Paris 16.10.09

Paris, even though I have yet a lot to discover and a lot of French to learn before I feel completely at peace, has started to feel a lot like home.  I went on a run today to a garden nearby and as I crossed a bride, I thought, wow, this feels so normal now, I know exactly where I am and exactly where I am going, and if I want, can change it up a bit, take a different path, and will still know where I’m at.  And what a good feeling that is.  Especially since in the beginning I was trying to remember, right, left, big statue, right by the café, etc.  Now I’m starting to piece together what I once thought was an impossible tangle of metro lines, famous monuments and quirky neighborhoods into something that, if I had to, could map out on a piece of paper with a nice little compass rose and key.

I wish I had my camera to snag a picture, but it was beautiful when I was walking the last two blocks back (I even extended my route so I could enjoy the scene for a bit longer). The sky was starting to get gray, but the was still a bit of the sunset left over the river to the left, just right around the Eiffel Tower. It was pretty picturesque.

Fall has finally hit here.  The air is crisp and chilly, and as much as I love the heat, and would prefer to be somewhere warm, there is just something romantic and fun about bundling up under layers of sweaters and scarves and then setting forth out into the cold air with whatever the destination be in mind.  Tonight though, with the sun setting it wasn’t quite as romantic as it could have been since I was still panting from the last little sprint across the bridge and was dressed in a sweaty t-shirt and pants, but you get the idea, the city is beautiful right now and people are still very much out and about taking advantage of it.

I have been dedicated to walking everywhere I can lately and I am really, really enjoying it.  I have developed several new appreciations/respects because of it (for time, for my legs and feet getting me where I need to go, for scarves and gloves that make it a lot more enjoyable since this new icy temperature has decided to set in, for good fast public transport that is there when I need it and then just that everyone else is out their walking too).  I have to say it has also helped me with my sense of direction as well.  The metro is nice, but you get in, you go underground, and you pop up somewhere else, but you have no idea what you just missed in between the two destinations and sometimes the stuff in between is the best part.

It’s weird because back at home if someone asked if I wanted to walk a good 30 minutes to get to school and then another 30 coming home, I would say they were crazy, but here I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I’m trying to picture what the streets of Yakima or Spokane would look like if everyone didn’t have cars (granted it would be a lot different since it is not tightly condensed Paris, but still).  I know people at GU (and have been guilty a time or two myself) who drive from one side of campus to the gym on the other when it is cold to skip out on the maybe ten-minute walk.  I guess I will have to let you know how my walking here goes when it starts to get really cold come December, but I think I’ve been converted.

 

Other cool things I have noticed:

A lot of dads and really cute kids.  I thought I might have been imaging it, but another friend brought it up as well.  We always see a ton of dads out spending time with their kids.  And I’m not saying that dads don’t hang out with their children in the U.S., but normally I remember seeing kids out on the streets, in parks, etc with their mom or another female, but its been the opposite here.  I have seen hardly any moms out with their kids (or maybe just haven’t noticed cause I’m so used to it) except on the way to walk them to school.  Hannah and I were out the other day and the fathers with their little ones where everywhere—there were dads on bikes with their kids on the back enjoying the weather, dads walking around with their kid on their shoulders, dads out with their kid in the park, dads with their kids listening to music on the bridge, etc, etc.  I think it might be that people don’t get out as much in the States because we have things like back yards to play in, but it is still really cool seeing everyone out and about spending time together.

Ha, the dogs here also crack me up.  If I was a dog in Paris I would be thrilled when it was time to go for a walk, because they don’t exactly have a bunch of space to romp around in when they are inside, but the dogs here seem like they don’t want to move.  I feel like I see a lot of owners half-dragging their dogs down the street when you would think it would be the other way around.  Sometime the dog will just sit there and the owner will just keep right on going—poor little puppy scooting along on his butt behind.
Eeh, one thing I don’t like though is that you have to be careful where you step because I have only ever seen two people clean up their dogs business, and have seen more than two people step what the other owners didn’t clean up.

Window-shopping actually exists here—the bigger and more extravagant the display the better.  We went past a shop that supposedly has some of the best displays, and I was pretty amazed.  It had a display with different jewelry and the rocks that when you break them open have the crystals inside, but MASSIVE sized ones, I wish I had taken a picture because it was pretty cool.  The prices for everything in the display are also neatly written below each item (the giant rocks were not for sale…I looked), which is nice if you’re like me, and want to know if you even have a chance of being able to afford something before you even go into the store.  I can’t decide if I like it or not yet.  It’s fun seeing the best of what each store has to offer, but at the same time I’m always thinking, ‘ooh, I like that’ or ‘I want to get me a pair of those’. And do I really need any of it? Probably not, but the temptation is definitely stronger when you walk by it all day long.

I found a new love at the little boulangerie by my university.  It is called tarte myrtille which, thanks to my handy dictionary that I carry around with me at all times, I found out was a bilberry tart.  I don’t know if you guys are familiar with bilberries, but I definitely didn’t know of their existence prior to coming here, but this little tart thing is fabulous and that is saying something when there are chocolate croissants, fresh éclairs, and other delectables just waiting to be eaten and I always get the same thing.  If John’s marionberry pie and a huckleberry had a child, this would be it.  If I could send one back I would ;)

And I think that is about it for the Paris update.  Two weekends ago I went with the GU group to Mont-Saint-Michel which was very cool, you should check out pictures on facebook, or at least google image it, it’s worth a look.  And we also stopped at St. Malo which was fun.  Mom, you would have been amazed, I could have had anything on the menu at this Crèperie we went to and I chose a bucket of mussels.  They were what that place was famous for and so I had to get them. Surprisingly, they were really tasty considering small chewy things in shells are not my normal cup-of-tea.  They were served with French fries too, which made it even better.  They do that with steak here too which makes me laugh a bit since I’m so used to seeing fries only served with fast-food type stuff, not French delicacies.  I like it though, fries as a side it definitely work.

School is going well. I have officially been here a month and I feel like my French is coming along, but that it is not where I would like it to be.  But that just means more studying I guess, which isn’t bad cause I really enjoy it.

Yesterday I celebrated start to my weekend and went to a pretty sweet graffiti exhibition, also another thing you should Google, called “Né dans la rue” (Born on the streets) at the Cartier Foundation.  They brought in ten well-know artists from around the world to paint pieces, and then had a bunch of history, films, fotos, screens with interviews, etc up.  I really didn’t know any of the story behind graffiti and so it was really interesting learning about it and finally realizing, ‘oh, that’s what that is’ or ‘that’s why they did that’.  If anyone’s interested they should ask me more about it, but it is getting late here and so I should probably go to bed.

I miss you all and hope you all are doing wonderful.  Take care, enjoy the month of October and fall!  

Lots of love sent your way, Court.