Au revoir and bon voyage!

A happy belated Valentines day and Chinese New Year to all. I hope no one cleaned their home yesterday, as Chinese tradition (superstition?) has it that if you clean on the new year, you run the risk of sweeping out all the good luck. But wouldn't you also sweep out the bad luck in the process, and thus you should scrub like hell? Ah, no no, my po-po says. Bad luck will always be there no matter what you do (aka, shit happens), so best not to take your chances by accidentally sweeping out whatever good luck might come your way that year.

Wise words, especially coming from an otherwise extremely neat and tidy person! I actually think that this whole tradition is just a ruse some woman came up with centuries ago to actually get some peace and take a damn break from cleaning up after her no-doubt filthy and squalor loving husband and children.

And now to what is really important: I am going to PARIS tomorrow! I am beyond excited and have been irritatingly dropping silly and cliched French sayings into every day speech. Not only am I going to be a walking stereotype and drink lots of red wine and delicious coffee and stuff myself with crepes while going to the ballet and all the lovely museums and play chess in the park--I am going to take it one step further and wear this silly little beret that I bought.

But couldn't you do that all right here in NYC? Yes, I probably could, but Paris just has a romance and an inescapable allure that I cannot resist. As Adam Gopnik cites in his wonderful Paris to the Moon, it is true what Oscar Wilde said: When they die, all good American's go to Paris.

Vronsky, who fancies himself quite a Francophile (he had a French minor back in college), has already arranged for us to stay in Saint Germain at L'Hotel, where Oscar Wilde uttered his famous last words: "Either this wallpaper goes, or I do!" The hotel was kind of a dump back then, but it is beautiful now!

Stay tuned next week for a series of posts about my lovely visit. Bonne journée!!