Springtime in Paris. The thought conjures up many different thoughts. It’s finally here with gusto. Despite the fact that everyone warns me that our recent spate of sun and warm weather is only temporary I’m soaking it up and allowing it to change my mood for the better. Spring has really transformed the city. My neighbourhood looks more and more like a street party as the cafes have stretched their patio seating further and further onto the sidewalks. There have been evenings where the street is the only place you’re able to walk. The only downside is that I’m reminded that I came here for the two months only and didn’t pack any non-winter clothing or jackets. I have my light fleece, but I’ve felt far too Canadian the few times I’ve walked around with it.
Still more and more walking the city. The last couple of weekends I spent ambling along the Seine and discovering the city from a different angle as they close the road there down to all traffic on Sundays. Paris at night has offered another vantage point now that it’s warm enough to walk around later in the evenings. It is incredible ominous and gothic once the buildings get taken over by shadows. It doesn’t help that I’ve seen a couple of werewolf and vampire movies set in this city. You can understand why I’ve found myself alone on the street late at night a few times and wished I had never seen those films. If I look pale and ashen when I get home, hold a mirror up to me and check and see if there’s a reflection.
It’s a bit unfortunate that after spending too much time in a city that you begin to lose your appreciation for it. I no longer feel like a tourist here but this has become the place where I’m living temporarily. There are moments that sneak up on you though, and remind you were you are. A month ago (which reminds me that I have not written people in far too long) I was taking a cab home and noticed a pretty inc
redible church next to where we were stopped at a light. I wondered aloud how such architecture goes completely unnoticed in a city with so many historic landmarks when the cabbie pointed out that it was Notre Dame. Which reminds me that no one who visits here should ever ask me for directions or guidance! Still though, if you do make it here, check out Notre Dame at night. It is pretty cool.Another opportunity for myth busting; Last Sunday I stopped in my tracks along the Seine while a man actually picked up after his dog. It was awkward, as it was something obviously new to him, and he was tearing pieces of a plastic bag apart rather than the ‘inside out’ bag thing dog-owners back home have mastered, but it was still refreshing to see. It helped fight my opinion that as much as Parisians love Paris, they really don’t treat this city with too much respect. In support of that, I was talking with a group of people outside a club a few weeks ago when one of them said ‘they don’t do that in your city do they?’ Another member of the group had crumpled a pack of smokes and tossed them to the ground and apparently my eyes followed it from his hand right down to the ground and back up again. I’m not as subtle as I think I am at times.
Back to myth-busting... I’m afraid I’m not that good in doing it in reverse. I’ve let Parisians think that Canada is swarming with Caribou, that we hunt bear from our front porches and that the reason why we have so few heritage buildings is that igloos melt. All of these are comments or questions I’ve had to endure from various Frenchmen or women. A younger colleague who works down the hall told me of his upcoming vacation to Montreal and sheepishly asked m e if it were true that Canadian women were a little more “open”... you know... uninhibited... I could have taken this opportunity to defend your moral values but, with a wink of the eye and a nudge to the ribs, all I could get out was “ you know it!”. Sorry. I needed for him to be disappointed the old-fashioned way.
For those who may not know it, my return home has been pushed until the first week of May. It feels a long way off but time is going by far too quickly. I’ve decided that the weekends that I have left are going to be spent travelling around and discovering the rest of the country and continent, if time permits. If anyone has must-see suggestions for me, let me know. So far I only have Amsterdam, Lyon and Corsica planned and probably the Alsace region as well. There is still room for other ideas though...
