Sister Cities

August in Paris is what the natives like to call "la morte-saison" - the one month a year when the heat grinds all life in the city to a sudden and sweaty halt. Apparently, the humidity of August turns the City of Lights into a temporary City of a Living Hell, the heat being so intense that the locals leave Paris to sun themselves on the Mediterranean coast - or simply melt to the stool of their favorite bar and drink themselves into a cooler mental state.

Well, wouldn't you know it, but San Francisco and Paris have been Sister Cities since 1996, and this past Friday San Francisco decided to emulate Paris' sultry summer romantic appeal by becoming unbearably, undeniably, unmistakably hot, humid, and eerily still for one night and one night only. And I was in town to witness it.

Andrew took me into San Francisco for the weekend so that he and I could enjoy some time together in my newly discovered, newly favorite "French District" of San Francisco (really a city block with some French restaurants and an embassy). Cuddling with Andrew in the window seat of Le Central tabac and café, I was having trouble remembering if I was on Bush Street or le boulevard Montmartre. I actually had a river of sweat running down my spine at midnight on the Embarcadero. I couldn't believe my good luck!

Andrew and I spent an entire weekend eating French food (sitting in the same seat as Arnold Schwarzenegger had the day before), catching up with Aubrey in North Beach, discovering bean curd pastries and hangover remedies in Chinatown, and admiring the high rises of the Financial District from the 24th floor room we shared at the Westin, leaving me just enough energy to climb into my own modest Boulder Creek twin sized bed and type this up before what I hope will be a long, deep, uninterrupted twelve hours of sleep (why not?!).

Alright, so I'm all too aware that the au revoirs to friends, family, and my beautiful home city are going to be bittersweet in the weeks ahead, but I couldn't help but pause on that perfectly balmy weekend and remind myself that, as a matter of fact, la vie est très belle, especially in this heat.