We Love Paris in the ……… time

In just a few short days, we’ll be packing our bags and heading home! The past three weeks with almost perfect weather have contributed to our sadness in leaving! Why is it we love this place so much???? We talk about it all the time. Sure the food is great—we’ll really miss those morning “tartine’s”, croissants and “tarte au pomme” washed down with a perfect ‘”café crème”. What could be more romantic then a walk along the Seine with the million twinkling lights on the Eiffel Tower in the distant night sky. Even the language is music to our ears. We love the gardens (despite the lawn police) and the unlimited access to art in the museums and galleries all over the city.

Are there frustrations?? Sure—it’s not much fun when it’s raining (it usually rains a lot), and our language skills can sometimes cause us grief; but we’re spared some of the daily bureaucratic frustrations of people who have to make a living here because we can just enjoy the good things—it’s a dream life and we feel very fortunate. But, what is it that keeps us coming back year after year??? We can’t seem to come up with a definitive answer. Maybe it’s the opportunity to discover this wonderful and diverse city—the excitement of coming back to the same places or seeing something new for the first time—maybe looking for secrets behind those massive doors that are so representative of Paris. What’s behind all those doors anyway? We’ve had glimpses of beautiful gardens, courtyards, shops, even a church – sometimes just parking and garbage. We’re sure that there are mysteries we haven’t yet discovered and we’ll be looking for them!

In our search for the answer, the closest we’ve come is our amazement and delight at the beauty of so many things large and small. People here take such pride in their places and there’s attention to detail by the smallest shop where items are arranged artfully—everyday! The smallest restaurants take pride in setting up their décor ‘just so’. Window displays are changed on a regular basis—often with humor as well as beauty. We’re constantly delighted by imaginative and meticulous displays – the “boulanger” changes her whole window 3 times a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) to feature different products. The fish market has a huge outside display that features the fresh catch lovingly displayed – set-up every morning and torn down every night. We’re accustomed to large department stores having exceptional displays in NY, but here many small retailers take just as much care. Imagine if every Korean grocer tried to look like Dean and Deluca!

Staying in an apartment rather then a hotel makes us feel part of a neighborhood and gives us permission, we think, to just hang out and do ordinary things, like laundry, shop for groceries, go to the park or sit in the living room with the window open listening to life going on around us. Perhaps this gives us a feeling of ‘belonging’ and contributes to the pull that Paris seems to have on us!

Tomorrow we’ll go to the Ile St. Louis in the center of Paris to look at possible apartments for our stay next Fall. It will be our third neighborhood and we’re already anticipating the adventures to come.

A bientot,

Chris & Paul
Paris Journal, October, 2005