I should have said "A walk back to memory Lane" because I was born just round the corner from the palace, the clinic isn't there anymore, and on that day, it's grey, like any other day, probably as it was the day I was born.
It's often grey in Versailles, same as goes for Paris.
It's a walk I did during all my school years, as it's the way to my highschool. Wow It's been more than 10 years that I haven't set a foot in either Paris or Versailles, and of course a lot of memories resurface.
My first "big" crash on a bicycle, my first job as a waiter, my first concert in front of a real audience, and millions of others memories are just showing their faces, at each building, each streets have a meaning to me.
I've driven for straight 8 hours the day before, and I am already thinking of the gig coming up that night, but I am trying to make the best of my day and woke up very early, meeting up a friend I haven't seen for ages.
We picked "La Pièce d'Eau Des Suisses" as a meet up point, that people call just "La Pièce d'eau".
It's a spot that is often inhabited by the local youth in summer, but right now it's almost freezing temperature, on a Friday morning.
Versaillans Swans just chilling
Once I crashed my scooter down this hill. It was during summer, and we were all partying, doing crazy shit around the shallow lake. I lost control of the scooter on a muddy pond.
While jogging around the "lake", you'll see the "Orangerie", which normally is really a sight to be seen, but it's winter right now.
This is how it looks normally from the top of the stairs:
Apparently I've changed...I don't know what my people and my family were expecting though. At the same time, you always have people telling you that "OOOH you haven't changed at all", so it's hard to know who to trust.
Maybe I did change, maybe some parts are still the same, some have evolved.
I certainly don't feel the same. I don't talk the same way, I don't even walk with the same attitude.
I only spent 2 days in Versailles and Paris, and for some reason, it was important to go jog around the lake that morning. I needed to know, if like me it changed and it didn't.
My perception of it changed, and I am sure the park and its spirits were also happy to welcome one of theirs.
When we set foot in France in 2019, my wife told me that it's important to say hi to your ancestors, it's almost like asking for their blessing. So I guess it was important to go back where it all started for me, even if it was just a brief trip, just for a quick gig.
I'll do something bigger later on down the line, I just wanted to test my 2nd album on a small(er) stage with a good sound system, as I believe I wouldn't be able to fill up an entire venue for now, I've shared the stage with a few other artists.
Maybe I'll post about it soon, and show a bit of the soundcheck and the gig, I took a few videos.
I also realized very quickly that I am not really familiar with the city environment anymore. I love nature, the mountains, green, and even if the area is quite green, it all feel so different from the dense and luscious flora back home on the farm.
I am almost not familiar with walking on the concrete. The body remembers very quickly, you even start crossing the road looking at the cars from the corner of the eye, it becomes a second nature, each steps you remember a bit more how to take the train, the metro, how to say no to a hobo asking for change, how to negotiate with a cab driver and how to navigate in the miasmas of Gomora.
The other side of the park was closed on that day, and I probably won't come back for a while. Back in the days, we used to climb that gate, but I don't think it's very sensible thing to do for someone of my age 🙂