having laughs.  A woman popped out of the doorway as we walked by and offered us to take a pastry from a plate  -- those delicious little round balls dotted with tiny cubes of sugar -- every one inside the tiny shop was festive and the woman explained that the owner had just been given a medal by the government for being in business for 40 years.  It is the oldest bookstore in the world dedicated to travel.  You can read about it here.  The woman was Catherine.

The photo above was, of course, taken inside the Musee de Orsay.  You are not allowed to take photos in the museum but it was impossible not to try to capture that view.  I was quickly told to put my camera away.

Tomorrow, I will read my notes (my son Sam gave me a moleskine Paris edition which I used profusely) and chat about our Museum experiences.


1 commentaire:

  1. Ah....Paris!
    I took a million pics inside the Musee! bad girl!
    Going to read the rest of your trip now......
    xo Stacey

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