As some of you know, I have spend many many months if not years in Paris. A part of my heart will always be reserved for it and I will always love it. My great grandmother lived there until her death when I was 20 and I would spend weeks on end there as a child - running through the markets and parks with my mother on visits with her. Re-living the memories of my mother's childhood in the city as a little girl in the same shops, the same parks, the same neighbourhoods was a treasure for a little girl and a young mother.
I came to love Paris on my own, when I lived there when I was 16, alone, with an exchange family for 6 months. I was allowed to roam the city and do as I please most days - a luxury that was not allowed in my own overly strict household in Toronto. Days were spent shopping, hanging out in every gallery I could find, scouring the old bookstores, haute couture shops of le germain, exploring the marche au posse and being a free teenager. These were the days that I fell in love with a boy named Guillaume, saw Lenny Kravitz twice, I smoked my first cigarette (and only until I went to University), I came to love champagne, Led Zeplin, fashion, style and luxury.
So many blogs and writers are wrtitng about Paris or France in one way or another, the food, the wine, the people.... but few that I have found are capturing the streets of Paris in their images like Carol Gillott on Paris Breakfasts. Carol is a watercolor artist and her work of the Paris streets are sweet, charming and adorable, but I love the photos she finds and posts. Unless you have spent time in Paris, I am not sure that you would see the distinction between pretty pictures of the Arc de Triumphe and Parisiene children wearing their scarves just so, but Carol does and it is fabulous.
It is truly worth going and having a look. It takes me back to those carefree days of becoming myself in a city that allowed me to figure out who that self was in all its splendid glory.
Paris, je vous manque
The daily (or close to daily!) rants and raves of a self-proclaimed princess as she tries to find her way through life's twist and turns........
Thanks for stopping by,
Princess Steph
2 comments:
Weren't you lucky to have that special time at just 16 to experience Paris with so much freedom and joy!
I envy you that chance.
Thanks so much for these kind words about Paris breakfast.
I truly appreciate your response to my blog.
Very kind indeed Stephanie!
Merci,
Carolg
Such a great blog... It really made me miss Paris. I need to do another stint there at some point. xoxo
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