Good-bye Paris

The Peace Wall

Right after returning from London I started what I call my farewell tour of Paris (my rounds of saying good-bye to the people I met in Paris and saying good bye to the city as well). Actually, I’m becoming an expert in saying good-bye: Miami, Munich, Paris and in the future Madrid. The tour started out by spending 2 days of the week before last St. Germain en Laye where I visited Pilar so I coud get to spend some time with her and the kids one last time. The day I came back to Paris from St. Germain I met up with 2 friends in the afternoon to have a hot chocolate at “LaDuree”. Even though I had been in Paris before I had never heard of this iconic “Maison du Thé” (Tea house) where many times you even have to stay in line before you can get a table. The place has been opened since 1863 (as far as I can remember) and it is not only beautiful, very French and very chic but rather pricy too. However it is worth it. There are 2 of them in Paris but I went to the one on Champs Elysee where I ate the best tarte tatin (similar to an apple pie) of my life together with a super delicious, rich and thick cup of hot chocolate; and last but not least we shared an assortment of their famous macaroons. The French macaroons are basically a type of cookie. In this trip, it is the first time where I’ve actually seen and had macaroons: they are 2 cookies made out of egg whites (similar to meringue) and with a filling in the middle. They are made of different flavors such as vanilla, almond, chocolate, strawberry, rose petals and pistachio (my favorite one). As a matter of fact I liked them so much I even bought a book on how to make macaroons of different flavors for when I go back to Miami. Ja ja ja…I laugh: first of all, me cooking????? Ja ja ja ( I laugh again) and making macaroons?!?!?!?. Seeing is believing!!! If I can make macaroons at least a tenth as good as they make them at LaDuree I would be very happy.

Eiffel Tower from Pont Alexander - Sunset at Montmartre

That same day (Wednesday) my friend Eliana Silva arrived from Munich. She came to visit me and spend a couple of days in Paris. This was my chance to become a tour guide of my adoptive city from the last 3 months and a half and gave me also the chance to make one last visit to all my favorite spots. We even had a chance to go out one night to a Jazz and Blues place: very typical in Paris. For many years Parisians have been in love with jazz music. Most of the places where they play jazz, just as this one was, are actually small cellars (cave in French) or basements which tend to be very packed. Many of the good ones and the most famous and oldest ones are located in the St. Germain de Pres area. We listened to a wonderful blues band while sipping a glass of a cheap wine (we were all on a student budget…you know). One of the best things about going out at night in Paris since January 1st 2008 is the fact that now it is forbidden to smoke inside closed places. I never thought that the day would come in Europe where people would be banned from smoking in bars. For a non-smoking person like me it is one of the best laws the French government (as well as many other European governments did) could have implemented in 2008.

With Eli at Notre Dame -- With Caro Niso in front of the Moulin Rouge

At the Palais Royal (Royal Palace) in Paris

Blues Band at "Cave des Oubliettes"

My friend left Paris on Monday night and that is when I started packing for my relocation to Madrid. Where is my relocation coordinator when I most needed her? I still can’t get over the fact of how many things we can start to accumulate in a short period of time. I haven’t really bought too many things here (except for books and DVDs…well and maybe 2 or 3 items of clothing during the January super sales) and I still had a difficult time fitting everything into my bags. That night I went to sleep super late and I was invited to a breakfast early in the morning the following day. It was a good-bye breakfast so I had to be there early and only got about 5 hours of sleep. Even though that is what I used to sleep on an average night in my previous life my body is not used to it anymore. I need my 8 hours of beauty sleep!! I almost went into a shock state when the alarm went off and I had to get out of bed…only 5 hours after having fallen asleep. Connie, the one cooking breakfast at her place, is from Monterrey Mexico and is in Paris only for 3 months while her husband is attending a course/training at a hospital. She cooked the typical breakfast from Monterrey: scrambled eggs with meat and tortillas. It was D E L I C I O U S!!! And to my surprise she had purchased a box of macaroons at LaDuree which I of course enjoyed with a cup of coffee for dessert (if such thing really exists: having dessert at breakfast). After breakfast I decided to go for a last walk in Paris. The day was gorgeous: sunny, no clouds on the sky and a very nice and comfortable temperature. After the sunset I headed back home to finish packing and to get together with my roommate for dinner: another goodbye dinner. This time at a French restaurant near the apartment so I had one last chance to walk back home looking at the illuminated Eiffel tower…for the last time.

On Wednesday I woke up early again to start my journey to Madrid. I took a flight with Vueling (very good airline, very good service and very good prices) and arrived in Madrid at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Thank God my uncle (Jorge) was waiting for me. We had some coffee together and then he helped me bring my bags over to Eliana’s apartment which is where I will be staying while in Madrid. And I have to say I couldn’t ask for anything better. I have my own room, my own restroom, and my own set of keys. My uncle couldn’t stay for very long since he was busy doing all the stuff he needs to do for his move to London (which will take place in about a month or 2 at the most) but he promised to take me soon to a new and allegedly better place to have churros con chocolate. Since I got to Madrid I have been resting, reading, jogging everyday (except today) and planning my future trips. I went out on Friday night to see Marelys at a Tapas bar near the city center and get to meet all of her roommates and friends. I couldn’t stay very long (I left at midnight, which is super early for Madrid standards) because otherwise I would miss the last metro back home. Eli’s apartment is located on a new area on the north side of Madrid called Sanchinarro. Between the metro ligero (a tramway) and the metro it can take anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour to get to the city center. Yesterday it was back to the city center after a long jogging session for dinner and coffee with Eli, Mare, Victor and Juan C. And here I am today, finally finishing this post which I started a couple of days ago and getting ready to continue planning the rest of my stay in Europe.

The last 3 and half months in Paris were great and they were a totally different experience from my stay in Munich. Actually my original plan was to stay there until the third week in January and I ended up extending my stay for about 3 weeks and a half. Sometimes I get asked which one I liked better (between France and Germany) but I cannot really answer that question. The fact is that both experiences were soooooooooooo different and they each one left me so unique things that I cannot simply compare them as equal in trying to identify which one was better. Paris left me a new language with which I now feel more comfortable and new culture: I can understand the French people a little bit better now, I understand more of its politics and where they come from, their historical background; I gained an appreciation for their music and their cuisine. Ey!! I even learned how to make Ratatouille. But in Paris everything was not about France and its culture. I met wonderful and very interesting people (all of them not from France) and I made great, smart and good-hearted friends from whom I learned a lot. And finally Paris also gave me a lot of alone time. . . to think and reflect about the things I want in my life for the future.
I have to admit that when I left I had mixed feelings: I felt nostalgic for leaving Paris and the people I was leaving behind but at the same time I was happy and excited about coming to Madrid and getting to share some time with family and friends. I was nostalgic for closing yet another chapter of this adventure and happy for opening a new one…which to some extend is still uncertain…but exciting. Nostalgic for seeing the end of this one year adventure closer and closer, but happy for having gained so much from it, learned, seen, met and done so many things…just as I wanted it and even more…until now...and I left being even more thankful to GOD!!!