we walked and walked and walked and walked

arriving in the city in early morning, our friend david met us at charles de gaulle. a tourist like us, in the city for just a day.  a train ride into the city, exhilarating after years, years! on planes, in airports.  orange and beige, open windows.  emerging - is there any better word for subterranean decampment? - from the luxembourg station, i felt like a was walking in a picture book, a living backdrop of Paris.  paree.  everything so creamy and gravelly and haussmannian. 

it was the first time for david and gw, and the first time in a very long time for me, so we did what all good first-timers should: we walked and walked and walked and walked and walked.  we drank our weight in water.  shared croque monsiers and chilled rose in les tuileries.  les jardins du luxembourg, la seine la seine la seine, the louvre, the pyramid, walking with necks craned. 

we parted ways with david at notre dame so he could catch a train to avignon, then made the wise traveler decision to go back to our hotel (so perfect!) and nap.  we’d been told that paris is at a much more northerly latitude than new york, but it was still a shock to find ourselves back out at 7:00 with the city still lit by milky-shimmery natural light. 

much more walking, along the seine and back, through rue mouffetard.  crepes en route.  yogurt in lavender ceramic pots.  public pools, tired feet.  almost no good photos from the first day – we were too busy looking.