It's Paris for me...

In a romaticized life, I would love to believe that I was fit enough to live out my years in Paris, France.

I loved Paris during my first (and hopefully, not my last) visit there almost ten years ago. I don't know how much it has changed since then, but from what I remember of the city, it was enough to make me want to live there.

The place itself is steeped in history, the architecture an awe-inspiring tribute to every golden age, the cuisine sublime, the culture rich and the pace a healthy fast but not harried. People still had time to sip a beautifully prepared cup of coffee in various sidewalk cafes, and I got the impression that there was pride in presenting and acquiring the best, whether it was fresh produce or fashion.

Art is alive in Paris, and beauty is a living thing. Every corner proffered a tableau of life as if caught between two portals of faded pulchritude and modernity. My head spun with the magnificent views, whether from atop its most famous tower, or from the quintessential balcony overlooking its many arrondisement. Even everyday chores like sweeping the floor of a brasserie seem like a stage production mounted just for my enjoyment.

Still, it is far from perfect, which is part of its aspect that I loved. I saw man and dog peeing in the streets, and sidestepping canine poop was a form of urban work-out. The city itself was expensive, and there were a lot of places that had thinly veiled shabiness to them. My reasoning was that it couldn't be helped if a "new" building was probably a hudnred years old. And of course the garcons had its reputation for being impatient and rude, but then again, my own experience proved that a fallacy. I thought that they appreciated the pained effort I made to speak their language, and not only rescued me from embarassment but offered delicious suggestions and helped out with directions.

If money was no object, I would like to live in Paris while keeping a farmhouse in the South of France, an apartment in New York and Hong Kong and an expansive beach house in the Philippines. But that's another story.