In the days immediately following Eduardo’s departure, I find myself thinking more and more about the holiday I once suggested. I need to get away. Eduardo is in every room, every stick of furniture. I sometimes even awake at night and imagine, for a brief moment, he’s still beside me. But he isn’t. He haunts me. His absence is draining me.
Finally, I book my passage to France for the “Exposition Universelle” and a fortnight after doing so, I become one of the very first guests at the Hotel Regina, an immense construction on the Place des Pyramides, whose opulence I haven’t previously seen the like of. As it’s been built but a short walk from the Musée du Louvre, the renowned museum is the first place I visit. I spend a whole day walking through the various galleries and marvelling at pai
