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ajar, allowing you to peek in. You see a courtyard, perhaps.
Or a bicycle propped against the wall. Sometimes there's a
stone cherub looking down on you as you pass. Or an antique
streetlight, curved and ornate, waiting for dusk. And just
around the corner there's a church with a fountain, where a
dog is splashing itself and everyone else along with it. Paris
is constantly a surprise.
And suddenly you notice the noise, or at least, the quality
of it. Paris is a city with some dignity, is it not? Certainly
there are automobiles rushing about, but they rarely honk
their horns, and some
métro
trains have only whooshing
rubber wheels. There's no music intruding on your dinner in
restaurants or in elevators, no one interrupting or shouting
in stores. There's just a bustle and hum as the city works.
And without thinking, you relax and take it down a notch
yourself, hearing each sound for what it is.
Hungry, you stop at a fruit stand and browse through the
artistically displayed produce: fresh, colourful and abundant
fruit in season. Or you decide to drop in at a bistro and you
choose one of the specials of the day written on a chalkboard
propped up next to your table, the selections also in season
and carefully prepared. Or perhaps you rest your feet at a
café, where the waiter dressed in black allows you to sit with
your coffee and postcards until you're ready to take on the
city once again.
And then you walk some more and finally back to your
hotel. The concierge greets you quietly, but he asks you
nothing about your day. He does not want to intrude on your
privacy, on those thoughts that are swirling around in your
head. You nod back and say “Good evening” in French, if
you can. You understand though, that he is letting you know
that he is there, ready to help if need be. But you are fine,
if a little overwhelmed. A few minutes later, you have your
shoes off, ready to run a bath and replay those hours that
even now seem too short.
“Yes,” you think, at the end of this first day awash with
your first impressions, “Yes, I could live here, and quite well.”
And this is an impression that turns out to be true.
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