paris (not illinois)
I’ve been sleeping through the winter. Paris has woken me up.
24 hours ago I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport, caught the RER metro into central Paris and settled into my tres petite chambre a coucher. Tres petite. Very un-American. Lured here by a free room and a cheap ticket I thought what better way to emerge from the winter, but five days in Paris?
When I travel to a city I always promise myself that I will hit several museums and the important sights, but I should know myself better. Once I start walking I am lost in the streets and there is no stopping me. I cannot help myself. Time inside seems time wasted.
On this trip I decided to focus on Le Marais, on the right bank of the Seine, and perhaps one of Paris’ most interesting neighborhoods. My Eyewitness travel guide says this about Le Marais. “ A place of royal residence for centuries, it was abandoned to the people during the Revolution and descended into an architectural wasteland, before being rescued in the 1960s”. Such a description cannot keep me away. It takes an hour to walk there from my hotel and an hour back, but the journey is part of the adventure and it helps to burn off the endless food temptations along the way. Tomato and mozarella pressed “sandwichs”, crepes filled with nutella and wrapped in paper and lots of cafe creme. Past the Jardin du Luxembourg and a school with children screaming in the playground, past scooter stands, markets, through the streets of the Left Bank, across the Ile de la Cite and then I am almost there.
This morning I set out after eating my petit dejeuner of french bread, croissant and hot coffee. As I walked I absorbed the simple adaptions to life that Parisians have made in this very dense city.
We can learn from this.
Read on …
Tags: architecture, city, other cities, travel