A Long Weekend in Paris + March Notes

How I spent four days in Paris, plus the books, articles, films, TV shows, and music that I enjoyed this March.

Hi readers – welcome back to another issue of Blaxplaining!

Well, you guessed it! As the title of this newsletter implies, I just spent an incredible long weekend in Paris. After ten long years, I finally returned to the city, which substantially impacted me in my youth. After my first year in college, I spent a summer semester there, which was a formative experience. I fell in love with the history, culture, and slower pace of life, and developed an appreciation for city design (I’m talking about terminating vistas…look it up). And like any idealistic person who travels abroad, I felt that I could eventually call Paris home. So when my friend Henah from the newsletter

Departure

asked me to go with her, I knew I couldn’t pass it up. And now that we’ve been back for a few days (and I recovered thanks to Aleve and my heating pad), I wanted to share our itinerary for our low-key four-day trip with you all. Here we go!

1 - View from our hotel, 2-The ceiling of Galeries Lafayette Haussman, 3-Musée d'Orsay, 4-Monet's Water Lilies, 5-Marché Aux Puxes de Saint-Ouen, 6-Sacre Coeur at Montmartre, 7-Brunch at L'Alsace, 8-Our hotel balcony, 9-Dinner at Le Calife

Day 1:

We arrived at Charles De Gaulle on Friday morning after an overnight trip from Atlanta. We checked into the Hotel Helios Opera, located right by the Palais Garnier. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty bad, so we stopped at the nearby mall, Galeries Lafayette Haussman. If you are a fashion lover, this place is heaven on earth. I even touched a vintage couture Valentino blazer! Later, we ate at a restaurant called The Family, where I had duck confit with potatoes (it was delicious). After that, the weather worsened, and we called it a night.

Day 2:

We got an early start after last night’s early retirement. The weather was brisk, but otherwise, it was a clear sunny day. After an unfortunate mishap at a local ATM, we stopped at a Saturday market next to our hotel on Rue de la Victoire. We then paid a visit to the Musée d’Orsay. It was my second time visiting this museum, so refreshing my memory with the impressionists was good. After dropping by Renoir, Degas, Monet, and Van Gogh, we left and stopped by a nearby restaurant called CocoRico. I had their famous roasted cockerel, and guys, honestly, it was the best meal I ever had. It was moist and seasoned throughout, and not one piece was left after. We then try to walk off our full bellies on the Quai François Mitterrand to the Pont des Arts and circling back through the Tuileries, where we took a quick stop at the Musée de l’Orangerie to see Monet’s Water Lilies. We started getting tired, so we stopped by our hotel for a quick break before eating dinner in the 6th arrondissement at Café le Buci and getting dessert at Crêperie Little Breizh. By the time we were done, it was midnight, so we retired back to our hotel room.

Day 3:

We slept in before catching the train to Garibaldi to visit the Marché aux Puces de Saint Ouen just outside Paris. Before visiting the market, we grabbed some snacks and artisanal limonade at a book café called Storyboard (fun fact: one of the workers is an American woman from D.C. who has lived in France for 16 years). Afterward, we visited the numerous market stalls at the flea market. I’m usually not the biggest fan of sifting through flea markets, but I came across some gorgeous golden-plated earrings and home furniture that was seriously beyond my budget. We then grabbed lunch before heading back to our hotel to relax. We then caught a taxi to the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, and ended our night by eating dinner at Alcoryllis Ristorante Italiano.

Day 4:

This was our last full day in Paris, and I was beat. We were averaging over 10,000 steps each day, so needless to say, everything was hurting at this point. But we still had so much more to see! We started the day by queuing for the Louvre. I hate to say this, but I’ve never been to the Louvre. You are free to judge, but I have a good reason: the lines were ridiculous each time I planned to go. Well, this time was not any different. After waiting in line for an hour and seeing that we had two more to go, we decided to take the L and leave the line. Instead, we enjoyed the nice weather and walked through the Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde, then to the Champs-Élysées. We grabbed lunch at Brasserie L’Alsace and then strolled around some more. Henah had the brilliant idea of getting massages at Thai Harmonie in the 2nd arrondissement, so we made a quick stop. It was time for dinner, so we returned to the Pont des Arts to catch the dinner cruise, Le Calife. The food and sights were lovely. We then returned to our hotel and prepared for our flight home the following day.

Paris was just as lovely as I remember. Even after living in New York and abroad, Paris is still one of my top cities. I loved seeing all the familiar sites and the beautiful people (seriously, everyone was so stylish and attractive). The French were even nicer than I remember! And honestly, anywhere seems better than the States at this point. I can’t wait to go back, and who knows, I might be there sooner than you think 👀

Fin

The link to this map is here!

Books 📚:

• Black Crossword by Juliana Pache is made for us, by us. Frustrated by the lack of Black representation in crossword puzzles, Pache created blackcrossword.com in early 2023. She expanded her platform by launching this book of crosswords, which, like her site, includes clues from around the Black diaspora. The puzzles range from easy to medium, and I like to do them before winding down for the night. I really enjoyed the cultural relevance of each clue and learning about historical figures and movements in a quick and gamified way.

Articles & Essays 📰:

• The article, What Does Beauty Look Like in the Age of Trump, examines the shifting ideals of beauty (from conservative girl make-up to the clean beauty look) during Trump’s second presidency. Although the changing beauty standards are still wrapped in whiteness, the conservative beauty look is no longer defined by the preppy, sorority girl look, but it is now moving to include the trendy looks of a city socialite (on a recent visit to Reformation, the majority of customers were sorority girls — much different than the Vineyard Vines and Lily Pulitzer looks from my college days).

• There’s Nothing Scarier than a Hungry Woman is an interesting analysis of how women’s hunger and desire are depicted in horror films through the use of food. Author Laura Maw references various horror films, from Rosemary’s Baby to Mother, but also addresses the self-consciousness and shame forced upon women when it comes to controlling their appetite. Warning: don’t read while eating.

• I’m in my thirties now, and have been using retinol pretty regularly, but this article, Retinol: The Skin-Care Ingredient With a Horrifying History, in Teen Vogue has me rethinking my usage. Retinol, known as the star ingredient for anti-aging, was tested on Black and incarcerated people before going to the market. Reminiscent of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, this is yet another addition to the dark history of American medicine and where restorative justice for Black patients has been delayed or denied.

• It has officially been five years since the first wave of COVID-19 in Spring 2020. In her article in Rolling Stone, Five Years of Pain, Fatigue, and Gaslighting: Life With Long COVID-19, Elizabeth Yuko details her journey of living with long COVID-19 and global health agencies’ minimization of its impact. She also tackles the issue of the collective approach of treating COVID-19 as an ‘inconvenience of the past’ rather than an ongoing emergency.

Films 🎬:

• Your Monster (Max) is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast starring Melissa Barrea. Originally based on a short film by director Caroline Linday, this romantic comedy-horror film has much more substance and emotional depth than it appears. The dynamic between Barrea’s character and her monster gives odd-couple vibes, but through their interactions, we see a transformative emotional and personal growth journey. It’s a great balance of darkness and comedy, and the ending called for a second watch.

• Oooohhhawaawaahhhhhh (that was my attempt at typing out Cynthia Ervio’s battle cry). Seriously, I loved everything about Wicked (Peacock), and it should have definitely won more awards than it did. That’s all. #justiceforwicked

• After watching Parker Posey in this season of The White Lotus, I wanted to check out Party Girl (Tubi), which has always been on my radar. This quirky and fashionable film dramatizes the 90s club and house scene in New York, and follows Mary (Posey) through her journey from an irresponsible party girl to a librarian. It also features an incredible soundtrack, Liev Schreiber as an Irish bouncer(?), and Guillermo Díaz from Scandal.

T.V. 📺:

• The Leopard (Netflix) is an Italian drama that blew my mind. Based on the novel Il Gattopardo in Italian, the drama introduced me to the historic era of the unification of Italy and its reverberations on the nobility in Sicily. It also features beauty gowns, pagentry, and Monica Bellucci’s daughter, Deva Cassel.

• Famous Nepo babies Kate Hudson and Chet Hanks’ Running Point (Netflix) was an amusing watch. It brings out the best of Kate Hudson, who I love when she plays a privileged and out-of-touch character, but it also reminded me of one of my favorite films from her mother, 1986’s Wildcats.

• Michelle Buteau’s Survival of the Thickest (Netflix) season 2 returned with a bang. I love how the cast is filled with Black and Queer New Yorkers from all walks of life (not like Friends, Sex and the City, Girls, etc.). It also tackles serious issues like fatphobia, racism, Black men’s mental health, and transphobia, but it’s still a light-hearted and funny watch that you can get through in one sitting.

• The Spanish drama The Lady’s Companion (Netflix) filled the hole in my heart left by Bridgerton season 3. Like Bridgerton, there were fabulous balls, society drama, and forbidden romance, yet this was more campy and humorous. I hate that it ended on a cliffhanger, so I only hope that Netflix doesn’t cancel it.

Music 🎧:

• This R&B ballad by producer EL CAPITXN, singer-songwriter UMI, and K-pop Idol Baekhyun of EXO has been on repeat. It’s a smooth, laid back R&B track, and UMI and Baekhyun's harmonies are *chef’s kiss*.

Etcetera🤎:

• The month’s round of fashion musical chairs was brutal, with creative directors flocking to and from different houses at an overwhelming rate. Still, despite all the recent changes, I enjoyed Sarah Burton’s first collection for Givenchy. Burton’s collection explored the history of Givenchy while also blending it with her signature design philosophy. I loved the sleek designs and sharp tailoring.

• This talk on Black Dandyism features Stylist June Ambrose, Dapper Dan, and Ali Richmond. Moderated by Complex Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Aria Hughes, the group discusses the history of dandyism, hip-hop’s influence on it, and the politics of the Met Gala. It’s over an hour long, but it’s an informative and contextual talk on this year’s Met Gala theme.

That’s all for this March. As always, thanks for reading!

-Tyler