After 5 years of Azalea Boutique, Cathy and I finally could hit the Paris Fashion Week! We normally don’t go to the Europe shows because: a. its quite far, b. if we go to all the shows, both of us will be gone for almost half of the year (oh yes…Cathy and I actually work at the boutique a lot). Besides, I thought most of everything is available here. On top of that, I never really liked Paris anyway. But boy, I was quite pleasantly mistaken.
I have been to Paris twice in my life back in the day, so this was my 3rd time. The first time was as a kid, and it was boring as hell to me. I hated cheese, bread, and alcohol in general, and I definitely couldn’t say I liked Paris. I fell asleep at Lido while watching the cabaret show, and used half a bottle of Heinz ketchup to wash down my fillet mignon.
The second time was as a teenager in 1995, right after high school graduation. I liked bread, but can’t stand cheese, and still think that wine tastes very much like dirty water. It was during the height of summer, super hot, sticky, and my taxi driver smelled like the world’s stinkiest cheese. Champs Elysees was crowded with tourists, sales ladies were not very friendly, and I ended up choosing Prada in Rome as my first fancy handbag for a graduation gift (to myself) over anything French. Besides, Chanel was for old ladies. Oh, and the food portion was small, so I had to eat le Big Mac after a restaurant meal.
13 years later, my 3rd time in Paris started with a 10 course meal at Pierre Gagnaire restaurant, the best chef in Paris. It’s funny that when it comes to food, style, and taste, its never say never. After living in San Francisco for 8 years, I now love cheese, I LOVE tasty red wine that I could almost taste dirt in it (…in winespeak, its “earthy” ha!), and Chanel is no longer for old ladies. Nothing has changed about Paris. What changed was my perspective. Cathy and I spent an exhilarating week in Paris. We hit the tradeshows hosted in centuries old hotels (work comes first!), we watched the Sonia Rykiel fashion show at the Jardin de Tuileries tent, we did comparison shopping in the Jewish Quarter, pay hommage to Collete, hung out at the Buddhabar (I had 1 mojito for $50 USD, wtf!), visit the Palace of Versailles, and partied at the Hotel Crillon on our last night.
Can you imaging being a basset hound and your park is the Garden of Versailles? I can’t believe I met a dog that looks JUST like my basset Samson, down to the coloring!
I had a GREAT time in Paris. I was trying to think about how I could live there.
A month later, I got my credit card bill and almost passed out thinking that it was attacked by fraudsters! But…it was really me. (FYI, 1 Euro = 1.6 USD now!)
Needless to say, some things are not and could never be available here. I can’t wait to visit Paris again, have countless “Ratatouille” moments, and get a to-die-for Birkin Bag one day. But for now, I am glad to be back in San Francisco, still one of the most beautiful, if not the best, city to live in the world.
Corina