We have one more full day here in Paris, and then we fly back home (we took our PCR Covid test this morning; got the results — negative, Whew! — this afternoon). So let me send off some quick “postcards” that should land in your mailboxes before we leave the ground. . . I’ve already begun thinking of a few posts for the weeks ahead, so many differences from, but also many similarities to, pre-Covid travel. But those thoughts will have to wait as we squeeze as much Paris as we can into our next 30 hours.
I started this post Friday evening before we walked to a favourite Moroccan restaurant for dinner. Saturday morning, now, and the weather’s changing, preparing us for the heavy rainfall that will greet us tomorrow in Vancouver. First, though, let me walk with you in some Paris sunshine.
My photos are obviously idiosyncratic: I will often stop to marvel at the way sunlight illuminates the last floor or two of a building, plucking it out of the relatively dark canyon we walk through on many of Paris’s narrow streets. Blue sky, sunshine, and Hausmannian architecture conspire to pull my phone camera out of my pocket too many times a day. That top photo, for example.
And then interesting graffiti, of course. I’ve snapped far fewer shots of such subjects this trip, but that figure grabbed me. Soigné, somehow, no? That black, white, and red heart, the urbane hand of a smoker, suggest a tuxedo — though perhaps only to me. And that perfect slouch. Insouciant rather than disconsolate. I read the character as louche: “disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way.” Can you see that? Or propose your own assessment?
If you were walking with me, you’d understand why I need time to walk on my own. Pater is very patient, but sometimes patience is discernible. We were still in our first kilometre or two, though, the day I took this, and he was amused, He could also see why this mural wall caught my eye. Not sure he was as keen on my stepping out into the street for the photo below. . . but he could see what I did, the way the colourful geometric design continued down the street, interrupted by that splash of red foliage. Pretty gorgeous, right? And not necessarily what you think of when you think “Paris.”
Geraniums growing behind and over a wrought-iron railing, all against that biscuit-coloured stone — irresistible, especially in November, and I wondered if there were a chance my own geraniums might still be blooming at home. I suspect they’ll have drowned by now, or been blown away. . .
Of course, as much as I love the architecture we most typically associate with Paris, my eye is also caught by other styles. I have a bundle of photos of the citrus-coloured facade (louvered glass shutters, so cool for filtering sunlight, moderating heat) of the building on the left in the photo below and will share more later, either here or on Instagram. Such a juxtaposition with the building on the right, which was itself innovative enough in its day . . .
We wanted the photos below because we found the plantings striking and because they promise to translate well to our terrace and our little balcony.
Of course, we won’t have planter boxes that ever-so-Paris, ever-so-Jardins de Luxembourg Fermob-chairs green, but a combo like this will recall a moment, a walk, a Thursday morning together in this city.
We first ordered “la formule” in this little crêperie 13 or 14 years ago, and have visited it most years since (wrote about my last visit there, in 2019), until this pandemic. More about those memories, about changes and constancies we’ve observed this visit, in an upcoming post. For now, can you spot our shadowy figures in the glass? Back in the kitchen getting ready to open, she saw us, and we waved, signalled that we’d be back for lunch in a bit, then off we went to snap photos of sailboats in the nearby Jardins Lux.
No justification for flower-shop photos, right? Those hyacinth bulbs are each potted and wrapped separately, but so beautifully displayed together in a chipped enamel pot. I have no shame when it comes to sidewalk flower-shop photos, and happily squatted with my camera to snap from this angle. . .
And the planters of chrysanthemums in the Luxembourg Gardens, especially these at the Fontaine de Medicis. Can you guess how many images my camera gobbled greedily the other morning? I’ll likely post the lot over on Instagram later. But that orange, rust, gold in that densely swirling texture, Mmmmmm — sumptuous, delectable! And the leaves floating below, intermingling with the inverted reflections of the sun-struck blooms, the depths of the water lending a potential melancholy. The potential (looming?) melancholy that advises (warns?) us to store up the joys and beauties of sunny days while we can. . . .
And we did.
And we’re not quite done yet, although the sun has temporarily deserted us. I’m off shortly, though, to store up the sunshine of a visit with a friend, a stroll along a favourite new street, lunch and conversation in a Paris cafe or bar or bistro or restaurant or brasserie (so many names for places to eat and drink: that has to tell something about a culture, right? Although really, if I stop to think, we have a few ourselves).
That’s it for now, but Oh, I have so much more to unpack for you when I get back home — where, quite honestly, I’m looking forward now to making my perfect cup of tea; to getting back to healthier eating habits; to starting up or continuing some creative projects; to seeing “the other grandkids”: to appreciating anew all that I have in my own little corner. And my conversations with you. This post(card) should land in your mailbox well before we land back home, and by the time I’ve had a decent, if jet-lagged, sleep in my own bed, I’ll be ready to catch up with your comments.
Until then,
xo,
f
Beautiful,beautiful photos! Amazing autumn in Paris….Interesting,I always think of planter boxes as ever-so-London
My geraniums are still blooming (in planter boxes,ever-so-Zagreb :)), but heather plants are ready on the waiting list on my balcony to replace them. Enjoy your Saturday in Paris!
Safe flight home!
Dottoressa
Author
Thank you! And I loved the geraniums in so many varieties of containers all through Croatia!
I love Paris in the springtime, I love Paris in the fall……..What a distraction your wonderful pictures are!It will be a long time before I get back there. So appreciate the visuals.Hope your flight home was uneventful,etc. Looking forward to seeing more of your photos!
Author
Thank you! It was a long day, but we’re safely home and adjusting to that nine-hour time difference. More photos definitely coming your way soon 😉
Thanks for the Parisian stroll. I always enjoy your prospective on the sites you photograph. Hope you are home and recovering. I look forward to upcoming Paris posts.
Author
Yep, home, recovering, planning next Paris post. Thanks!
Wonderful photos of a city that always seems to amaze and delight.
And yes, the geraniums here are drowning:)
Author
I can’t even see them under all the water!
Thanks for sharing !
Author
You’re welcome!
such wonderful photos. especially the way the light makes everything so beautiful. you always seem to capture the details others might miss.
Author
Thank you! Pleased to know you enjoyed the post.
Thanks for sharing~ love the hyacinth’s for sale!
Author
Aren’t they pretty?
Enjoy the time left of your European trip. Thanks for sharing the postcards. I still keep going back through my trip photos…reminding myself of special moments–reflections on a window, leaves on trees, a favorite street. a field of sheep on the Dales from a train window. Time captures.
Safe travels back to Vancouver.
Author
We are nourished by these voyages long after they’re over, right?
I especially like the last photo, with the orange flowers. We have similar instincts in vacation photos. I never take the monumental shots, but rather pick out odd details: graffiti; the back of a statue; a photo of the Partigiani pasted to a wall and peeling, in the exact position the youth had been standing nearly eighty years ago, etc. One of my favourites in Florence one time was a graffito that some enterprising youth had written in bold letters on the riverbank/holding wall on the side of the Arno. It read, from the opposite side of the river: Man is what he read [sic].
Hope your travels home were comfortable. Although I did not enjoy having the PCR test before departure from Italy (negative – phew indeed!), as not everyone was masking as consistently as they should have on the flight back from Zurich to Montreal I was happy that everyone had been tested with the more precise test. (I occasionally play the mask police, but that’s a losing game I’ve found, and exhausting.) It appeared that Swiss had a policy (tacit, at least) of not intervening with people not masking properly, as the cabin crew moved through the cabin as infrequently as possible. I did not see them once ask a client to pull their mask up. People behaved strangely – some eating and then leaving their masks off, and one woman in my row took her mask off intermittently to do a crossword (!?). Air Canada seemed to be better, at least domestically, so I plan to fly with them internationally at Christmas. Will be interested to hear about your experience, if you write about it.)
Author
Those are cool examples of graffiti you’ve discovered.
We were treated to an extra Covid test at our home airport last night, “randomly selected” — lucky us!
We found the cabin crew very good on both KLM and AF and they did seem to be reminding travellers to wear their masks properly.
Mixed thoughts about Covid measures,compliance, overall — and yes, I probably will write about that soon, if briefly.
Oh no – poor you. I felt ignored at the Montreal airport, as no one even asked for my documentation, although I suppose the ArriveCan app is supposed to do the work. Glad to hear that things were more positive for you. I apologize for the neurotic-sounding comment. I am a very pleasant and optimistic person, normally, but COVID has done a number on me. It is much more interesting to dwell on your lovely photos and postcards of thoughts from a beautiful place.
Author
I was a bit puzzled about that on arrival as well, but as you say, I guess the ArriveCan did that work. By then, we were just so glad for the long day to be over and compared to our experiences at CDG, YVR was fabulous. But honestly, I was pretty cranky by that point — travel during Covid! Hard to channel our “very pleasant and optimistic” selves. I get that!
Yes, travel during Covid is unpleasant. To be honest, the negativity is a bit of an occupational hazard for me. I’m an economist and have been working on, among other things, policies related to the pandemic and now recovery. It is difficult to feel optimistic about the world when so much of it seems bent on keeping us moving in reverse (having also worked on climate policy in the past, with all of its challenges, it’s amazing that I can pull myself out of bed in the morning). Add to that the personal woes of separation from all of my loved ones during the pandemic and my overall sense of hope and good in the world has been challenged. That said, I feel I may have turned a corner. I read recently that in order to be not depressed one needs to live with myriad delusions. Depressed people tend to see the world more clearly as it is. I suppose that becomes a choice. Although it becomes an open question as to which state of being is more likely to provoke the efforts that will move us in a better direction.
Beautiful Paris postcards that will remind you of this day in that lovely city. The Medici Fountain is just stunning in its autumn finery. I look forward to more of your musings.
Author
Thanks, Lorrie — I’d guess that my photos brought back a few of your own Paris memories.
Belles photos et j’ai adoré vous lire ! Bon retour à Vancouver et à une autre fois 🇫🇷 (peut etre à Nantes? never know..)
Author
Merci! Et oui, j’aimerais bien visiter Nantes un jour . . .
A visual walking meditation. Delightful!
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Aw, thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
What lovely glimpses of Paris . You were lucky with the weather. Hope the journey home went well & you are soon over that post travel disorientated feeling – or was that just me ?
Author
Nope, not just you. Currently feeling walloped by a weekend of scant sleep combined with the inevitable discomfort of sitting in a cramped seat for 12 hours plus adjusting to nine hours’ time difference! But feeling very lucky we pulled this trip off and got to see the kids in Rome.