Paris, Je T'aime! by Colette

 Paris, Je T'aime!

is a series of articles chosen by L'Herne and written by Colette celebrating her most beloved corners of Paris. 

Colette, born in Provence in 1893 afforded in Paris only when twenty, with her older husband and a child She was plenty of expectations although, at first, the impact and differences found in Paris with her Provence appeared big and devastating. For the rest of her existence Colette will try to research that corner of Paradise left behind, lost, once she decided, correctly, of leaving Provence for Paris. 

A provincial in Paris, we could write, because after all it was this one the feeling that she felt. 

Colette, once in Paris became one of the biggest personalities, known for her books, articles, for being the first influencer of modern history, attracted by beauty products, becoming a brand...herself.  

Very famous and beloved, Colette lost the use of her legs in her late 40s. 

Once in Paris, pretty soon, it was 1926, discovered Palais-Royal, falling in love for that enchanting and sordid place at the same time. She had to live there! At first she found only a tiny place, portrayed also in her book Trois, Six, Neuf, pretty humorously. Being her health pretty delicate, she left the little apartment, waiting for a best one, always in Palais-Royal where to live in: in 1938 a good, and large apartment this time, was ready for her. 

Palais-Royal was the last place where Colette lived, and she changed a lot of houses in her existence: this one was the most loved one. She died there.

In her writings Colette affirmed and underlined her being "La Citoyenne du Palais Royal." 

Colette described its frenetic activity during, for example an intense summer day: light, birds, animals, flowers, people passing through the garden. Her window became an excellent and privileged observatory, considering that she could not walk anymore. She noticed the changes of Palais Royal during the war, and after the war, with the stress that the period brought and help given to desperate people or people in search of a refugee. 

Once Jean Cocteau asked her: "Vous avez trouvé encore una province?" Colette answered him back that "La province de Paris ne manquera jamais a ses amants parisiens, qui savent la découvrir, au besoin la créer."

Highly recommended book.

I thank L'Editions de L'Herne for the physical copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori