Zoomer Magazine – September 2019

everythingzoomer.com SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 (^) – 85
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light done, luggage arrived intact, car wait-

ing. We move out of the airport and into the

morning gridlock. We speed by the familiar

sites that make up this journey: the Stade de

France, the miles of apartment complexes, familiar

road signs. As we glide onto the Périphérique, it means

I am getting closer, circling the Place de Wagram and

onto my beloved Boulevard Malesherbes.

My eyes search for the floral stands at Monceau Fleurs.

I take in all the other familiar storefronts. Car windows

down, so the sounds and smells flood in. Distinct sirens,

traffic, the hum of a city that has my heart.

What exactly is it that makes us return time and

again to a place? The answer may seem obvious when

that place is Paris. But, like the city, the answer is much

more complicated.

I had an affinity to Paris before I ever ventured there.

Maybe it was my love of fashion, so the history and lure

of such a city just drew me in.

As a young woman of 18, fate would have it that my life

would shift, and I would leave Canada at the invitation

of a reputable modelling agency. I was only going to stay

a few weeks, but that turned into months and years and

now a lifetime of back and forth.

Those early years, I found myself navigating the av-

enues and boulevards with my Plan de Paris in hand.

Long replaced by Google maps, the Plan was an indis-

pensable tiny book of intricate street maps that be-

Ž§')#,

A JOYFUL FEW MOMENTS STRETCHED OVER TIME MAKE FOR

A LOVE AFFAIR TO REMEMBER BY MARY SYMONS

A

X

PARIS

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JOURNEY