Sometimes I daydream about going to Paris for a week with one very specific item on the itinerary. I’d like to go on a few dates with a French guy. There’s room for a museum if dinner ends early.
The scene I keep picturing is pretty ordinary. We’d go out to eat, then walk around until one of us remembered we had somewhere to be in the morning. I’d want to hear about the Paris he actually lives in. Where does he take a friend for dinner? What’s the thing visitors are always doing that makes him cross the street?
I’d also want to talk about dating. What’s his idea of a good first date? What did he grow up thinking a relationship would look like, and how much of that does he still believe? I’d tell him my answers, too. Otherwise, at some point he’d be within his rights to ask which magazine I work for.
It’s entirely possible we’d get through dinner and both be ready to call it a night. It’s also possible we’d get along and I’d still fly home at the end of the week with nothing more dramatic to report than a couple of really good evenings. I think I’d be happy with that. In the version I like best, we have enough to talk about that I forget to check how far we’ve walked.
Would you go to Paris for a week just to see what that was like, or am I the only one who’s already mentally picked out what to wear to dinner?
