Hello Paris

Day 1:

The Los Angeles sunrise bid me farewell, and the Parisian sunrise welcomed me warmly. My father and I managed to navigate through customs and find our luggage. Then came my first real French test: Putting years of language training to use to give our cab driver accurate directions to the hotel. We would like to go to… The words effortlessly came to me, and we were on our way. That felt good. I thought maybe I just got off easy because I practiced saying the directions to myself a few times. I tested the waters a bit more to see how far I could take a conversation. It’s very cold. Is this a cold winter for France? The weather? Come on, Taylor. That’s elementary French. How many kilometers is it to Paris? Which bank has the most ATMs in Paris, BNP Paribas or HSBC? Now we’re talking. This is totally a conversation two Parisians would have.

After checking-in, we decided to grab lunch. I have this handy guide called Top 10 Paris (thanks Liz), and it has the top 10 of everything that you could find in Paris. “This bustling eatery is a favorite of the locals…” If the locals were there, then it should be a homerun. And with my language skills, this shouldn’t be a problem. In short, I was wrong. At Le Petit Vendôme the pace of speech was so fast and it felt like everyone was moving to some strange rhythm, and I just couldn’t catch the beat. Simple words slipped my mind. How do you say check please, again? What’s the customary amount to tip? I was getting nervous and began resorting to hand signals.

*Note: Le Petit Vendôme = Best baguette in Paris (seriously, the book said so).

When I had a moment to collect myself, we headed up the Avenue de l’Opera towards the Galleries Lafayette, a famed mega-mall of Paris. It is an exciting place and it happens to be sale season. Twice a year, in January and July, Paris has city-wide sales that last a few weeks at almost every retail store. I became so enamored with the experience that I impulsively bought a Diesel sweater. It was such a good deal! Until I realized that the exchange rate eats my US dollars like the fat mayor in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs eats food.

Dinner time approached and I consulted my reliable Top 10 Paris guide once again. Willi’s Wine Bar was the selection for the night. Here, I had my first encounter with Cognac and Armagnac.

Fun Fact: Cognac was discovered when shippers “burned” the wine to extract the water, so they could ship more of it (and then re-add the water after transport). The result… Wine concentrate, or, Cognac.

Tonight was supposed to be the night to start the blog. Then I met Julia, a 27 year old Eastern European stopping through between business trips. As I sat in the hotel lobby (the only place with WiFi) with two other Mexican women, Julia drunkenly stumbles in and orders “a glass of dry, full-bodied wine” from the hotel receptionist. Turning around to see us, Julia begins to pontificate on the importance of seizing every opportunity in life. “How could you sit there on your computers ignoring each other? We are people of the world in a city of love!” I liked her style. I decided to close my computer and enjoy the show. It’s not very often you meet people with such passion for life. Long story short, we’re friends on Facebook.