21:50 and peachy

I don’t have anything against sunsets, per se.  I've just never been the type to actually stop and look at one.  Especially living in Paris, land where everyone you pass is surgically conjoined at the lips, and amazingly, they’re all standing on bridges at sunset. 

It’s like, suspension of disbelief.  Where are all the fighting couples?  Where are they hiding the troubled?  The bleak?  The upshot is, I don’t pine for being part of a couple.  Nosiree, not in Paris I don't.  I’ve got news for you: these happy people are robots. Bo-ring!  That's why I pretty much walk past bridges at the clip of an Olympic trainee in a leprosy ward.  Hope you can't catch it just by looking at 'em. 

But I had to take this sunset picture for you Wednesday night.  This picture would be totally trite except for one key fact:  it was taken at 10:00 pm, well, 9:50 pm to be exact.  I always walk from giving an English lesson near Place de la Bastille to my Latin Quarter home--I do this every Wednesday--and normally it’s pretty dark by the time I approach Notre Dame.  So when I saw this pink business I said, Well that’s new. 

I had to ask a man passing by what time it was precisely, so to be sure and get it right for the internet.  It takes a lot of finesse to ask for the hour (in a manner that doesn't sound loaded), as a girl standing alone on a bridge, watching the sunset, so I did the only natural thing which was to be brusque and avoid eye contact.  I swear I thanked him, but he walked away saying, “Vous avez au moins compris?” 

Guess he more or less got the picture. 

You know what interests me way more than sunsets or interpersonal communication?  Spying.  And look at what I spied when I looked down.  Now these are some people I’d like to party with.

Don't they look like they're having fun?  From what I could tell, none of them were part of a stinking couple.  And they didn’t pay any attention to the dipping globe of egg yolk cheesiness in the sky.   

I know what you’re thinking and I will not get a cat.  Not over my dead body. 

Comments

[Asian Lep]

That was beautiful.

The guy with the glasses is too.

[Gloria]

Ooh! Random street party! That looks like fun. If only drinking on the street wasn't illegal in Boston - oh wait, we do it anyway, we just try to be more surreptitious about it.

[Ashley]

Salut Coquette. I had to de-lurk to comment on this one. The few times I've been to Paris, I've noticed the serious lack of any relatively good looking men (and maybe it was just that the hotties don't hang out at the Lourve, but I digress...) and here you have a collection of semi-decent Parisien eye candy. Lucky girl.

[Mica]

Lucky indeed! Go hang with the Hotties, Coquette. There will always be another sunset tomorrow.

[R J Keefe]

Félicitations: you have taken a shot of Notre-Dame unlike any that I've ever seen. The lights of the bateau-mouche make the image even spicier.

As for the couples thing, 35 is the new 18.

[Ashley]

OK, just to correct my typo above; I meant the Louvre, not the Lourve (although I may be in Lourve with the guy raising his glass of champagne) Good Lord, I was a French major, I swear.

[DDJ]

Looks like you got a picture of Ringo there, circa 1964.

That is a great sunset photo. The pink swell on the left-hand side is really interesting, like a surge of cotton candy that's coming to overtake Notre Dame.

By the way, good call on the cat. Particularly for someone who's so into fashion. You could never wear black again.

[lizardek]

Unless you get a black cat. Don't deny the caaaaaaaaaaat! HAHA!

[Bob]

Hi Coquette,

My soon-to-be 16-year-old daughter and I watched a Passport to Europe episode last night and we're ready to visit the Latin Quarter immediately. LOL

The key point for us was that the host mentioned that there was a book store and cafe on nearly every block. Middle Daughter and I were thrilled!

She'll be in Paris next year and wants me to chaperone but we'll see how that goes.

[juliana]

If you chose not to be in a realtionship, then that's awesome. I've had times when I didn't want to be either but soon after I would meet someone interesting. Today, it seems like everyone expects you to be with someone, but stick to what is right for you. Only you know. I can't really say too much about being single though because I'm incredibly in love with my own frog.

Beautiful picture, makes me wish I was in Paris now.

[nathan]

> Ceci était un message du CCC, le comité contre les chats.

(c) Les Nuls (group of french humorists in the 90's)

(btw, I really agree on what juliana said. Social pressure sucks.)

[Kathleen]

Sunsets and Coupledom are not the peanut butter and jelly equivalent. One does not need to be part of a pair to appreciate a great moment of beauty. And that's what your picture captured. WOW. It took my breath away, as your blog routinely does.

[annush]

that was a gorgeous sunset. I wish I'd been there...and in love ;)

[Anonymous Poet]

Did you go party with them? Avez-vous fait une boum?

[meg]

I hope 35 is still the new 18 by the time I arrive there...

[Sarah]

gorgeous! your pictures are always good, perhaps you should consider photography as a career?

[Jen]

Forget the cat !!! Please !!!
Ceci dit, le mec à droite avec les lunettes me convient tout à fait : au nom de toutes les nanas touchées par la malédiction du "célibat d'été", je te demande de prendre des gros plans la prochaine fois :-p

[Coquette]

I think this whole post is just an excuse for me to get a dog...

But I'm happy to hear that 35 is the new 18. Sometimes I think Jeanne and I make 25 look like the new 40.

[Auntie M]

40! Give me a break you young thing. Love the photo of the picnic.

[Sebastiano Pilla]

Jen... From a man, genuinely curious: c'est quoi le "célibat d'été"? Et pourquoi serait-il différent du célibat du reste de l'année?

[alexandra]

i say: those who suck face in public, are lacking something in the bedroom. to much scenic smooching, means they probably have nothing better to go home to....so, p'tah!
oh, and i was invited to that picnic, but i was too busy making out with a froggy to go. sure.

[brando]

"man with sweater tied around neck" is the last photo i need in my personal photographic scavenger hunt. you are so lucky, coquette. good, or lucky, i still haven't figured out which ;)

[Jen]

Sabastiano, le célibat d'été est une malédiction dans la mesure où, les beaux jours arrivant, les couples (les couples bobo atteignent le summum de l'arrogance) se baladent main dans la main avec un air encore plus serein et amoureux qu'en hiver, par exemple. C'est vrai, je pense que ça tient au simple fait d'être habillé légèrement : l'habit fait l'amoureux ! Tout ça pour dire que je suis ENVIEUSE à mort :-p

[Sebastiano Pilla]

Merci Jen, c'est bien plus clair maintenant :-)

[Harrods Girl]

That sunset looks beeaautiful! And parties of that size are usually great fun! Have a good weekend.

[Sammy]

Ugh. I hate asking men for the time. At sunset? Ooh Coquette, you are truly a brave girl.

[Negrito]

haha ! I got a picture for you I ll post it tomorrow ! :-D

[=w=]

Considering the proximity of the Marais to the place where you took the picture, I could have been couples after all...

[Maurice]

You only get what you deserve, even during summer period...

[Nomadic Camel Breeder]

Note to self :
When in Paris next time, stay put on the way between Place de la Bastille and the Latin Quarter. Look for a female who looks American-ish and that will be La Coquette. Mission accomplished. God, I feel sooo 007 right now.

[triple nippled cowboy]

Paris 1998, i was picnicking on the banks of the Seine with a few friends (just like in that photo above, only it was a little more glamorous.) It was memorably quiet—what was first a muted sound became a frenetic citywide explosion of joy: France had won against Brazil. Thinking of it, it must've been the best time ever to be sipping wine and eating sur les bords de Seine.
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[VornamahBoyday]

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