In fact, I have many more. But today it’s about something more down-to-earth and practical, beyond beautiful sunrises and the elusive atmosphere of romance. And, at the same time, about things more elevated than food prices, wage levels, and so on. Money in any country has the same effect on a person: with it you feel comfortable and happy, and without it you feel sad and hard. So this is not the subject at hand.
CLIMATE
No one today can be surprised by weather sensitivity, and yet. In Paris, despite the fact that it can be cloudy and rainy all year round, I very rarely get a headache. Not at all like it was in Ukraine. I adore the winter here, which does not exist. I love the long autumn and the thin woolen coats which are not cold in January. I love wearing sneakers from September to May. I love fresh, cool summers. And to endure a week and a half of unbearable heat in Paris is much easier for me than to bathe in the same boiling cauldron for two or three months, as it was in Ukraine.
TRANSPORT
Subway, streetcar, RER trains, Velib bikes for rent – in Paris you can get to any point as quickly and comfortably as possible. Just look at the map, which lists all types of public transport – a very detailed web turns out.
Transfers from Paris Airport to Hotel
CULTURAL PROGRAM
I know firsthand how much you can be spoiled by such an abundance of museums, galleries, exhibition halls, mansions, where the “rich/famous/notable” lived.) There’s no need to make plans for the weekend – there will always be another place you’ve never been. You might not visit everything in a lifetime. Don’t forget about all the different formats of events that take place here every week – just have time to keep track of everything. There comes a moment when you stop worrying that you will not have time here and there – it’s just physically impossible).
OPEN-AIR MUSEUM.
Most of all, of course, I love Paris for the fact that here you just need to go outside and look around – the beauty and history are piled on top of you by architecture, monuments, street names, memorial plaques, restaurant signs… Something was bound to happen on every corner here. It is fascinating, and sometimes even frightening in its scale-it is impossible to remember all the events and all the names. It is as if you are standing in the middle of a huge library and you realize that you have read no more than 5 percent of everything on the shelves.
FOOD QUALITY AND CHOICE
If you want, go to the market. If you want, go to the supermarket. If you want, you can buy organic farm products, if you want, you can buy mass-produced organic foods on specialized shelves in the supermarket. Here are thirty kinds of nonfat yogurt, and here are four hundred and twenty-something kinds of cheese. Here’s whatever wine you want, fresh meats, baked goods at any price with or without good old gluten. Here’s seasonal fruit, and here’s canned goods with whatever contents you want. Here are the huge out-of-town mega-markets, where it’s convenient to drive to, and here are the small ones right outside the house, where you can squeeze your own orange or pomegranate juice for breakfast. That’s it, I can’t go on. I want to go to the market for spinach!
SEASONAL AND OFF-SEASON SALES.
It feels like they don’t stop. Basically, they do. In between discounts are short periods when clothes and shoes in stores are sold at full price.) You still have to manage not to catch some -40% anywhere. It’s especially nice that you can buy winter coats made of natural wool at a discounted price during the season. However, the massive winter sale here starts in early January and lasts a full month – you can still enjoy sweaters, parkas, and warm cardigans.
A MILLION BOOKSTORES.
Sometimes I think there are as many here as there are bakeries and restaurants – which is a lot.) There are chain ones like Gibert Jeune, Gibert Joseph, FNAC, Cultura, France Loisirs, Librairie Eyrolle – where you can sit half a day and read a book. There are individual ones like Galignani, Taschen, Assouline, Brentano’s Librairie Americaine, Delamain (my favorites). There are shops that smell of old covers, books with brown pages, frayed bindings and notes in the margins. There are hundreds of them. And one is drawn to them just as one is drawn to bakeries, where the aroma of freshly baked goods pours out…
INEXPENSIVE TASTY RESTAURANTS
Where it’s just like home, only much better. Where the portions are big, the service is simple, and there are zero empty tables. Where there are no reservations, no unnecessary shuffling from the staff. These places don’t have websites and no access to online menus. But they have admirers who have been coming here for years. And when you go to one of these places for the first time, you feel like you’ve been included in a close circle of connoisseurs of great food for normal money. I know you’re about to ask for addresses)) The big list is on my blog, it hasn’t been updated in a while, but it will suffice as well. And I’ll keep the best-kept secrets to myself 🙂
THE ABILITY TO DRINK WINE OUTSIDE.
It’s really a bonus that makes life even more wonderful)) I love the cozy terraces of cozy Parisian cafes. But none of them compare to a picnic on the grass or the promenade. Not in winter, of course. Here I lack the French temperament to sit in jeans on the sidewalk.) But the wooden benches in Louis Aragon Square on St. Louis Island have not been cancelled.
STORIES WORTHY OF SHORT FILMS.
Actually, I think it depends not on where you live, but on how you look at the world yourself. But you can’t deny Paris has a high concentration of moments that you want to photograph at a glance and put in a frame. Street musicians, overheard scraps of other people’s conversations, passersby with their dogs, noisy families in the parks, spotted kisses and arguments, whole serial scenes from the subway, restaurant sketches, faces from food markets… You do not want to miss anything. Everything to remember. Put everything on the shelf of memories.
What do you remember of Paris?
My most vivid memory after my first visit is an early morning on President Wilson Avenue, where I was drinking a cappuccino in Le Grand Corona, sitting with my back to the roadway. It was very fresh outside. The coffee was horrible and cost a cosmic 6.5)) But I don’t remember that I complained about anything then. I just looked around and wanted to remember the city in all its halftones.)
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