les gitanes

paris sets people craving for romance. it is an enchanted city where many people fall in love with someone. i didn’t fall in love with anyone in paris, though. instead, i fell in love with paris. it happened to me when an old photography book, entitled “the city of arts”, became mine. i found it in a pile of unwanted stuff in my grand mother’s house that was to be pulled down and rebuilt. i still keep the book even now, which is the oldest book ever i’ve kept in my life and has begun to fall apart little by little.
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while paris was a great charmer to a teenage girl, it was one-way love for her. gradually, paris seemed a world away, sort of beyond my reach, and i gave up french lessons (well, due to my laziness) at an art college in tokyo i went. years later, i prepared myself for the moment of truth when i made enough money to jet off to my unseen lover. i was twenty-four: married with a little son, but still the girl who dreamed about paris, after all. i was out to be embraced by my lover i’d only known from books and films at last. as you can imagine i was happiest when my dream came true.

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paris looked passionate about winning my love, but sometimes less passionate, even aloof. no matter how paris remained, my love affair continued…off and on. so i‘ve visited paris many times since then. but, to be honest, i don’t particularly like it there in summer when paris’s heart is just not there because parisians only think of their vacances. that'd make me feel rather left out, even though i could be just an “éntangère”. having said that, my paris tips in summer time always turned out as enjoyable as i'd hoped: one was solo and another in the company of my kids. i just wonder when i last visited paris -- ah, actually, it was early september five years ago when i was on magazine assignment.

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paris looked passionate about winning my love, but sometimes less passionate, even aloof. no matter how paris remained, my love affair continued…off and on. so i‘ve visited paris many times since then. but, to be honest, i don’t particularly like it there in summer when paris’s heart is just not there because parisians only think of their vacances. that'd make me feel rather left out, even though i could be just an “éntangère”. having said that, my paris tips in summer time always turned out as enjoyable as i'd hoped: one was solo and another in the company of my kids. i just wonder when i last visited paris -- ah, actually, it was early september five years ago when i was on magazine assignment.

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as the heat of summer has weakened at least in the evenings, balmy breezes take me back to those perfect evenings of parisien summer. but, it’s a little bit sad that i have no plan at all to see my long-time lover again.

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