A Little Paris In My Life

Firstly, welcome back to a newer, fresher Mocking Bird! Thank you for your patience as we cleared out the craziness. I’ve missed this space and am so glad to be back.

What can I say about Paris? Our 4 days were filled to the brim with sweet French magic. She delighted me in ways I could never have imagined and left me pondering faulty images my mind had conjured up ahead of time.

She wooed me as I knew she would with her beauty and sophistication. Seeing her architecture and regalness in the flesh touched me in new ways and I was overcome with joy upon being able to wander her streets as though they were my own.

Montmartre was as perfect as I could have hoped, with her cobbled stones, winding streets, soaring stairways, and boulangeries galore. The hardest part of my day was choosing which patisserie to purchase breakfast from. Our perfect little window overlooked the square on Place des Abbesses, where a 4 piece band would play in the evenings and people would stroll with baguettes in hand. Much to my joy, it also had a view of the Eiffel Tower, that I would look upon with wishes of ‘bonne nuit’ each evening. She truly is beautiful when she twinkles.

I didn’t have too much trouble with the language barrier as I ended up having my built in French speaker with me the whole time. Sean surprised me on my first day in Morocco with an email telling me he was coming to meet me in Paris. I was overjoyed that I would get to spend my first time in Paris with him. We have been talking about going together for as long as we have known each other and it wouldn’t have been right without him. We walked the Seine as I had always imagined, we shared a kiss on the Eiffel Tower, he indulged me in afternoon tea at both Ladurée and Angelina, and we strolled through the Musee d’Orsay and the Musee de l’Orangerie- oh my god, the waterlilies in that museum are AMAZING. I had one of my “this is a once in a lifetime experience right now!” moments there.

Paris always had my heart from afar and now she has a piece of it floating over Rue Lepic awaiting my return.

What do you think of my Polaroid memories? And let me know your thoughts on the new look! It’s great to be back!

Oh, how I love having a patisserie and a bakery run by actual French people across the street and down the road. Yes, the bread is to die for, and yes the chocolate croissants are better than any other I’ve tasted before, but for me what I love about these 2 little places are the way they make me feel.

I stand at the counter, eyeing all the beauty behind the glass, pondering which delight to choose, and patiently wait for my turn. I wait for one little thing. One little thing that transports me instantly. “What would you like?” she says in a romantic, oh so Frenchie accent. For in that moment, the sweet French lady carries me to a patisserie in Paris or a boulangerie in Bordeaux. I can pretend for just that moment that I am steps away from the Sacré Cœur and going to head down the hill with my baguette for lunch. Stepping into these places give me so much more than bread and pastries. They give me hope that I will one day get to visit this town that I have loved from afar for so long.

I wrote a little about our village lifestyle on my guest post on sfgirlbybay last week because I just adore having these special places to call my local haunts. But mostly I love living a little bit of Paris if only for a minute.

Mocking Bird

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