Day 308: La Vie Romantique.

One thing that I absolutely love about Paris winters is that they are gone before you can even get used to them. It's not like on the east coast where a chance of snow on Easter Sunday is a probability, and winter seems to lag on and on. In Paris, by the second week of March, spring is here and the frosty weeks we had been suffering through are already a forgotten memory.
Last year I was a miserable mess and was actually pissed that spring had arrived. I was incapable of allowing myself to enjoy one of Paris' most celebrated seasons. I despised the blue skies, because I was always hoping for rain to justify my wanting to live under my blanket, the café terraces bursting with friends and couples, enjoying the warm weather over cocktails only reminded me that I was alone, and the longer days forced me stay up longer than I had wanted to. It was awful. The only time I felt safe from my thoughts and oblivious to my situation was when I was sleeping and spring was getting in the way of my new favorite hobby.
Thank god those creepy days are over! I wasn't living...at all. To commemorate the changing of the seasons and my new life of not damning the tulips peeking out of the ground in a Parisian park, I went to one of my favorite nooks in the city; La Musée de la Vie Romantique to spend some time alone to reflect in their unmanicured garden (that makes me feel like I'm in the Doll Parts video), sip on a noisette from the greenhouse café and appreciate this gorgeous day in March.
Ironically located in the 9th arrondisement, only steps away from the sin and scandal of Pigalle's seedy sex shops and peep show theaters, the museum finds itself a home on a side street of this otherwise "busy" district. Tucked away on the quiet Rue Chaptal, the street gives no leads to the beauty that awaits. The museum that features the permanent collection, a small house built in the 1930's located at the head of the courtyard has seen the likes of guests Chopin, Delacroix and George Sand. This was one of the first places I had discovered in Paris back in 2009 and fell in love with the serenity of this off-the-beaten track jewel.
Paris truly is magical in the springtime. I'm glad that I am able to see it this year.
Day 308: La Vie Romantique.