to matt : la péniche

All my love from Paris/Neuilly-sur-Seine/Puteaux to that little slightly tilted apartment of yours high high up in Manhattan. My apartment is also charmingly slightly tilted. I don't know if I ever got to tell you that I live on a boat on the Seine? My boat rests at the intersection of three cities, which I feel is rather appropriate for me, on my odd in-between year.

I love the space so much. It has cute little port windows and the most beautiful view of La Defense glittering just beyond the Pont de Puteaux in the north, and to the south, a view of more boats stretching beyond the riverbend. At the beginning of the year, I would sometimes sit on the deck in the late afternoon, soaking up the warm sun and watching the rowers go by. Or at night, shivering in the brisk winter air, just to watch the lights from La Défense shimmer on the surface of the dark water. But I honestly spend most nights curled up next to my heater in a corner with a book and a glass of wine and I’m so content.

And at night, the last thing I see before I drift off to sleep are circles of undulating orange light scattered on the ceiling and my walls, the reflections of streetlights on the water shining through my portholes.