Sleeping Through Paris
You know that scene in the movie Frances Ha where she goes to Paris, has jet-lag so she sleeps through all of Saturday, gets up Sunday only to find everything is closed—then she flies home?
That was a little bit like my time in Paris for the first week of my trip and Romance by Rail project.
I arrived Tuesday morning in Paris and forced myself to take no naps! I did great and highlighted that day in this post about the Museum of the Romantic Life (Musee de la Vie Romantique).
Wednesday I had a great day—I was tired but I pushed through. I worked from my Airbnb rental, chatted with matches on dating apps, went for a 4 mile run, then came back and made a healthy salad and went to bed.
Then…
I awoke a few hours later knowing one thing with complete certainty: I was going to need to throw up.
I often get food poisoning when traveling—especially at the beginning—so I knew what I was in for: a disruption of a couple of hours, some barf (gross, sorry!), some missed sleep, but overall I’d get through.
This ended up being so different! I was sick for 6 straight unrelenting hours, finally just placing a bowl next to my bed. It was horrific. Then next day I was useless. It took several hours to keep even water down. Finally in the afternoon I hobbled to a grocery story to buy some white rice and a carton of chicken noodle soup. That day was totally cancelled.
The next I made myself get out the door and into Paris. I went to Centre Pompidou, a museum I’d missed on my previous visits to Paris. I floated through, looking at the modern art, which is not my favorite, feeling about 75%.
I was supposed to go on a date that night, which I had been looking forward to, but for reasons I’ll explain in another blog, it didn’t happen. There was a downpour, I ate some tasty but expensive pizza, and went home and went to bed.
The next day, Saturday was a great day. I found an adorable Finnish cafe called Maa at the Finnish Institute, found these great American shirts at a thrift store (didn’t buy), and made food at my Airbnb.
I contemplated staying another week. I was matching with a lot of men on dating apps and from experience, it can take a good chunk of time to find good dates on apps.
On the other hand, I was feeling overwhelmed by the bustling energy of Paris—it’s a population-dense and dynamic city. The whole city buzzes with people on practically every square inch of space. A lot of times I really enjoy this energy but maybe due to my jet-lag and food poisoning, I felt the need to flee and reset.
But…on to board the first train of my trip! I had the option to book a 2 hour high speed train or a 5 hour regular train at roughly the same price and I chose the “long way home”: the 5 hour trip. It was just as relaxing and regulating as I had hoped for! Maybe I just want to live on a train…
I shared an enchanting and magical story of getting caught in a rain storm to Facebook here:
And this enchanting and magical moment was otherworldly beautiful in which I wrote, “Day 5 of La Vie Romantique: stopped into this gorgeous cathedral only to accidentally catch a rehearsal for what I assume is Easter Sunday’s performance. Ethereal. Magical. And to be perfectly honest, this seems to happen every time I’m in Paris. They do reverent spaces + music so well.”
But amid this fun sprint out of the rain, I seem to have pulled something in my right ankle. I’ve been having to take walking very gently and running will be out of the question for probably a few weeks. I turn 40 this year and I cannot escape time! My body is not as resilient as when I was 20 or 30 and I can feel the difference, despite cultivating a mindset in which I can push through, stay optimistic, and take hiccups in stride.
There were many sparkly moments but overall I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve wasted a week already and with no progress of my goal to go on dates. I realized I need to set up more structure and parameters on this project, which will eliminate decision fatigue.
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, wrote a blog called “The More We Limit Ourselves, the More Resourceful We Become,” which is a quote from Soren Kierkegaard.
“A solitary prisoner for life is extremely resourceful; to him a spider can be a source of great amusement. Think of our school days; we were at an age when there was no aesthetic consideration in the choosing of our teachers, and therefore they were often very boring—how resourceful we were then! What fun we had catching a fly, keeping it prisoner under a nutshell, and watching it run around with it! What delight in cutting a hole in the desk, confining a fly in it, and peeking at it through a piece of paper! How entertaining it can be to listen to the monotonous dripping from the roof! What a meticulous observer one becomes, detecting every little sound or movement.”
I’ve now been in Europe for 1 week and I’m still incredibly jet-lagged (you guys, aging is real….). I’ll be tired pretty much the whole day and as soon as my head hits the pillow at 11pm (2pm Pacific Time), I’m wide, wide awake until 3am (6pm PT). Ha! I really just have to laugh. Europe had their “Spring Forward” into Daylight Saving Time on Sunday so that also added another fun, comical bonus loss of time. And Sunday was Easter Sunday so, indeed, as Frances found, a lot was closed.
Cimetière de Montmartre
