Sunday, January 15

Saint Germain des Près














This is the church at Saint Germain. And across the street, a Dior boutique.

Avenue de Clichy


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My favorite tree.  It's in a little garden just off avenue de Clichy.  It's tiny, but there is grass and a playground.  And this tree.  I find it very graceful. 

Saturday, January 14

Rue de Rivoli

This is a very long street, and it has several personalities. One section is rather posh, with fancy old hotels and tea rooms opposite the Tuileries. Another is full of tacky souvenir shops.

And yet another is Paris' answer to the ubiquitous English High Street, teaming with shoppers on their way to and from the Gap, Body Shop, H & M, Zara, Foot Locker, etc etc...

Today, the first Saturday of the winter sales, that section of rue de Rivoli was overflowing with people. Walking on the sidewalks required patience, speed, and fast reflexes.

Two RATP (public transportation) bus drivers idled their engines side by side, bemused, as the crowd surged on and off the sidewalk in an effort to get somewhere, anywhere, quickly ! in search of a bargain. The buses were halted, not by cars but by bargain hunters. One driver opened the door of his bus to talk to the other driver through his open window.

- It's crazy today, isn't it ?
- Yes, all these people have left their brains at home.

Gallic shrugs all 'round. The buses start up again and we're off.

Friday, January 13

New Year's resolution...

.... update this poor blog which never really got off the ground.

Was toying with the idea of getting a digital camera as a Christmas gift to myself, in order to upload photos of 5 Streets (and more !) but did not.

Since then have been paralyzed by writer's block (to be honest, indecision and feelings of mediocrity). Because, after all, it's not as if writing about Paris has not been done before, in great detail, by some of the truly Greats.

Enough dithering. There will be updates, I promise.

Watch this space !

Saturday, November 26

Snow !

It's been snowing on and off since yesterday. Hardly groundbreaking news perhaps but rare enough in Paris and very rare at this time of the year. Nothing is sticking to the ground but the rooftops I can see from my kitchen window are all white.

Introduction

This is inspired by Julia, author of the 5 Streets Sydney blog, which I will link to in the sidebar as soon as I can figure out how to do so.

The basic premise is to blog about 5 streets in your hometown, which I think is a fantastic idea. I'll try to make this as interesting as possible (!) but in particular I'll try to post about things that don't usually get mentionned about Paris. After all there is a plethora of information available about this city on the net and my goal is not to write about stuff anyone can find out easily, but to try to give an idea of what day to day living is like here.