One year in and it's still "the honeymoon period"

“The best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older—intelligence and good manners.”

Before you protest, these are not my words. They are the words of  F Scott Fitzgerald, and when I first read them, I dismissed them as an exaggeration at best, and downright pompous at worst. I find them amusing, and certainly not to be taken as accurate.

But......when I think to myself what has evolved in the last few months - it's not the scenery, or the architecture, the cultural offerings, or the food. That's all a given.  What I now have experienced is the wonderful feeling of meeting new friends, with whom I have some things in common, but whose experiences are mostly different than mine.  I've met some of the most intriguing people I have met in a long time.  And they are, for the most part, not French!

In the tradition of lazy blogging, I'll just end with another quote from Amy Thomas.

"I guess it goes to show that you just never know where life will take you. You search for answers. You wonder what it all means. You stumble, and you soar. And, if you’re lucky, you make it to Paris for a while.” 

I think I've been very, very lucky.

So a few pictures that "mean" Paris to me, and maybe give a small idea of what draws so many people to this city of many pleasures.

"Travel Often; Getting Lost Will Help You Find Yourself"

The 2 month blogging interval has become a 3 month hiatus. I guess I've been busy just enjoying.

 I've taken the above quote from the Holstee Manifesto to heart these days. A friend here in Paris said to me the other day.  "No wonder you love Paris so much.  It's because you are always leaving."  Hmmm - at first, I didn't get it. Cynical Parisian, I thought.  But now that I think about it, I've always loved to travel, yet I also maintain that the feeling you get when coming home, is like no other.

Well, coming home to Paris, is also like no other feeling.  In fact, it gives "coming home" a whole new meaning.  That's all, I just wanted to get that straight.  Here are some very random things I get to come home to.  The last picture is of a young lady with whom I struck up a conversation.  She was very happy to pose with her scooter. I was elated to meet this woman, of a certain age, who cruises around Paris on a daily basis. All part of the scenery.

Doesn't everyone's grocery store look like this?

The Seine and the architecture get me every time.

One of the many villages in Paris, this one is in the 13th.

Just a random alley in the 7th, that I stumbled upon.

Back to school - College de France

It's been another 2 months since my last post.  I know that I'm writing these posts for me, to have a record of what goes on in my life, but if they are of interest to others, so much the better. So 2 months seems to be the rhythm, and I guess that's fine.

I've discovered (oh, I knew about it, but I didn't realize how wonderful it was), the College de France.  Wikipedia says this:

"What makes it unique is that each professor is required to give lectures where attendance is free and open to anyone. The school's goal is to "teach science in the making" and therefore the professors are chosen from among the foremost researchers of the day, with no requirement other than that of being at the top of their fields. They are chosen from a variety of disciplines, in both science and the humanities. The motto of the Collège is "Docet Omnia," Latin for "It teaches everything", and its goal can be best summed up by Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phrase: "Not preconceived notions, but the idea of free thought".

The breadth and depth of this institution, created in 1530, is amazing.  This morning I just showed up at 9:30, and listened to an interesting talk about how children learn to talk and read, starting in the womb.  Last week I went to a class about Mozart, complete with live music and explanations.   Everything from astrophysics ( I won't be sampling that this week, especially in French), the temples of Karnak, Indo-iranian religion and languages, intellectual history of China, cognitive experimental psychology - my head spins when I look at the choices.

No homework, no papers, just a seminar, or class, with Q&A after, and some interaction with the audience.  Needless to say, I intend to take full advantage of this.

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A Feast for All the Senses

How could 2 months have gone by since my last post? Life in Paris is so full of delights, that I've neglected the blog, facebook, emails, and taking pictures of the amazing food and sights, in favor of actually trying to enjoy the moments.
I read the following somewhere, and unfortunately forgot to note the author, so please forgive me - I'm not plagiarizing, I'm agreeing with you.


 "Describe what you love about France in three words.    I just miss being in a foreign place where my powers of observation are always operating on overdrive. I felt so awake in Paris, especially when I first arrived.   Delicious Daily Surprises. I’ve been in France on and off for 13 years and feel I’ve barely scratched the surface. Even though I work long hours, my life here still feels very much like vacation. Each day brings wonderful new experiences:  interesting people, undiscovered villages, foods and wines I’ve yet to try, a road never driven, a Roman ruin to explore, festivals and markets galore, a brand-new word or phrase in French, an ‘ah ha!’ moment. One day that grassy field over there has white horses grazing in it...and the next week it’s ablaze with poppies. The longer I’m in Provence, the more deeply I love it."

So obviously, this person lived in Provence, but I'd have to say that the same thing is true for Paris - all senses on high alert for the next surprise.   There is a show outside my window, and I have a front row seat.  There is a lavish spectacle outside my front door, and there again, I'm in the front row. Like this picture of the Eiffel Tower - it just popped up in my view, while I was enjoying a quiet stroll, a few weeks ago.  I had to stop and take it in. Just another day in Paris.

 

Paris is the city in which one loves to live

Coming back from Lille, and arriving at the Gare du Nord, I was reminded of how lucky I am to be living in a city with such beautiful, vibrant, enjoyable train stations. 
I agree with Margaret about the Gare D'Orsay:

“Paris is the city in which one loves to live. Sometimes I think this is because it is the only city in the world where you can step out of a railway station—the Gare D'Orsay—and see, simultaneously, the chief enchantments: the Seine with its bridges and bookstalls, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Tuileries Gardens, the Place de la Concorde, the beginning of the Champs Elysees—nearly everything except the Luxembourg Gardens and the Palais Royal. But what other city offers as much as you leave a train?”   ― Margaret Anderson

"America is my country and Paris is my hometown."

It's a quarter to one, a time when starting a blog about Paris seems not only possible, but inevitable.  To quote Ms. Gertrude Stein, "America is my country and Paris is my hometown."  That about sums it up right now.  To get in the mood, why not start with the Conciergerie, with views of the Seine, where Marie Antoinette awaited her execution?Mixture of architecture,location, and history that is only one of the many treasures of my beloved Paris.