Take it slow, take it easy on me.
These last couple of days I have been unwell and trapped in bed sleeping off fevers and a throat hosting an old farm tractor. I'm used to powering through illnesses. I never had a choice back home where I was studying and working practically 24/7. So now I have so much time off to enjoy this gorgeous planet and I'm in bed watching old French films (thank you Marcus for the suggestions!!) and listening to Bon Iver remixes whilst I eat so many bananas I am going bananas.
But today is Saturday. And though I started the day quite late (fell back asleep until 1pm deal with it, yo), I wasn't going to let it be a wasted weekend. Weekends here, as I have mentioned previously, have a different feel to them. But one of my favourite photographers and bloggers BonParisien says it perfectly:
"Weekends are for resting, and people don’t live to work here. They work to live, something that Europeans are extremely proud of."
Upon reading that this morning it suddenly occurred to me that despite the sudden drop from 20 degrees down to 9, the day will still bring warmth if I let it. And so I got up, shook and shimmied myself into a pair of tight ass jeans, paired them with my new Paris street-friendly loafers and a loose coat and I was suddenly making my way down the stairs and out the door into the crisp autumn air. I visited Le Marais and peeked into vintage clothing stores and art galleries and design concept stores. But what I enjoyed most was this feeling like there weren't any tourists around me. I am sure there were, but I imagined before me what the above quotation reminded me of - that the weekends are the way the French actually live. Shopping is something Parisians enjoy and art, decor, reading and writing and Le Marais is the perfect place to find them rummaging through bits and pieces likes its more than just a shopping trip - it's a render-vous with their favourite people and things. Watching them duck in and out as the afternoon turned into evening made me feel like I was part of it. And I guess I was. As it grew colder I decided to try this 'Pumpkin Spiced Latte' which seems to be a staple of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and hell yes it was delicious. I also walked into a Tattoo parlour and got my ear pierced by a totally cute French boy. But that's irrelevant.
