i'll always have paris...

just got back from a whirlwind weekend in the city of lights... the place that i called home more than a decade ago, but even today, always seems to welcome me back into its arms whenever i'm lucky enough to pop by for a visit...

this weekend was a 2 for 1... work and play... after meeting my french colleagues for an afternoon of meetings, i finally arrived at metro "arts et metiers" on friday evening to meet my good friend theo.   we go WAAAAAY back and it's always nice to see someone that doesn't make it feel that way when you see him.  dinner was at one of my favorites - hotel du nord - followed by some fun yet innocent debauchery at le duplex and le CUD.  CUD apparently stands for 'classic up and down'... but it seems that the clientele there is definitely more 'up' than 'down'... how they are so 'up' particularly at 5am, hmmm.. ya just gotta wonder.

saturday was spent recuperating with some dim sum at a local chinese resto near chez theo, followed by a reunion with an old work colleague and good friend at hers.  we had many a giggle over all of the people we used to make fun of at work, some still there, some not.  after the trip down rue de la memorie, i rejoined theo for the evening's activities... which happened to be a birthday dinner hosted at one of the most fab apts i've ever seen in paris.  what made the evening even more interesting was that the host and the birthday boy didn't know each other.  'Course 8 bottles in, that doesn't matter, and well if we ended up going back AGAIN to the duplex and the CUD for one last CUDdle, that shouldn't matter too!

tres bon weekend!

but as i reflect on the last 48 hours, i liken the whole paris/london experience to what you might feel like the first time you run into your ex after many many years post breakup... initial awkwardness (who looks better?  who's happier?), then familiarity and nostalgia... followed by a brief moment of introspection (did i make the right decision?  what if?  what if?), finished off with a true sense of satisfaction and contentment... 

...for paris was definitely the love of my life back in the heyday of my youth, with its amazing joie de vivre (and equally amazing jolis garcons - who were out in full force this weekend, mon dieu), but now, older, wiser and - yeah, i'll say it - hotter, i'm definitely ready for london (via sao paulo) and all that it has in store for me...