Paris


Miserable as I was to leave Fritz, I cannot deny that I enjoyed my stay in
Paris.  I had been in Paris earlier, in 1936 at the World Exhibition, only a few
days with my father and sister; now Paris was mine for much longer.  At that
time Paris was the world centre in the sense we today consider New York or
London; before Paris it was Vienna.  The beautiful metropolis with the large
avenues, les boulevards, the parks, Le Bois de Boulogne and La Tour
d'Eiffel, the magnificent churches and arches, the bridges over the Seine and
underneath the patient fishermen standing or sitting there more for fun and
pastime than eating or selling fish.  All those famous historical names, those
monuments of past glory and greatness, places immortalized in art and
literature by human genius, the Louvre, Les Tuileries, the Sorbonne, the
Quartier Latin, the artists 'and students' centre in Paris, became so real to me.
   My father rented a suitable room for me, in the Quartier Latin (Gay
Lussac,30) at Madame Martin's, a widow who was letting rooms to students. 
I had a large, comfortable room with my own conveniences; the seven or eight
students I met only at lunch.  Before lunch we gathered in an antique salon,
waiting to be called by the maid: 'Madame est servie'.  The meal always ended
with a rich assortment of those delicious French cheeses.  The house gate was
always closed and the portier opened it only at the ringing of a bell.  The place
was central, not far from the Sorbonne where I registered for French
Literature, near to the Institute where I studied phonetics, a compulsory
course needed to continue my studies in Zagreb, also close to the big National
Library of St Gen‚viŠve that I visited frequently.  To have a practical
profession I started facial massage.
         Paris, as with every big city, has excellent means of communication.  When
not walking which I preferred, I used the M‚tro,12 the most efficient, 
time sparing system to master distances.  In a short time Paris was my second
home; I discovered that the Com‚die Fran‡aise had cheap performances for
students every Monday.  Of course, the best of it was that visits to the Louvre
were free on Sunday mornings, that a theatre in the Quartier Latin presented
only MoliŠre's pieces every day, that an excellent lecture was announced at
one or the other end of Paris which could not be without me.  Here I had the
opportunity to listen to famous Communist leaders, to read their newspaper,
I'Humanit‚, to go to 'red' movies, to inhale the foul, poisonous breath of
Russian propaganda which was almost impossible in Yugoslavia.
         Obviously, I enjoyed my stay in Paris.  Could I have only shared all these
excitements with Fritz!  I wrote him long letters, describing every detail, while
my letter-box was filled with pages and pages of his reports.  The distance
brought us closer than we ever were before, an inner affinity existed between
us, a mutual understanding which accelerated our decision to marry.  I shall
never forget the letter in which Fritz proposed to me; he was extremely shy
and did not dare to be outspoken.  He wrote: 'I burst with joy thinking you
might become my w...' ( ... da  budes moja   ena).  My parents were not yet
informed
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