Paris: l'indispensable

-
-

We're coming onto April and the inevitable spring light that slants through trees at a particular height, angle and shade of amber, lasting just a couple of weeks. When it happens, I'm in Paris.

Above, Don is standing in the clock window of the Orsay museum in 2003. He snapped me, below, the afternoon we rode bikes for hours in the Bois de Boulogne and still didn't see a fraction of it. That's not a surprise when you realize it is two and a half times the size of New York's Central Park. (Believe me, I was very happy, even though I don't seem to be smiling in this photo.)

If you're like me and you want to fly to Paris, but can't at the moment, find a Paris blog, like Peter's wonderful one - full of history, architecture and art, or mine, where I posted just 35 posts mostly in 2006. My blog has been waiting for another visit by its proprietor, but lucky Peter gets to live there.

In 2006, this was the view from my apartment window

in Place du Marché Sainte-Catherine;

I could hear laughter and conversation rising up from the street

through my open window for hours

while I tried to sleep. Ask me if I minded one bit.

I also watched and listened to a storm come in,

which for me is heaven.

Carousel in the Place de Varsovie, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower; I watched these two men talk while they watched girls walk by.

It was May when the horse chestnuts were in season - beautiful to look at,

but one evening walking the Seine the wind was throwing

chestnut pollen into everyone's eyes. Mine were watering

so I could hardly see, and I began to notice that everyone else

walking was wiping their eyes too.

Most parks in Paris don't make you "stay off the grass" and are full of people at lunch time, well all day really.

The Fauchon food store is a treat for the eyes as well as the stomach. I snapped this outside Fauchon's window, looking in. The reflection creates a puzzle - which is out, which is in?

I think it's best to stay in an apartment, which is more economical than a hotel,

partly because each day you can eat a meal or two at home.

My favorite meal at home:

roquefort bleu cheese, baguette and French beans (haricots verts).

Plus a bottle of red.

Oh dear, I'm working myself up to not being happy with just photos. Either that or I will just keeping posting more and more of them. Pretty soon I'll be in a Paris frénésie!

I wanted to start a business helping folks plan focused, personalized tours of the city, which was part of the point of my 2006 solo trip. I was also celebrating my 50th birthday, thanks to generous family, but no one had time to get away with me! After my loved ones ganged up on me with this idea, first I felt guilty, then I got giddy and decided it would be brilliant to have the week alone and do just what I pleased at any given moment. But by the second day, I longed to talk with Don, my kids, my brothers and sisters, or a friend, about the day. Thankfully I had my laptop and was able to do just that in the evening on google chat. Now, I think ideal travel is with someone, but getting off on your own for at least a few hours here and there to wander down a street or into a shop that beckons you, or to eat Coq au Vin that nobody else cares about.

One idea for focused touring was to explore the haunts of literary American expats Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitgerald, et. al. Another would be to photograph different daily themes: Day 1 - lampposts; Day 2 - clocks; Day 3 - bridges; etc. Like writing a research paper, when you're focused on one thing, you learn about a lot of other things while gaining deeper understanding of the one thing you're researching. I started the Paris Deconstructed blog as a way into that business plan. But I let it fizzle. Maybe I'll have a chance to pursue it one day, and walk the Seine again.

After working on this post, Thursday I left a new post at Paris Deconstructed after more than two years. So it is officially out of hiatus. I plan to post something there about once a week, as long as two trips worth of film images hold out, or until my next visit, whichever comes first.