a simple suggestion should you be visiting paris this summer
WHAT I’M WEARING: OASIS CREPE WRAP DRESS, OASIS WHITE BLOCK SANDALS & OASIS FLORAL CLUTCH
Oh Paris in the sizzling unseasonal summer heat, it’s my favourite of the many versions of Paris that I have come to know and call my own. Summer here reminds of my favourite ex boyfriend and the afternoons we’d spend doing sweet nothing by the seine, or my group of friends searching and sweating through the streets for bags of ice for our too warm bottles of unopened wine which we would then drink under the hazy dusks that fell like rose gold as we stretched on cobbles in shorts too short and skirts stained by grass. June-September in this city is one long lovely reminder of why I threw myself into this city for all those years, the sunshine sets the street to a sepia tone that feels warm with nostalgia to me. Paris never feels very bohemian or free-spirited in the winter to me, everyone is huddled with their heads down and enjoying yourself costs money at a bar or nestled between the four warm walls of restaurant – in my early twenties, all I wanted to do was go out, all the time and everywhere but my friends and I couldn’t afford to indulge as continuously as we would have liked. So summer was our season, all we needed were the euro coins in our pockets for some bottles of rose and a riverbank or park to drink them at. If we had money left over, there would be cheese and a couple baguettes. And those nights were everything, I still clutch at them when I walk past the spots where we sat. They were simple, we were young and broke but those nights were some of the most luxurious of my life. I am infinitely happy to have had them. And if you are in Paris this summer, I suggest skipping the likes of Hotel Costes and their 19 euro cocktails for a modest bottle of wine and a sunset outside. During the day, my friends and I would set out on walks where we simply wandered, catching the metro sporadically to then settle somewhere sunny for the afternoon. You should do this too. Because it is little experiences like these that grow bigger in time and years later, you will look back at the little spot where you sat with wine in plastic cups or the places you spontaneously wandered- and I promise it will feel huge and dazzling. I have postcards in Paris that don’t feature shopping or the Eiffel but a time in my life where fun in a city I loved was the ultimate aim. My Paris has nothing to do with Sandro or Chanel or fancy dinners on rooftops at hotels. Despite the lack of cash, my friends, my ex boyfriends and I…we still managed to find fun because summer in Paris, I see it as a big fat freebie. You don’t need much for a truly memorable time. Spend a few euros and grab greedily at whatever you can take from this sizzling stunning city. Your experiences will scorch you, they will stick to you in a way I can’t quite explain but I hope you experience it for yourself. They are tiny but beautiful in a big, big way.
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