Being outside in Paris

Christina and I constantly talk about how Paris is an "outside" city like no other. People in Paris seem to use the out of doors as an extension of their inside living space; to meet friends, to eat, to walk, or just to sit and read the paper. The streets and parks are always crowded with people just being - at all hours of the day and into the night.

In New York, living in mid-town we walk to many places, and occasionally eat out when the weather's nice and the place attractive.

In Paris, the reverse is true, you eat outside, at Cafes and Brasseries all year long. They just turn on the heaters! Many small places extend their 'petit' indoor seating area to the out of doors to accomodate twice the numbers possible inside. Outdoor street markets can be found in many neighbourhoods on any given day of the week and there's live outdoor entertainment where ever a crowd might be found (often on selected streets which have been closed off during the weekend).

Here, there are many words to describe how you get about, from 'faire du jogging", to faire une promenade. No matter what the weather, people are out of doors, not only walking but riding their bikes, rollerblading (they close off many streets on Sunday just for this purpose), or strolling along the Boulevards, window shopping or in the many parks found throughout the city. Luxembourg Gardens is packed with families and individuals all day, 7 days a week. We often wonder 'whose minding the store' because it seems that nobody's working especially on a sunny day. Benches line Boulevards and streets and you can find comfortable, even reclining chairs in many of the larger parks. These chairs and benches are often on the periphery of the fountains, gardens and the grass. Here the 'Park Police' ensure that you don't sit on the grass except in small designated areas. Not only can you find places to sit, play or participate in a sport, a bonus is that there are an abundance of clean toilet facilities everywhere.

On Sundays, it seems that all of Paris is outdoors as they promenade up and down the street at selected spots (we don't know how they're selected). Ile Saint Louis is one of those spots. Six days a week it's loaded with tourists, but on Sunday the locals are out and take over the street and the line at the Berthillon ice cream shop often circles the block.

The bottom line is we've adapted and are outside more then in and have logged many miles so far.