à régler plus tard, N° 23 / to be sorted later #23
in which it’s en français, sorta
“Solo traveling for me is not an opportunity to see the world. It is an opportunity for me to be myself in the world, to have the courage to make space for myself, honor myself, and do that out in the world in places that aren't home. And so it's less about adventure. For some people solo travel is a sense of adventure. For some people solo travel is about discovery. For me, it's about wandering and being.”
— Tracee Ellis Ross, for Women Who Travel Podcast
Bonjour encore une fois de Paris, where I can confidently order my food and drinks en français, only to fall apart right after.
On Monday afternoon, I was eating by the Stravinsky Fountain, doing my best with my waiter Pedro, whom I’d impressed, just enough, with my order of salade césar et une noisette.
«Quel âge avez-vous?» he asked, following it in English with, “Are you a college student?”
If I’d been back home, I can’t say I would have enjoyed a server asking my age immediately after I ordered my lunch, but here, I laughed, and said, «Non. J’ai quatorze et un ans.» I was pleased with myself, briefly, when he frowned deeply in response. Pedro couldn’t believe I was 41! Damn, I look good!
Nope. I had told him I was “14 and 1” years old. He kindly reminded me after I said “41” in English that I am, in fact, «quarante et un ans». After I apologized profusely for my bad French and paid l’addition, Pedro assured me that my French was not too bad and said, “You are a very good and pretty woman.”
Okay, Pedro, I’ll take it. When I’m not telling French waiters I’m 14 and 1 years old, what the hell am I even doing in Paris?
What I’m Sorting Through, Currently …
Still “Flâneuse-Ing”
I’m in Paris for a writing workshop, but my afternoons are wide open for wandering. As I wrote about the other day, my Health app keeps telling me, “You’re walking more than you usually do by this point.”
By this point of what? Of the quatorze et un ans of my life?
Either way, I’m loving all the walking, so it seemed only fitting that I should purchase Lauren Elkin’s book Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice & London while here in Paris. Reading it yesterday, I realized that in my last piece, I had inadvertently quoted, or I guess stolen, a line from it: “Time passes.”
I’ve thought way too much about this today. I hadn’t read that part of the book when I wrote that. But had I seen it when flipping through the book at Shakespeare & Company? Do I actually not have a single original thought in my brain? When I had sat down at my little desk to write that evening, I was transported back to 2020, my memories sharp as a fresh No.2 pencil.
“Time passes,” I was thinking again this afternoon as I walked into the Luxembourg Garden, and realized I was passing a statue of George Sand, who Elkin writes about in the book.
Shortly after, lounging in one of the garden’s green recliners, I finished Flâneuse, and then promptly started my next book (The Use of Photography, by Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie). I didn’t realize until switching books that I had a view of the Eiffel Tower from my seat! I texted my brother, “…was here for about an hour before I realized the goddamn Eiffel Tour is in my view.”
The Eiffel Tour! Quatorze et un ans! My Franglaise is going great.
On Repeat
When I’m not listening to the new Yukimi or Japanese Breakfast (both albums came out in March!), this playlist has been great company on all my walks. It was especially great while shopping in the Marais the other day.
Listen to it on your next walk (wherever that may be!), and I promise you will feel très, très cool, even if in reality you are a 41-year-old American nerd in a ball cap and Parker Posey’s Gap shirt strutting around Paris.
In Pursuit of … Whatever
Quatre autre choses (4 more things) that have my attention for at least the next 4 minutes:
Watching Lupin, “a smart and twisty French series,” from my twin bed in my hotel each night has been such a treat. | “Oui, We Love Lupin,” NPR
RIP, Val Kilmer. Revisiting this piece. | “What Happened to Val Kilmer? He’s Just Starting to Figure It Out.” NYT Magazine
“I have to make the space. I have to decide that I can choose what is a good use of my time and what is not.” | “The Year of Unfinished Things,” Holly Huitt
“The priest is quite hot.” Recently rewatched one of the all-time greatest episodes of television. | “The ‘Fleabag’ Awkward Family Dinner Is a Cinematic Comedy Masterpiece,” IndieWire
“to be sorted later” is a series in which I attempt to have fun on the internet again, namely, by sharing the latest things I am watching, reading, listening to, hating, loving, discovering, and otherwise sorting through in any particular week or season. Enjoy! Or don’t!
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