Pleasures of Paris

A few impressions stand out of the nine days we spent in Paris. The most prominent is, of course, the food. We bought most of our food already prepared from the gourmet section of Layfayette Department  Store, but, unlike ready to eat food in the US, it was superb.  I will never forget the wild mushroom salad, the pistachio and apricot tart, or the various diverse cheeses, of which we bought 2 new ones each day to savor with wine and bread, the so-called "holy trinity" to French cheese lovers.  It was fun get to know the moldy creamy morbier or the salty, tingly, hard cantal and to study these cheeses in a reference book and make our own notes on them.   The food we ate was very rich food, but, since it is so much more tasty, we would eat it slowly and actually feel satisfied with small portions, so, thanks also to the great deal of walking we did, we did not gain weight.  We had 2 fancy wonderful meals, e.g. with wine, snails, mussels, sea bass with fennel, and desert of crême brulée, but we had some equally memorable lunches sitting in some lovely little park eating a delicious ham and cheese baguette sandwich.

The grandeur, one could even say grandiosity, of the city is of course famous.  I had forgotten the immensity of the Louvre and was in awe of the 54,000 square foot grand palais covered by an elegant glass dome.   There are grand boulevards chaotic with cars and noise but also serene, spacious gardens where the poorest citizen can find beauty and peace, smell the autumn air and see the shimmering light in the leaves depicted by the famous painters of the past.

The extremes in wealth are staggering.  There was a probably North African couple with a hydrocephalic child begging on the sidewalk every day opposite windows displaying $30,000 wrist watches and $350 bedroom slippers.  Some of the decadent fashions displayed were actually ridiculous: unfinished hems on dresses and $400 shoes made to look cracked and worn.  On the other hand, we bought at a second hand street fair (brocante) in our neighborhood a lovely old ivory handled cheese knife for $9.

Our good fortune in having connections to an affordable apartment in Paris allowed us to feel part of a neighborhood and live a less constrained style than that of a hotel, taking out recyclables, doing laundry and closing shutters at night like local residents.  We took the commuter BatoBus up and down the Seine and made memorable excursions to unusual places:  an address where Maurice Ravel grew up, and to a bakery recommended by our friend Carol that did indeed have the best baguette we found in Paris.  I found Paris a much more welcoming and comfortable place than our first vist 43 years ago, due undoubtedly to changes in me as well as the Parisians.   I can proudly say I like it as much as June always has.

Book sellers by the Seine and Notre Dame across the river

Front of Eglise Madeline, in our neighborhood

BatoBus transport

Knocking on Ravel's door, 73 Rue Pigalle

Extracting a snail at lunch

Final lunch on the Seine