Time to go?

Our time in Paris draws to a close. Qu’est q’on a fait beau? What have we done that was good? What have we done we wished we hadn’t? And what is still to be done?

Self portrait at the Opera Garnier (aka "The Opera")

Overall it’s been very satisfying. We’ve done most of what we wanted to do, and found quite a bit we did not expect. We have many treasured moments, most of them unexpected, and very few regrets. We’ve explored the Parisian lifestyle, in a small way (a lifetime here would not be enough, of course!)

We know “our” neighborhood, the streets, which Metro to use, where the bus stops. We have “our” boulangerie (bakery), a half-block away. And we know it is closed on Tuesdays. We know we can go a block in the other direction to the fancy boulangerie, but we’ve also learned that their baguette is not so good; we have to go to the place a couple of blocks away to get good bread on Tuesdays.

"Our" boulangerie, around the corner

 

There was the Airbnb Open,  the Paris attacks (and the response of the residents!), COP21, and the Transition Town events we’ve attended. 
 

International Community building exercise in the cave

 

And there were hours wandering the streets to see what was there, and watching (and being watched by) people going about their daily business. Street markets, Metro stops, bus rides, bums on the street. Tranquil walks along the canal, and the madness of downtown rush hour. Dinner with a French couple in their 11^th-floor apartment, and meeting French, Brits, and other Americans in a barrel-vaulted brick cave (basement).

Some things I won’t miss are the cold weather (hardly unique to Paris, certainly although relatively quite warm for this time of year, but unfamiliar to us Californians!) and spending 15 minutes getting dressed every morning. The old man sitting on the steps of the Metro entrance with his cup out; the little girl who runs up with a big smile and grabs your legs as you walk down the street, as her father watches closely, cup in hand. Impassioned – or, sometimes, very mechanical – pleas for money from individuals walking up and down the Metro car. Little motor scooters with tinny motors and weak mufflers. Feeling isolated and cut off in a small apartment two flights of stairs from outside. Smokers, everywhere (except, thankfully, inside!) Trash in the gutters (mostly cigarette butts).

Classical concert at Saint-Martin-des-Champs church

And I will miss the low-key Christmas here. Oh, the street corners are full of fir trees for that essential Christmas decoration, and some shops have special window displays (although nothing as grandiose as those at the big department stores). But here in France, unlike in the US, Christmas is not the signature marketing event of the year, where we are bombarded everywhere and endlessly with the message Buy! Buy! Buy! (I’d rather be confronted by beggars in the street; at least they really need the money.)

On the street where we live. Er, lived.

What did we miss? Oh, lots of stuff! We did make it to a few museums, and they were, actually, quite fabulous. But that was never our goal. I would have liked to have spent more time just sitting. There are many pleasant parks, both large (Butte Chaumont is near where we live) and small; little pocket parks are all over. But it’s cold outside, and sometimes wet. And, truth to tell, we are driven to keep going, to see what’s around the next corner, down the next street. Just sitting is a curiously non-American thing. We need another few weeks here…

People going down in the ground...

Trees for sale at a florist -- about as intense as Christmas sales get

PS:  A final walk along the canal, noting where we’ve been and what was new. Coming back home, we stopped at a few shops  to say a final farewell. At the Turkish restaurant, where we had eaten all of two times, the owner, Gönül, invited us to sit down with a glass of wine, then brought us olives and cheese (refusing, of course, to accept any pay). We were all almost in tears when we left.

Paula & Gonul of La Baranda  restaurant

 Next was the lady at the FranPrix, a small chain grocery store. And, finally, the lady at our boulangerie. They were both very touched that we'd bothered to stop by.

So, that’s it. Tomorrow at 5AM we board the shuttle for the airport, and by 10 we’ll be in the air.

Time to go? Yes, for this trip.