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purposeful aimlessness
Over the course of the last two days, I wrote an unusually worthwhile essay in which I talked about the half-life of satisfaction and the ever-presence of struggle, restlessness, impatience, and bit-chomping-at, and some awesome advice once imparted to me by a college friend. But then I woke up this morning, reread it, and was all “to hell with this! I’m going to Paris tonight!”
Because I am. I am! I am! I am! And there will be no existential, bleak drama on such a grand day despite the inherent French-ness of such a struggle. At least not until I return (“return” supposedly being Monday night but mind you, I have not actually made any promises that I will), and in the days between now and then there will be copious amounts of my five favorite things: chocolate, wine, coffee, street-wandering, and obsessive photography.
One of the greatest things my husband has taught me in his tenure as my Favorite Boy is the art of the unplanned vacation. The last time we went to Paris, we picked a different neighborhood each day, and loosely guided by a book of walking tours, burrowed our way through hundreds of nooks, crannies, and tiny cafes. We never had a plan, but we left feeling like we’d seen everything except for those time-sucking museums, troglodytes that we are. (Fine, we saw two, but quickly.) Had I been allowed to plan our trip, I probably would have bogged us down with Culture and Purpose. Yech.
This time, we’re armed with far more inspiration: there’s Ang’s favorite shop on the Île Saint Louis, David Liebovitz’s preferred chocolate shop, Clotide’s most beloved bakery, all of Julie’s favorite places to go in her neighborhood, and my great desire to visit Pierre Hermé. But, we’re not above burning this list to keep it from interfering with our need for aimlessness, or you know, the opposite of our day-to-day lives in New York. Which, you know, is kind of the point of a vacation anyhow, even a tiny irrational one like this.
***
In other news, things people have said to us in reference to this vacation:
“You go for the weekend? That’s crazy.”
“It’s cold there! Don’t forget your coat!”
“You come back with news for us, okay?”
“You’ll be so jetlagged, you won’t have a chance to go anywhere!”
“Wait, it was cheaper than going to LA? Really?”
“You’re going to have some News for us when you get back, right?”
“You set aside two days to go to the Louvre, right?”
“You’re supposed to go to Paris in the springtime! This isn’t spring.”
“Wouldn’t it be great if you came back with big, exciting news?”
And my response to each and every one:
“Pbbbffflt.”
***
[Photos from our last trip to Paris over here.]
comments (15)
Have an awesome trip! So. Jealous.
1 | Hilary | March 16, 2006 12:15 PM
Huh The 2 Hillary's (1 L and 2 LLs) posting a note first....I am going to be so bored at work tomorrow with nothing new to read! But I am totally jealous of you! Your husband is the best!
Big Hugs
have a SUPER time :)
2 | Hillary | March 16, 2006 12:32 PM
ohmigosh you are totally inspirational. I'm going to make my boyfriend read this post!!
3 | sally | March 16, 2006 01:50 PM
Have a wonderful time and feel free to come back with no big news... I was at the doctor's for my annual yesterday and upon hearing that I'd gotten married 3 months ago, the next words out of his mouth are "Great! When do you want to go off the pill?" Yeah, right.
4 | Jess | March 16, 2006 02:06 PM
Dude! You're goin' to PARIS!! Who cares if you're jetlagged! Jetlag, scmetlag!
5 | Caren | March 16, 2006 02:36 PM
Ha ha! - as a NYer I admire you... as a west indian / parisian I TOTALLY ADMIRE YOU and understand the concept of NEVER PLANNING A VACATION(yes in caps) and enjoing every minute of chocolate/cheese/wine/coffe without worrying about how much room there will be in the jeans you just bought for some ridiculous amount of money in manhattan, or the amount of "culture" you enjoyed... Bisous et bon voyage!!!!
6 | Dans | March 17, 2006 02:45 AM
Years ago, I did the last-minute weekend trip to Belgium. It was fantastic!
Have an amazing time!
7 | The Writer | March 17, 2006 10:50 AM
I love unplanned vacations. They are the best. Have a great time!
8 | Anna | March 17, 2006 11:48 PM
anyone reading about the rioting in paris? its on cnn.com
oops
9 | Cupcakes | March 18, 2006 10:47 PM
Hope you have fun in Paris! And when you return, you can have fun with this recipe!
http://colleencuisine.blogspot.com/2006/03/peeps-flambe.html
10 | Jennifer | March 19, 2006 07:49 PM
Hope you had a great time! Going on a trip like that is like what happens in a movie. First marrying an international hunk and then flying to Paris for the weekend! What a charmed life.
Unfortunately, in the movie version, the couple never gets stuck in an overcrowded 6 train during rush hour.
11 | Neil | March 20, 2006 11:47 AM
woo hoo! have fun!
12 | jennifer | March 20, 2006 01:08 PM
Welcome home!
13 | Jess | March 21, 2006 12:29 PM
Hope you had an amazing time. I miss that being on the west coast - the choices for an unplanned long weekend just don't seem as good out here for some reason.
14 | LALawyer | March 21, 2006 12:52 PM
Dude, I was there the same time you guys were!!! I wish I'd known. I am just as smitten with that fair ville as you are, Deb. So so loverly!
15 | Forest | April 4, 2006 12:34 AM