rue-madame's Diaryland Diary

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I need to move back to Paris

My right arm is feeling better. Pretending it�s just a useless dangling appendage has helped speed recovery.

On this trip, I didn�t do a lot of actual buying. There was a lot of shopping, as usual, but only a few things screamed �Buy me or regret it forever!� Today I am wearing one of my acquisitions: a St James pull marin in red. I will probably wear it to death, just as I have my dark blue one (which is showing signs of a wee bit of wear in the elbows, but other than that, is perfect.) TA even bought one for himself (navy with red stripes.) He looks adorable in it.

I also got a new Caudalie lip balm for 4.5 euros. A bargain at twice the price! But not at three times the price (they cost $15 here in the States. It�s great lip balm, but that�s ridonculous.) The biggest purchase were new trainers. I looked at Pumas and Adidas, hoping to find a style that isn�t carried here, and I did indeed see some that I loved (a pink and maroon patent leather pair come to mind) but no one carried my size. Annoying!

So I did what any smart, self-respecting small shoe size wearing mademoiselle would do: I went to the grands magasins. Printemps and Galeries Lafayette always have small sizes because they a) have ample stockroom space, and b) sell to lots of Japanese women.

Of course, the downside of looking for trainers at a giant gorgeous department store is that there are lots and lots of other shoes to distract you from your mission. I went from trendy Tigers to limited edition Coq Sportifs to �let�s see what Hogan and Tod�s have this season!� to �Gentry said Chanel has cute tennis shoes!� to �Fuck it! Nobody does hipster sporty like Miuccia!�

Prada won out in the end. The trainers are white with soft gray suede accents, and silver technical fabric. They are awesome, and I saved 19.6% on the detaxe!

I saw my French lycee best friend towards the end of our stay, and she asked us what we had done for an entire week in Paris. �Not much. You know, we are like little dogs. We always go back to all the same places. Creatures of habit� And it�s totally true. The apartment we rented in the Marais was right by my old yoga school, so that quartier was familiar, and we always found ourselves on our old metro line, or on my old favorite busses (86, 87.)

Other friends wanted to know if the city seemed changed, and the beauty of Paris is that it changes so slowly, it�s almost imperceptible. Our old caf� on the rue des vieux colombiers? Still there, with the same guy working the counter (he, however, was slightly changed. In 2001, he had begun the first of his hairplug treatments. 2005 finds him sporting a weak but not insignificant little pelouse of hair.) Our old apartment? There, but clearly no longer owned by our darling Madame. The Space Invader on our building? There, but falling apart. Our old boulangeries with the horrid Madame? Still there, but with new, nice owners (and the bread and viennoiseries do not seem to have suffered in quality.)

Today I am going to get back to work. The book I�ve been co-designing with Mr Bingo needs our complete attention if it�s going to go to press on April 1st.

Hard to imagine that on Monday, TA and I were in 20 degree Paris, without coats, holding hands and kissing on the Pont Sully. Last night, it snowed in Connecticut.

9:24 a.m. - 2005-03-24

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