The Best Trip Ever

I've been reading lots of things about Paris over the past six months of waiting for our trip--guidebooks, blogs, novels set in Paris, cookbooks, online trip reports, anything I could find.

My favorite is a book of essays called Paris, Paris by David Downie. It's 30 essays, each accompanied by an exquisite small black and white photo by Alison Harris. The essays fall into three categories, Places, People, and Phenomena. Each essay is lively, but crammed full of interesting historical tidbits, humor, and his own sometimes slightly twisted observations.

The opening essay, "A Day in the Park: The Luxembourg Gardens," is a good example. He describes an entire day spent in the park, from opening at 7 am to closing at 7 pm, and along the way he talks about the kinds of trees that grow in the park, the history of the site, the people frequenting the park as well as the gardiens who police it and make sure the rules are obeyed, even the variety of chairs available in the park and the kinds of people who choose each style.

Another essay describes the "urban decor" of Paris, bollards, bittes, bus shelters, lampposts, trash cans, pissoirs, benches, signs, etc., the history of how they came about and why they are all so distinct to Paris.

Normally I wouldn't put a book I'd already read on the "pack for Paris" stack, but this one will be making the trip, because I know I'll want to revisit some of these essays while we're there.