Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [119]
Q: Now that you’ve been in Paris for ten-plus years and have seen all the major sites, how do you most like to spend your time?
A: In the beginning we used to just wander around our neighborhood. We felt then, and still do, that the thing about Paris is that it’s the world: you can go just about everywhere in the world and never leave the sixth and seventh arrondissements! We’re terrible tourists—though I do go to Belgium quite a bit and take some overnight trips to London and Milan, we pretty much stay close to home. For us Paris is really vacation time. We have a lot of really good friends who live there, and we spend time with them and we go to the park and read books. Recently, I did see an Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the Petit Palais, which was one of the greatest shows of all time, but that was more an exception than the rule.
Q: Do you take trips outside of Paris, and if so where do you go?
A: We’re really just starting to explore the rest of France. Near Paris, the Champagne district is fabulous. I’m a huge Veuve Clicquot fan—we had lunch there with a winemaker, and every course was paired with a different sparkling wine, including a demi-sec Champagne that I’d never had before. It was sweet and was paired with a choclate cake. The history of Veuve Clicquot is fascinating, and Madame Clicquot was too: she was widowed at the age of twenty-seven with no experience in business of any kind, as she came from a wealthy ancien régime family. In her private life she was conservative and conventional, but she was willing to take risks in the vineyard and she was a brilliant businesswoman. We’ve also enjoyed visiting Normandy, where we have a friend who has a château on the coast with an incredible garden. And we’ve traveled a lot in the south, throughout Provence and to Nice on the Côte d’Azur. I do anticipate that we’ll plan more travels within France.
Q: How do you incorporate Paris into your life here in New York?
A: Actually, I deliberately don’t. It would be very easy to bring back, say, Mariage Frères teas and Poilâne bread, but I like to leave them in Paris so that they’re special for the times when I’m there. In New York, I frequent La Maison du Chocolat (1018 Madison Avenue, 30 Rockefeller Center, and 63 Wall Street), and I do enjoy a nice treat from Hermès (691 Madison Avenue and other locations). I’m so happy that Frédéric Malle has just opened here in New York (898 Madison Avenue). It’s a fabulous space—in a beautiful Art Deco building with 1930s French art and furniture from his own collection—and the Malle fragrance I wear is Une Fleur de Cassie.
Q: What do you miss when you’re away from Paris?
A: I miss the way French people entertain. When they entertain it’s really special. Every time you get invited for dinner the meal is incredible and everyone talks about interesting things, and everyone stays up until two in the morning (somehow, in Paris, you just do it) and I love sleeping in until ten. I also miss the more leisurely pace of French life, which is completely different from here. But I think the thing I miss the most there is that people really appreciate the food. The food here in the States has been so altered, and everything you taste is so watered down, with no true flavor. When you taste a strawberry in France—which of course, at the outdoor markets, would be available only in the spring—you’re reminded more of strawberry jam. It’s bursting with true strawberry flavor and tastes like the best strawberry you’ve ever had, because it is. There is also more than one variety of strawberry. Take raspberries as another example—they’re available year-round in North America, so they’re not special, and also they have no taste. There’s a real sense of the seasons in France.
Q: When I was working on my travel journal En Route (Potter Style, 2007), you were one of several travelers I asked about what books inspired your wanderlust over the years. Like me, you said that you always read books based on the place you’re going, and for you this is mostly France.