Planning Paris: Part One

Sebastian Munster (attributed) - Lutetia, vulgari nomine Paris, urbs Gallia maxima (Paris), from Cosmographia, 1569

Paris, 2008

'Begin at the beginning,' the King said, very gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop.'

From Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Typically, at the beginning of their courtship, a pair of lovers will spend inordinate amounts of time quizzing each other (usually to a chorus of disingenuously flirtatious glances) about their pasts. My question is: Why should things be any different with a city one has fallen in love with?

As I begin planning my next trip to Paris, my mind is pleasantly agitated by what I have learned about it (I want to say "her" - perhaps next time I will) from books and, more powerfully, by my memories of her (there - I've said it!) from previous trysts. One nourishes; the other arouses. One conjures her through the eyes of strangers; the other by means of fragrant reveries.

I feel for the person who is unable - or, even worse, unwilling - to lavish a city with affectionate, immoderate curiosity. I pity them because every question they fail to ask is yet another faltering step in what should be a mutual seduction.

C'est la vie? . . . Not for me.

Musique Du Jour: My Favourite Letter is U, Uni and Her Ukelele (aka Heather Marie Ellison)

Pre(face)

To The City Inside Me From The City I'm In

Me, today, greeting my PDP pals in Paris (and elsewhere around the globe)

In the springtime . . . In the fall . . . In the summer when it sizzles . . . In the winter when it drizzles . . . Every moment . . . Every moment of the year . . .

Cole Porter (I Love Paris)

Musique du Jour: Yann Tierson, Amelie (Soundtrack)

Addendum XIII

When I Was One

Me, 1963

My mother loved children. She would have given anything if I had been one.

Groucho Marx

Coda IV

Always the Villain

Me as the chief "baddie" in our junior school play, 1970