Paris

Sadly, did not get to say comme ci, comme ça

30 July, 2025

We got home late last night, and Sajjad went back to the airport at 4 am. Which means I have the place to myself. I woke up late, made a moka pot coffee, and now I’m back in bed with Cece napping next to me. The weather here in Bangalore is overcast and chilly, and it’s giving me December feelings.

We were in Paris for just three days, but I came back feeling like I’d been away for ages. I’m tempted to say something about about how travel changes you, but I think it’s primarily because there was a short burst of intense, let’s-try-to-make-the-most-of-this focus. Now that I’m back home, it’s a bit disorienting to switch back to thinking about laundry and meal planning and changing the litter.

But I love coming home from a vacation. I love sitting next to Sajjad for 4357344 hours on a flight. It’s often the only time where he’s forced to sit still and I make sure I take full advantage of this by talking nonstop. Also an excellent time for a round of would you rather. Would you rather eat snot-infused ice cream or lick the ground on Mt Everest? For me this is an important part of the vacation experience.

I’ve been making it a point to fill up my creative inspiration tank on vacation. You’d think a vacation is by default creatively inspiring, but it’s something I’ve actively had to work on. Taking pictures is one way I do this. Visiting a bookshop, and picking up a book set in said vacation-spot, or a notebook I’m excited to write in, could be another. Sometimes it’s food-related. I’ll eat something that I’ll want to come back and recreate. This time I was excited to come back and paint from some of the pictures I’d taken there.

Paris had never been on my list of places to visit. I’ve never been particularly interested in French food or culture. And why was it so OTT with the romance??? But in what will come as a surprise to no one, I loved the city. The gardens! So many gardens! The 15 people we encountered were warm and friendly. The food was hearty and generous (see previous post), the weather a crisp 15 degrees. The people beautiful, the water sparkling, the roses the most voluptuous I’ve seen (no smell though, why?), the balconies picturesque. The fountains… you get the idea.

I also loved being around throngs of tourists. I find that there are so few casual encounters with strangers that this feels special. Everyone marvelling at the sights, guard down for a little bit, waiting for you to finish your silly picture so they can take their silly picture. It’s a joyous shared experience in a time when there are fewer and fewer shared experiences.

Oh, another extremely satisfying tourist experience: Going to a bakery, getting to shop in a mostly empty store, but then seeing a queue snaking out the door by the time you’re done.

Snippets of overheard conversations:

• “First they massage your face, and then they electrocute it.”

• “It’s a lot darker in person.” (about the Eiffel tower)

• “...and she said: Carol is going on a date?! Carol is going on a date?!”

Things that caught my eye

The floor of this map shop. It has a glass floor with books and random stuff inside. They had a drawing of Mappila Bay in Kannur that I wish I’d bought. But Sajjad thought that we should be loyal to our other coloniser and buy maps from London.

Saw a man facetime with a woman who was tucked in bed in her pajamas, and he was showing her the Eiffel tower. It was so sweet (for me. Probably creepy for them to have a stranger peeking at the screen.)

The trees frame the buildings so nicely. I was curious about them, and found this piece. (We’re not supporting the NYT because they’re genocide apologists, hence the archived link.)

Sometimes, someone will want to know about food-related gifts to bring back from a holiday. Here’s what we brought back:

• A small tin of hazelnut oil. Would work nicely in a salad dressing. There was a raisin one that looking interesting, too

• Foie gras. They sell them vacuum packed

• Lots of butter, duh. Also vacuum packed. The fully salted would have been my first choice, but they were sold out, so we got the semi-salted and smoked

• Pont-l'Evêque cheese (couldn’t pronounce it so thought it might be good, ha)

• Peaches

• Fresh walnuts

• A nice jar of mustard

• Baguettes from Boulangerie La Parisienne. They won the Best Traditional Baguette in Paris for 2025 which means they supply bread to the presidential palace for the year. This is how we reheated it, and it was great.

Lastly, some pictures!

Thank you for reading. Please <3 this post if you enjoyed it.