Thank you for introducing your neighborhood to me. Though I've been to Paris many times over 50 years, I've always stayed in the 5th (MY neighborhood, though I've never actually lived there!), and have only been to the 18th a couple of times, so it's good to get a closer glimpse of your streets there. I have a sense of what you describe (though still only as a visitor) from going to the same bistros, the same bakeries, staying in the same hotel on every visit for decades now. I do know the pleasure of seeing the Chef and Madame from Lilane in a cafe on Place Contrascarpe - and they greet me(!), having the waitperson at our usual cafe on Rue Mouffetard put my forgotten hat behind the bar to wait, because she knows I'll be back - in a day or two at least. I always hoped I'd someday live in Paris; now I know I never will - that's life. But I'm enjoying immensely reading your pieces about your life there.
There is immense joy in getting to know a place, and that joy is as available to the one-time or repeat visitor as it is to the resident foreigner. Thanks for reading the piece; I'm glad it stirred a few memories for you.
Thank you for introducing your neighborhood to me. Though I've been to Paris many times over 50 years, I've always stayed in the 5th (MY neighborhood, though I've never actually lived there!), and have only been to the 18th a couple of times, so it's good to get a closer glimpse of your streets there. I have a sense of what you describe (though still only as a visitor) from going to the same bistros, the same bakeries, staying in the same hotel on every visit for decades now. I do know the pleasure of seeing the Chef and Madame from Lilane in a cafe on Place Contrascarpe - and they greet me(!), having the waitperson at our usual cafe on Rue Mouffetard put my forgotten hat behind the bar to wait, because she knows I'll be back - in a day or two at least. I always hoped I'd someday live in Paris; now I know I never will - that's life. But I'm enjoying immensely reading your pieces about your life there.
There is immense joy in getting to know a place, and that joy is as available to the one-time or repeat visitor as it is to the resident foreigner. Thanks for reading the piece; I'm glad it stirred a few memories for you.