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Pilgrimage to Paris by Proxy

LuLu in Paris - photo by by Christelle Das NevesLuLu in Paris (photo by by Christelle Das Neves)Actress and comedian (the Fabulous) Lulu LoLo and her husband, Dan, come to Paris often. Their dream to spend several months here came to a tragic halt this past year thanks to a series of family illnesses and issues that kept them closer to home — New York City…but it didn’t keep Lulu down. In fact, NOTHING keeps Lulu down that I know of.

She and Dan arrived in Paris this past week with five large purple suitcases filled with Lulu’s eclectic wardrobe and a number of ‘missions’ — or should I say ‘pilgrimages?’ In fact, that’s become Lulu’s “raison d’être” — to do things and go places in Paris not for herself, but for other people! At brunch Sunday she showed us a list of about a dozen (or more) pilgrimages planned for her month in Paris.

Lulu is no ordinary actress/comedian, obviously. And to us, she’s much more than that. She’s a more-than-real person with a heart of gold, an amazing sense of humor, a streak of creativity to rival any great right brain and is a total pleasure to know. It’s no wonder her friends and admirers ask her to do some pretty zany things on their behalf to which she wholeheartedly says, “Mais oui!”

In her own words, Lulu admits to “taking photos of the houses where the Brownings lived in Paris for an art historian lecture,” “lighting a candle for someone at Notre Dame,” “visiting a special grave at one of the cemeteries” and “bringing an author’s book to a bookstore here.” It’s a rather unique service she provides — one which is blossoming into a serious reason to be here, besides just the usual reasons to visit Paris.

LuLu LoLo Pilgrimage by ProxyPILGRIMAGE BY PROXY: Paris Chapter
LuLu LoLo’s Symbolic Journeys for People

“As I wander Paris, with each step you will be with me in spirit. I will walk in your shoes and a photo documentation will commemorate your “Pilgrimage By Proxy”:

* To a place you wish to revisit
* Or to a place you have never been
* Or I will perform an action you have always envisioned…You will be by my side in Paris.

Here’s just a few of what’s on LuLu’s List just this trip:

* Visit where Jean Claude Vasseux lived with his family and the famous boulangerie nearby for the Kouglof in his memory.

* Go to the Eglise de la Sainte-Trinité for an organ concert.

* Bring a copy of “King Lear of the Taxi” to Shakespeare & Company.

* Hear the great Cavaillé-Coll Organ at Saint-Sulpice.

* Pick up fallen leaves (red and yellow), put them in a bag and scatter them in the wind from the middle of the Pont des Arts so that a swarm of leaves flies into the river.

* Take a photograph of the plaque to the Communards executed in the Luxembourg Gardens that’s on a wall near the boating lake in the center.

* Visit the Café du Croissant where Jean Jaurès was assassinated.

* Visit Sajou for “Articles de mercerie de qualité fabriqués en France” at  47, rue du Caire 75002 Paris and purchase vintage boxes and cotton embroidery thread on cards,particulary the one with the Eiffel Tower.

* Visit my favorite Church — Sainte-Chapelle and just walk around the interior and exterior for an hour.

* Eat an apple — crisp fresh slices or baked in a perfect pastry, it doesn’t matter.

* Visit the Théâtre des Automates at the Musée des Arts et Métiers.
 
* Ride on a merry-go-round.

* Take a rock from beside the Statue of Liberty in Hawaii and place beside the Statue of Liberty in Paris.

* Walk fluidly through the Père Lachaise Cemetery wearing a very long handpainted scarf focusing on your solar plexus to place a stone near Isadora Duncan’s tomb to honor her.

Lulu postcard Cafe - Pars, France* Go and see and sit in anything “impressionist”…the Musée d’Orsay…any cafe that is still open that used to be an impressionist hangout.

* Feed sparrows.

* Visit the Manufacture des Gobelins tapestry museum.

* Visit the Musée national du Moyen Age, formerly Musée de Cluny and find the Rose d’Or.  

* Visit the Basilique-Cathédrale de Saint-Denis, spend a few midday hours watching the subtle play of colored lights reflecting through the stained glass windows and on to the stone work.

* Eat a plate of raw mussels.
 
* Go to a Gertrude Stein spot in Paris and write a power prayer.

* Take a pair of my shoes and walk in them.
 
* Have a glass of cognac in honor of Bill and sing “Everything is
Coming up Roses.”

And I love this one most of all…

* Walk from the Louvre to the Jeu de Paume collecting 24 fallen leaves from the ground, placing them in a ziplock bag. Take our 12 leaves from the bag and boil them until they become a mash. Spread the mash on the paws of the first lion sculpture you encounter in Paris. Transport the remaining 12 leaves to New York and I will collage them on a white archival museum board, dated and framed or otherwise kept in safe storage for a long long time thereafter.

LuLu may be booked up this trip, but if you have a pilgrimage you’d like done by proxy, perhaps for the next one (if it’s interesting enough!), LuLu will grant you your wish!

Visit her Facebook page or email LuLu LoLo at [email protected].

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds, The Adrian Leeds GroupAdrian Leeds

Editor, Parler Paris & The Adrian Leeds Group


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