Neighborhoods

I've been in Paris now for over two weeks and the shine has not worn off. Not even close. But I'm also no closer yet to figuring out what I'm going to do next in life. Thank goodness I have a few more weeks.

I have been enjoying my french classes - although 3 hours a day is long, so I've decided to cut back to an hour and a half and starting next week, I'll be going in the morning at 9 am. I'm really glad to make the change. First, the class will be more challenging and second, it won't cut wholly into my afternoons.

One of the many things I love about Paris are the varied neighborhoods. This week for example, Jai and I walked to the Place Vendome. Now the Champs Elysees is great, but it has nothing on the area around Place Vendome - all of the finest jewelry shops in the world surround the Place, and despite the fact that I can't afford even one piece of jewelry from any of them, it was fun to window shop. As you walk away from Place Vendome back toward Rue de Rivoli - you notice how different this neighborhood feels. It is full of high high end hotels, and high end shops. Even the streets seem cleaner or grander - or at least that's the feel I got.

It was a stark contrast to the area around the Bastille. Even on a morning where the market was closed (they have a great open air market a couple of days a week) you could sense a more convivial environment. There were streets more dense with restaurants and shops. It felt busier and definitely livelier. I am looking forward to checking it out one of these evenings.

We also checked out what seemed like a more romantic area (not romantic as in lovers, but the romantic notion of Paris) - we walked along the Seine yesterday morning and crossed over Pont Marie, saw Pont Neuf, Pont St. Michel which has been there since the 14th Century and finally crossed back over to my side (the Left Bank) over the Pont des Arts - where married couples come to attach a lock on the wire sides of the bridge to lock together their marriage for eternity. Walking along the Seine, where it is tree lined but you still see the grandeur of places such as the Cathedral de Notre Dame and the Palais du Justice and St. Chappelle reminds me of the notion I had of Paris all these years.

As I continue to walk around Paris, I try to get a sense of the people who live in each of these neighborhoods - the fifth is definitely filled with more students, the 9th of young adults, I think and then of course places near Vendome with the old guard - or so I think anyway.