The world gets smaller and smaller, I swear. When I was in Paris with Elah, we went out for coffee with a friend of hers. His name is Justin and he graduated Yale 2010 as well. During the course of our conversation, we someone figured out that Justin and I had a mutual friend Margaret (who went to high school with me at Upper St. Clair). Not only do we have this mutual friend, but she also lives in Paris! We were not able to meet up that weekend, but I planned to see her when I made my way back to Paris in a few weeks.
Before I knew it, I was back in Paris on my way to have an aperitifs dinner party with Margaret, Justin, and his house guest. Margaret is staying with her aunt and uncle who live in a beautiful, upper/upper middle class part of Paris -- the 16th arrondissement. This part of Paris reminds me of the scenes depicting Julia Child's life in Paris in Julie and Julia (2009):
Lucky for me, Metro Line 6 passes right by the Eiffel Tower on the way to the 16th. Naturally, I took a little side trip to experience one of the best views of the tower from across the Seine river.
Eventually, I made my way up Victor Hugo Avenue towards Margaret's place. It was a truly stunning apartment in the heart of the 16th with vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, and expansive kitchen, and just a lovely, warm environment. We had quite the eclectic spread for dinner: American-style nachos, hummus, bubuganoush, baguette, strawberries, red and white wine, berry tart etc. The conversation was as dynamic as the food offerings -- ranging from travel to French politics to living as an American in Paris. At one point, we moved out onto the 5th floor terrace to watch the sunset.
Margaret shared some interesting facts about the re-structuring of Paris in the mid/late 19th century. See some more info on the master architect, Haussmann's vision. At this time, most of Paris was deconstructed and rebuilt with the uniform, stone-front facades we know today. Many of the apartment buildings in Paris follow a certain 7-floor architectural plan. According to Margaret, the ground floor of apartment buildings were meant to house various commercial institution and the owner's/operators of those stores lived on the floor directly above. Of the apartments in these commercial-residential buildings, the second floor apartments were the most modest. Interestingly, the third floor apartment was considered the most prized. You'll note that these apartments have the largest windows, highest ceilings etc. They were considered far away enough from the street to not "dirty" wealthy people's lives with the daily goings-on of the street below, but they didn't have to walk up several flights of stairs to get to them. The 4th and 5th floors were comfortable living spaces with slightly smaller windows and lower ceilings. The 6th floor was almost equal in stature to the sophisticated 3rd floor apartments (and had a great view to boot). Last, but not least, the 7th floor with its large dormers were servants quarters and had separate entrances and staircases. In the last few decades, Parisian families have begun reclaiming the servants quarters as hip places to raise families. So interesting!
After our dinner party, I made my way back to the Eiffel Tower to catch a glimpse of this beautiful structure at night. I was hoping to see the light show that goes off every half our or so, but I didn't catch it in time. However, something better happened. A gorgeous pseudo-harvest moon (e.g. red moon that rises in autumn. I call it pseudo because this happened in spring) began rising up over the horizon. The picture below does not do this moment any justice, unfortunately. The moon was huge and mesmerizing. Everyone watched it creep up along the left side of the Eiffel Tower. Beautiful!
And...heere is a youtube video of what that light show looks like when you do catch it:
Before I knew it, I was back in Paris on my way to have an aperitifs dinner party with Margaret, Justin, and his house guest. Margaret is staying with her aunt and uncle who live in a beautiful, upper/upper middle class part of Paris -- the 16th arrondissement. This part of Paris reminds me of the scenes depicting Julia Child's life in Paris in Julie and Julia (2009):
Lucky for me, Metro Line 6 passes right by the Eiffel Tower on the way to the 16th. Naturally, I took a little side trip to experience one of the best views of the tower from across the Seine river.
Eventually, I made my way up Victor Hugo Avenue towards Margaret's place. It was a truly stunning apartment in the heart of the 16th with vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, and expansive kitchen, and just a lovely, warm environment. We had quite the eclectic spread for dinner: American-style nachos, hummus, bubuganoush, baguette, strawberries, red and white wine, berry tart etc. The conversation was as dynamic as the food offerings -- ranging from travel to French politics to living as an American in Paris. At one point, we moved out onto the 5th floor terrace to watch the sunset.
Margaret shared some interesting facts about the re-structuring of Paris in the mid/late 19th century. See some more info on the master architect, Haussmann's vision. At this time, most of Paris was deconstructed and rebuilt with the uniform, stone-front facades we know today. Many of the apartment buildings in Paris follow a certain 7-floor architectural plan. According to Margaret, the ground floor of apartment buildings were meant to house various commercial institution and the owner's/operators of those stores lived on the floor directly above. Of the apartments in these commercial-residential buildings, the second floor apartments were the most modest. Interestingly, the third floor apartment was considered the most prized. You'll note that these apartments have the largest windows, highest ceilings etc. They were considered far away enough from the street to not "dirty" wealthy people's lives with the daily goings-on of the street below, but they didn't have to walk up several flights of stairs to get to them. The 4th and 5th floors were comfortable living spaces with slightly smaller windows and lower ceilings. The 6th floor was almost equal in stature to the sophisticated 3rd floor apartments (and had a great view to boot). Last, but not least, the 7th floor with its large dormers were servants quarters and had separate entrances and staircases. In the last few decades, Parisian families have begun reclaiming the servants quarters as hip places to raise families. So interesting!
After our dinner party, I made my way back to the Eiffel Tower to catch a glimpse of this beautiful structure at night. I was hoping to see the light show that goes off every half our or so, but I didn't catch it in time. However, something better happened. A gorgeous pseudo-harvest moon (e.g. red moon that rises in autumn. I call it pseudo because this happened in spring) began rising up over the horizon. The picture below does not do this moment any justice, unfortunately. The moon was huge and mesmerizing. Everyone watched it creep up along the left side of the Eiffel Tower. Beautiful!
And...heere is a youtube video of what that light show looks like when you do catch it:
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