Farewell to Paris... for now

Am well into the first week of the rest of my life. The last weekend in Paris was a whirlwind of goodbyes and packing. Having people around for afternoon tea on Saturday was great, at one point we had 11 people all crammed into the apartment. It was very efficient, not only did I get to say goodbye to a bunch of people at once, but I also got rid of a bunch of stuff.

Q, baby Winston, Karen and Alina.

 Gosia and Josh.

 Me with Nathalie. Sorry to everyone else, I got distracted and forgot to take more photos. When you consider that it took me four hours to make people coffee...Incidentally, if I ever offer you coffee, just say ni, it's quicker!

But I did get the occasional break. Monday we had a special trip to... the dentist. I held baby Winston while Karen got her teeth drilled. To celebrate it being over, we stopped in to the Hermes store and had chocolate cake. The store is a former swimming pool in art deco style, you can still see the original tiles and gilded columns. The teas cost at least 10 euros each - no I'm not joking. So we skipped the tea and split a cake between us, eating it veery slooowly to make it last.  

Packing - from this...

 to this...

On Tuesday, the movers were due to come any time between 7am and 7pm. I got up at 6am to make one last coffee before I packed it into the last box. This may have been self-defeating. At any rate, the movers didn't come until... 5pm. I was pacing the floor by this stage, And when the driver realised that it was on the 3rd floor, no lift, well he was not a happy man. But we managed to get them out the door. And oh the relief!

Tuesday night Janey, Nathalie and I managed to fit in one more restaurant, this time Thai down in the 15th.

I've been planning this move for about the last year. In fact I nearly bought a one-way ticket for the World Cup. But no matter how long I've been planning it, there's no way to know what it was going to feel like to have those "lasts". The last 80 restos. The last walk back to my apartment from the metro. The last time I wake up in my apartment. You never know what it's going to feel like until it's actually happening. And it felt... strange. Like jetlag without the long flight first. Like an out-of-body experience. You see yourself in the moment but it's hard to realise it.

On Wednesday I was up bright and early again, to tidy up the last loose ends of the apartment and give back the keys before lunchtime. One last load of laundry - run to the post office while it is drying - return the modem - clean the fridge. I was running around so much, there was hardly a moment to stop and reflect. But as I walked out the door, I turned and said thank you to my last Paris apartment.

By some great chance my friends from up north were in Paris for the day so I had someone to have lunch with. My train was originally at 3.13pm, but Eurostar emailed me to let me know it would be delayed, so I had time to stay for coffee. When I got to the station, they announced that the Olympic torch would be passing through the Chunnel ahead of the train. Ok, I can live with that.

 (Photo from five years ago, my first trip to London after I moved to Paris. The haircut has changed a lot since then but has come more or less full circle...)

So I left Paris on a bit of a high note, but of course it was only my first attempt, a dry-eye run, if you like. I'll be passing back through Paris 3 or 4 times before I finally fly out on September 14. Of course now I don't live there anymore, so I'll just be back as a tourist, crashing on pull-out sofas. And I've said most of my goodbyes already - goodbye to my job, my apartment, and most of my friends.

London is a different entry, the first step in my long journey home. I feel like I'm taking the scenic route back to New Zealand, after years of living at Paris pace, I'm taking a few months to slow down and chill out, and have some great experiences along the way. I woke up today, and before I was really awake, I had a moment of missing the park near my office. A very small, narrow memory of Paris filtering through the thrill of this new adventure. I'm sure there will be many more moments like that. I don't think you ever really say goodbye to Paris... just au revoir. 

More  photos.