Since the end of May, I’ve been traveling around quite a bit. I visited my family in the US, went on a cruise through the Greek islands, returned to Florence for a few days, went to Corsica for the weekend and then spent a few days on the coast in Brittany. Now, while many of my colleagues are off on vacation, I’m happy to be staying put for a while. To celebrate my time home, my beau and I spent some time in Paris so we could walk around and take in the city while it’s calm.
Summer finally arrived in Paris last month: the sun warms up and brightens the city. The best part about August in Paris is that many of the Parisians have left and the city is a bit calmer. Even though there are a lot of tourists, the streets are less crowded.
For lunch, we went to a restaurant (which was originally a barge) on the Seine in Saint-Cloud to begin our lovely summer day. Afterwards, we drove through the Bois de Boulogne and parked on the Ile-Saint-Louis. We walked along the ports of the Seine below Notre Dame and felt the cool breeze brush against our faces. I was happy to see a bateau-mouche pass by loaded with tourists. I love to see people enjoy the city and especially by traveling up and down the Seine.
We first perused the shops in the Quartier Latin, but then decided to head to the Marais. We walked across a pont (bridge) and saw the Paris-Plages below where people were laying out in the sun along the Seine.
We slowly walked back to our car after shopping in the Marais past the bouquinistes who were selling tourist paraphernalia and used books and magazines. I can never walk past the bouquinistes without scanning the titles of the books.
I am always a little melancholy as we drive down the Champs-Elysées and exit the city. We live right outside of the city in the banlieu (suburbs), but for me it feels like another country. I haven’t been coming back into the city as much as I’d like to and I am always eager to come back and soak up its energy.
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