Things We Do in Paris

A little look at Sunday afternoons

Jul 23, 2023

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host an online Paris Writers’ Salon1 on Sundays. Over four weeks they meet at John’s home in the Latin Quarter and connect via zoom with 8-10 people around the globe to analyze a chosen text (always with a tie to Paris) for about two hours. From classic and modern novels, to important essays and non-fiction, the reading list has become extensive is worth sharing now that their ninth salon just concluded this evening.

Sometimes on these Sundays, Samuél and I go to John’s early with a chilled bottle of bubbly or rosé to catch up and enjoy the breeze from the balcony. We talk about what we’ve all been writing, reading, watching, doing and not doing. We almost always get a new and well-told Baxter tale, and there’s always something begging to be photographed, from temperamental Watson the cat to the jasmine vines growing up the old French doors. If we are super lucky, after the discussion is finished, John feeds us an inspired meal he’s had slow cooking all day.

I love visiting with John. It feels like family, which can be hard to come by when you live thousands of miles away from the rest of your family. Sunday salons have come to mark the week, set the tone for the week to come, and resolve the week we’ve had, and we often walk or bike home over the bridges that connect Paris’ two islands.

The Ile Saint Louis and Ile de la Cité are the heart of Paris, the streets and bridges the arteries, and the left and right banks the lungs.