I feel like the universe is conspiring to give me the greatest sendoff from this city I've learnt to call my home.
This weekend was filled with the greatest and most unexpected joys. It was one of those weekends void of plans, yet as soon as one unplanned excitement came to a close, another would appear in its place.
It all began on Friday night, when a new friend and I decided to picnic on the seine, near my favourite spot by the Alexander III bridge. We ended up sitting on a wall surrounded by throngs of people of scattered nationalities, drinking and dining and dancing along the waterfront, all the way from the Tour to the Gare d'Austerlitz in the east, it seemed. When the weather gets hot in Paris, its citizens crawl from their apartments to be ejected into the city's various parks and quais. This results in confused American gentlemen asking with bewilderment if there is some sort of D-Day celebration happening, to which we reply that no, it is simply a nice day, and this is what Parisians do on a nice day. It strikes me all at once that I consider myself an insider now.
At around twelve thirty we decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower, which was scheduled to glitter in its last hourly spectacle for the night at one. Seeing it explode into light as we neared the grass in front of it, we broke into a run and - gasping - we collapsed upon the dewy green and stared up into the sky, where directly above us the gigantic tower danced and shone in a brilliant supernova of a thousand crystals. It felt as if they might fall from the sky and cover us in diamonds as our hearts beat out of our chests and we tried to find constellations after the tower had fallen into a blackened silence.
Upon devouring a nutella banana crepe and some frites with saucisson, we decided to brave the night and stay awake until sunrise. We sat on a footbridge spanning the river and walked along the tree-lined banks as the hours bled away from two to three to four in the morning.
I am now going to briefly touch on the single negative event that took place this weekend, June. I had just finished explaining why we shouldn't be scared to be walking in the middle of the night in Paris' safest arrondissement when we were harassed and chased by a young man. It was one of the few times where I have felt genuinely unsafe. We were lucky enough to escape relatively unscathed, but this should not be seen as lucky. It is our right as humans to be able to walk around in our city at whatever hour we please, without fearing for our lives. Sometimes feminism. Actually always feminism. Okay, rant over. (But seriously, during this entire adventure, we spotted perhaps two other women, and easily fifty men. What?!)
After a brief nap and stopping to load my film camera, we set out to watch the sun rise over the Pont Alexander III, and what a sunrise it was. The Paris sky is unreasonably and inexplicably beautiful, and my first sunrise was nothing short of just that. The sky was streaked with cotton candy clouds and bright peacock blues as we watched in our sleep-deprived, five a.m. daze.
~
Later that day, after a small sleep, I ventured to Belleville for an event supporting the Coup du Monde poetry slam in Paris. It was an open mic by poets from France, the U.S.A, Norway, Japan, and the U.K., and featured improvising dancers.
I then joined a friend at Parc de la Villette, another bucket list item, for a free music festival where they were selling vinyl records in the forest on the banks of the upper Canal St. Martin. We sat on the grass as music throbbed throughout the gigantic park reflected in the infamous mirrored orb, and I practiced my headstands.
That evening, I joined my friend from the previous night for Berthillon ice cream and wine on Ile de la Cite. We got whisky and fig and white chocolate flavoured ice cream and talked about the world.
~
On Sunday, my friend celebrated her birthday on the Champs de Mars under a bright sun, beneath the Eiffel Tower. Full circle everyone.
I can only hope (and expect) that this week and my weekend in Rome (gasp!) will be just as magical, if not even better.
Love always,
Coral
No comments:
Post a Comment