When we lived in Normandy, we would often take weekend trips to Paris, it was only about 3 hours away Usually we would go with one of my mother's friends and sometimes with my dad. But once she took just me.
The first thing I remember is being at the hairdresser’s. It was very warm inside but outside it was spitting snow and cold rain, miserable. I remember one of the hairdressers working on a lady with very long hair. He took the hair and twisted it into a long rope and then he took a blowtorch of some kind and ran it up and down that rope of hair. I was shocked. He told me he was burning off the split ends. I thought it was the most awesome thing I had ever seen! And the lady wasn't even scared.
But the thing I remember most was looking out the window. I was bored; after all we were there for several hours. At one point I looked out the window and right below was a horse-drawn carriage, which are quite common in Paris. As I watched, a couple got in and the driver started to direct his horse out of the spot. The horse hesitated, and the driver started whipping him unmercifully. I ran over to my mother and told her someone needed to go make him stop. She laughed, as did the hairdresser and the lady with the burning hair. They told me something like "Ma petite, ce n'est qu'un cheval, c'est son metier" (honey, it's just a horse, it's his job). I found that unacceptable. But no matter what I did, they paid no attention to me.
What I found out later was that was that my mother was totally in shock because her idol, Edith Piaf, had just come in. She was old, and in ill health I guess, but apparently she was going to have a concert in the next few days. I was introduced to her but it didn't mean much to me, I was reading magazines and thinking about the horse. He looked so beaten and resigned, in that cold wet weather. But a few minutes later he was gone.
Still, my mother was absolutely blown away. Piaf was her idol (along with Judy Garland, whom she also met, but that's another story). My mother's dream was to be on the stage. She went to dramatic school and sang on the radio for a couple of years. She wanted to be Piaf or Garland. To meet Edith Piaf must have been an amazing experience for her and now I regret that I did not pay more attention to it.
After the hairdresser, we went to see a ballet called "L’Apprenti Fakir” Tthe Sorcerer’s Ppprentice). It was awesome and I totally lost myself in it, except when I thought back to that horse. Then we went to a restaurant called "Jour et Nuit” which was famous for its onion soup. We had been there before (we went there almost every time we went to Paris) and it was truly the best thing I had ever eaten - thick, melted cheese, French bread. Oh... Then we went to our hotel.
The next day we went shopping. My mother always went to Christian Dior (she had several Dior outfits - one was a wonderful black and white cocktail dress) and to Chanel (she had a pale blue Chanel suit that she just loved).
And then we went home to Gravenchon. It was a wonderful weekend, full of experiences that I have remembered for almost 60 years. And yet, I think of that horse - I think of him when I see horses huddled out in the rain, or when I see horses being abused in any way. It broke my heart.