Ok, back to how I met my friend, Leila, in St. Tropez. So, on my first night there, my hotel concierge gets me a 10 PM reservation at a restaurant called L’Opera. I dress up to the nines and walk into the restaurant. Remember, I was alone at this time since my friend from Paris had not been able to join me on our little trip. I wasn’t exactly nervous to dine alone (in fact, it's one of my favorite things to do when traveling but once I got to the swanky and very sexy L’Opera (all white décor with mirrors everywhere, sexily clad dancers dressed in very few items of clothing dancing on the podium tables, neon pink lights around me, and funky photography & graffiti art plastered on the walls that very casually employs the use of my favorite “F” word), I realized that this was definitely not a place to eat on my own.

But what was I going to do? The drop dead gorgeous (I know, extremely annoying) hostess leads me to a table in the corner of the restaurant. Really? I then spot an unoccupied table in the center of the room next to a very well dressed and beautiful woman and her date. I turn to the hostess and say that that’s where I’d like to be seated. Once settled at my table I exchange a few polite smiles with this gal next to my table. Half way through my foie gras starter she looks at me and says why don’t you join us for a glass of wine.

At this point I didn’t have anything to lose so I say I’d love to and move my chair closer to their table. And thus began a lifelong friendship:) Leila, as it turned out was from Denmark and was visiting St. Tropez for the 16th time! Needless to say, she knows more about the place than most residents do and is literally friends with everyone there - restaurant maître d's, bouncers (NICE, esp. since you don't have to stand in loooong lines because they all love her;), beach club managers and proprietors, night club owners - you name the place and she's dialed in on some level!! We start chatting and before we know it it’s 1 AM. We make a plan to go together the next day to a beach club called Bagatelle and I get up to say bye. She looks at me in complete disbelief and asks where the hell did I think I was going? I tell her it’s rather late and I think I should head back to my hotel. “No way are you going back so early because the night has literally just begun and we are heading to Le Quai for mojitos and late night performances.” Well, I got back to the hotel after 3 AM that night (or morning) and that in itself started a tradition for us. (The art at both L'opera & Le Quai was commissioned to & completed by Phillipe Shangti - if you get a chance to visit St. Tropez you must go to these places just to see his work, which is just spectacularly sexy!)

Every summer Leila and I meet in St. Tropez for a week of relaxation, rosé and recharging. I feel I’ve known her for decades and I know she feels the same way. Life truly is strange and wonderful at the same time. Who would have known that I would end up in a place like this on my own and meet a friend who would start meaning the world to me. Being in St. Tropez at this gem of a hotel, Pastis, and hanging out with my dear friend, Leila, literally fills my soul and I eagerly look forward to my trip every year. Yes, there’s plenty of dancing on the tables and rosé showers that we witness but for us it’s a time to reconnect as we talk about our families and our personal lives, in between lots of croissants for me and a Coke or two (never diet Coke) for Leila) and in doing so feel blessed to have met each other in such an unusual way! See you this summer Hotel Pastis and my dearest Leila!!