If I were a traveler who’d been to Paris say two or three times before and it were a sunny day, any season, and I felt like taking a walk in a neighborhood where I’d never been, just an old-fashion neighborhood circumscribed by boulevards and avenues and train tracks, a neighborhood without much traffic or hubbub, where I could spend a few hours following my nose…
and allowing myself to be surprised by details without feeling that I had to learn or appreciate or buy anything in particular,…
a real neighborhood, with a locksmith-shoemaker…
and a restorer of old plumbing…
and shops that don’t scream “tourists, deposit your tourist money!,”…
the kind of neighborhood where I’d go without lunch plans and instead check menus and decor as I walked around before settling on, say, a good Indian restaurant (Maharaja), or a bistro/wine bar (Oh Bigre), or something contemporary (La Family),…
or perhaps be tempted by the food shops to create a picnic…
and head past the little church (Sainte Marie des Batignolles) that I’d feel no tourist obligation to visit…
to the neighborhood park, where I might stroll the paths of the city’s most charming English-style garden…
then sit on a bench enjoying my picnic while observing various species of ducks and geese at play or at sleep and contemplating an ominous, pigeon-dropped statue of turkey vultures (or eagles?)…
before leaving the park to sit in a café, where I’d think, “Now this looks like a nice quarter to live in, how come I’ve never read about it?,”…
then I’d probably take the metro to Rome or Place de Clichy…
and visit the Batignolles quarter in the 17th arrondissement.
(c) 2010, Gary Lee Kraut
Beautiful, Gary. I’m sending this to a slew of people who are coming to paris this spring!
Thanks, Grace. The more the merrier! Looking forward to your next event.
That’s my kind of Paris, thanks Gary!
We share the same kind of Paris then, Wendy. Thanks!