A Paris Day

I only have a little time to see Paris. It is the reason why I whip out my camera on the morning walk from the Hôtel de Ville all the way up to the top of the rue du Temple on my way to the showroom.

Though I blow on that I'm not that interested in the romanticized Paris, it's still romantic damnit. This is especially true for me early in the morning, when I can see my breath in the wet chill of the courtyard, where the camellias and forsythias are still blooming in the brisk cold, and I step out through the big doors to the street into the city waking up, this is the city of Paris I know best I guess.

Smells of coffee and smoke from the cafés, and yeast from boulangeries and patisseries exhibiting the first trays of artful gems of the day, I go down into the metro, in love with the large graphic announcements of everything there is to do and see and buy, read the daily paper on the train and emerge into the light if I'm lucky, or a drizzle if I'm not, into a new part of the city. I walk and snap photos until I get to rue Chapon, where I'll spend my morning until we decide if we want to eat Pho nearby in Paris' original Chinois-town or the plat du jour at the Taxi Jaune right across the street. We drink little cafe "noisettes" in the afternoon on a silver platter Taxi Jaune lets us take across and are animated enough for when our afternoon appointments come, and stay until 8pm when we come out again in the dark, lock the doors for the night and decide where to go for a drink. We talk about business and about what we want to eat, which is delicious especially when eaten in the company of friends. Later we say goodbye until the next morning when it happens all over again.