La Premiere Jour en Paris

It is both fair and unfair to write about a place like Paris in the evening of the first day. It’s fair because impressions are raw and unfiltered by familiarity – the electric first glimpse of the whiteness of Sacre Coeur from the Roissybus going from the airport to L’Opera downtown. Scanning the horizon for the Eiffel tower and finding it only in brief shards between the trees. Finding our way to Place Pigalle and the apartment – only to see the Eiffel Tower in full splendour from each of the two French doors in the tiny – I think realtors call it “jewel box” – apartment we are fortunate to occupy.

The unfair part of writing about this awesome place on the first day is that we are tired into a biological state that feels like “boat legs”. Should we walk, drink, eat, sleep? Various advice before we left promoted the pros and cons of all of them; so in an effort to bond quickly with this crazy city we did them all! Now at 11 pm local time (2 pm Victoria time) we are back in our Montmartre pied-a-terre exercised, watered, fed, and enjoying the most amazing bottle of wine from the corner grocery that cost less than $3 – really!

For a while after dark we sat out on the tiny balcony that is nestled into the angled roof. Most 6^th floor apartments that were designed to fit Baron Haussmann’s architectural design for the City have this feature. We looked over Place Pigalle at the locals and the tourists, the shops and the restaurants, the seedy bars offering lap dances, and at the icon known round the world. The Eiffel tower is stately, in its night-lighted, presence. She sits as a grand dame that defines both elegance and grace, and at the same time the gorgeousness of mathematical structure. I felt totally awed to sit and admire her and then, in an instant, she started to dance like a rock star. Vibrating and pulsating lights covered the tower making her glitter all over like a dancehall mirror ball. She seemed to strut while exhibiting an in-your-face, I-can-dance-if-I-want to, isn’t-this-cool attitude that made me fall totally in love with her. What a rockin’ and progressive symbol of a city, a culture and an experience!

As I fell asleep last night, I thought about the Queen Elizabeth-like stately tower taking five minutes out of 60 to become Queen the rock band, and I relate. It’s taken us 60 years to get here, and we’re going to rock the experience!