CHLOE MAGAZINE
Consider the free spirits drawn to the place in the early
part of the last century: Hemingway, Stein, Miller,
Joyce, Beckett, Chagall, Picasso…
There are similar circles alive and thriving in Paris today, people who
visit the city and end up staying because their souls feel unchained
there, their steps lighter. As someone who has fallen under the spell
of the city, that I myself have given a lot of thought to what that
elusive quality is, to what exactly it is about Paris that keeps luring
me back, like a thirsty horse to water.
I first went to Paris when
I was 19, a naïve, young
thing in blue jeans traveling on a beer budget. I’d
just graduated from university and had bought a
one-way ticket. I stayed
a month, wandering the
streets in a perpetual state
of marvel, and then came
the time to leave for Germany where I’d secured a
job. The night before my
departure, after dinner in
the Marais with a friend,
I remember coming
across a lighted garden
that glowed magically
behind tall iron gates. I
stood before it thinking
I’d never seen anything
more beautiful in my life
and suddenly my heart
tore in two. Why was I leaving?! I was crazy
to leave!? It was all wrong!
Then, a little voice piped up within my head. It said, “Don’t worry.
You’ll be back.” For some reason I trusted that voice, and off I went.
It would be about a decade before I returned, as it happened, but
imagine this: entirely by accident, I ended up living just steps away
from that very garden.
That was a long time ago. Over the past 15 years, I have gone to and
from Paris countless times. Sometimes, I’ve even declared, “That’s
it. I’m done! Onwards!” But, it never works out. Every time I say a
final goodbye, something takes me back. After all this time, I may
finally have figured out what it is.
Highly civilized cultures value
beauty. They seek it out at every
turn, create it (ie: put money into
it), preserve it, and, in it, take great
pride. The French are one such culture, and Paris is just one jewel in
the country’s crown. Besides, the
beauty of the place isn’t just visible
in monumental things like architecture; it’s everywhere you look:
it’s in the bow on a shoe peaking
out from beneath a café table, a
whiff of perfume on the street,
the golden hue in a wine glass, the
latest planting in the Tuileries, the
twinkling blue of Christmas lights,
a starched white tablecloth, the
mournful voice of a distant accordion, it’s in a glance… Paris is alive
with sensuous life! And the people
there recognize it and are reveling
in it while they can. It’s as though
there were a spirit of “carpe diem”
coursing through the veins of the
city and everyone’s infected.
And that’s the je ne sais quoi. That’s the allure. It’s also the secret
ingredient in French cooking and dining that makes me keep on
writing about it. It’s certainly the muse behind Paris Express.
You can purchase Paris Express at Chapters Indigo, amazon.ca and
www.lauracalder.com