Saturday, October 04, 2014

coming home

I wont be at the farmette until Monday, but I am, as of today, on my way home.

As I pack my light back pack, I shake my head with a smile: my fleece jacket remains with me, slung over an arm, unneeded. This is how good the weather has been these past three weeks in Europe: not once have I used anything other than, at most, a sweater. And not a thick sweater at that.

And I leave Warsaw in beautiful weather, too. While snow showers are passing over the farmette and a frost advisory is posted for Wisconsin, I look out of my sister's apartment and see this:


Poland-2.jpg


I keep telling everyone how much I have enjoyed this brief but intense visit to Warsaw. I think there are many reasons for it, but I have been told quite bluntly that perhaps I should learn something from it: in the last dozen years, I have always traveled to Poland in winters. Seeing Warsaw during a splendid set of autumnal days is...well, more cheerful!

I never know when I will return. But for now, as I sit at my sister's kitchen table sipping jasmine tea, I think how deeply happy I am to have been here.



My flight is to Paris. Remember? I left a suitcase there! It all seems so long ago, even though I just passed through this way three days back.

I have a rare taste of luxury in Paris. I'm staying at my old reliable little hotel near the Luxembourg Gardens, except it's not so reliable anymore as, after a total revamping,  I doubt that the prices will ever be attractive to me again. (They're offering a "welcome back!" discount rate right now.) Perhaps this is a nostalgic good bye to my "Parisian home." I did well here when it was still in its scruffy state. Ah well.

I go for a walk.

My head is processing everything, so I walk. I mean, there were the weeks of solo travel. There is the book project. And then there was Warsaw. So I walk and think. Walk, walk, walk.

You know the buildings of Paris. Let's look at the people.



 Paris-4.jpg
(in the park)




Paris-22.jpg
(back to selfies)




Paris-24.jpg
(what's the line for? Hermes pastries for the weekend)




Paris-23.jpg
(cafe life)




Paris-27.jpg
(ice cream weather)




Paris-28.jpg
(pastry store, family, dog)




Paris-29.jpg
(cafe life)




Paris-37.jpg
(have a taste!)



Finally, the tail end of this trip -- the last dinner. I make my way to Pouic Pouic.


Paris-39.jpg



The menu, simple and very short, adapts to the seasons, but I know I will always be happy with it.


Paris-41.jpg


So, I'm in Paris, in transit, and tomorrow I make my way to Minneapolis, to stop and say hi to my daughter there. My next post will be, therefore, from across the ocean.