A Feast for All the Senses

How could 2 months have gone by since my last post? Life in Paris is so full of delights, that I've neglected the blog, facebook, emails, and taking pictures of the amazing food and sights, in favor of actually trying to enjoy the moments.
I read the following somewhere, and unfortunately forgot to note the author, so please forgive me - I'm not plagiarizing, I'm agreeing with you.


 "Describe what you love about France in three words.    I just miss being in a foreign place where my powers of observation are always operating on overdrive. I felt so awake in Paris, especially when I first arrived.   Delicious Daily Surprises. I’ve been in France on and off for 13 years and feel I’ve barely scratched the surface. Even though I work long hours, my life here still feels very much like vacation. Each day brings wonderful new experiences:  interesting people, undiscovered villages, foods and wines I’ve yet to try, a road never driven, a Roman ruin to explore, festivals and markets galore, a brand-new word or phrase in French, an ‘ah ha!’ moment. One day that grassy field over there has white horses grazing in it...and the next week it’s ablaze with poppies. The longer I’m in Provence, the more deeply I love it."

So obviously, this person lived in Provence, but I'd have to say that the same thing is true for Paris - all senses on high alert for the next surprise.   There is a show outside my window, and I have a front row seat.  There is a lavish spectacle outside my front door, and there again, I'm in the front row. Like this picture of the Eiffel Tower - it just popped up in my view, while I was enjoying a quiet stroll, a few weeks ago.  I had to stop and take it in. Just another day in Paris.

 

Paris is the city in which one loves to live

Coming back from Lille, and arriving at the Gare du Nord, I was reminded of how lucky I am to be living in a city with such beautiful, vibrant, enjoyable train stations. 
I agree with Margaret about the Gare D'Orsay:

“Paris is the city in which one loves to live. Sometimes I think this is because it is the only city in the world where you can step out of a railway station—the Gare D'Orsay—and see, simultaneously, the chief enchantments: the Seine with its bridges and bookstalls, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Tuileries Gardens, the Place de la Concorde, the beginning of the Champs Elysees—nearly everything except the Luxembourg Gardens and the Palais Royal. But what other city offers as much as you leave a train?”   ― Margaret Anderson

"America is my country and Paris is my hometown."

It's a quarter to one, a time when starting a blog about Paris seems not only possible, but inevitable.  To quote Ms. Gertrude Stein, "America is my country and Paris is my hometown."  That about sums it up right now.  To get in the mood, why not start with the Conciergerie, with views of the Seine, where Marie Antoinette awaited her execution?Mixture of architecture,location, and history that is only one of the many treasures of my beloved Paris.