Paris, nine more times

We are having a good time here in upstate New York, seeing relatives of Walt's and old friends. The weather is gorgeous — dry, sunny, and warm (at least in the afternoon). Yesterday we drove down from Albany to the town of Catskill, also on the Hudson. That was a bust. The town's business district is run down and partially boarded up.

Then we drove over to the town of Hudson, looking for a place where we could have a salad or sandwich for lunch. We didn't have a lot of hope. Hudson, NY, however, turns out to be a very busy and attractive town. There are dozens of antique stores, galleries, and restaurants lining the main street. We had a wood-fired pizza for lunch in a place called Baba Louie's and we strolled around the town taking pictures and looking in shop windows for a couple of hours after lunch.

Despite the pleasant activities and beautiful weather, I still have Paris on my mind. Here are nine more pictures from our stroll around the City of Light last Wednesday, October 5.

Chien de garde — watchdog — in the Latin Quarter

Everything is bigger in America. Even the dogs. Paris dogs are tiny things. I don't think the one above is really guarding anything. I think it is waiting for somebody. Keeping watch. The little pooch pretty much ignored me as I took his picture. This was near the restaurant called Allard where we were going to have dinner that night.

Your perfect Paris automobile

Cars seem enormous in the U.S. Veritable boats. Some of them, however, are models that you also see in France. They don't look as big there, I guess, because the average size of cars in France is so much smaller. My Peugeot 206 is smaller than one of those new Minis you see around, I think. We are driving around in a Chevrolet Impala, and we are just floating. The roads are also very wide — twice as wide as most of the roads around Saint-Aignan.

People lounging by the Seine on the Ile Saint-Louis in Paris

Not bad for an October afternoon. Les berges — the lower walkways along the Seine — around the Ile Saint-Louis, in the middle of Paris right behind Notre Dame, are a great place to spend a sunny hour or two.

Typical Paris restaurant terrace, out on the sidewalk

We walked from the Ile Saint-Louis up toward the Bastille. We thought we would go for a walk in the now-trendy 11th arrondissement, but we never made it that far. Next time we go to Paris, we are going to try to find a hotel or an apartment in the 11th so that we can explore the area more. It's less touristy than the Marais, the Latin Quarter, and the other neighborhoods right along the Seine.

Little boy playing on the streets of Paris

We stopped at the place de la Bastille and sat down at the Bar des Philosophes for another glass of white wine. Several people were sitting at the table next to ours, but an advertising placard separated us and we couldn't see them. They had the little boy in red with them. He was playing by running out onto the sidewalk, avoiding the passersby, and going a little farther toward the curb and the street each time. Then he would come running back, all excited about his exploits. He was talking and bragging about his own bravery the whole time. His mother or father or both must have been at the table next to us, but as I said we couldn't see them. We could hear them yell at him every couple of minutes -- "Now don't go too far! Come back here!" He was very cute.

Place des Vosges

When we walked over to the place des Vosges from Bastille, we saw a lot of people out on the square, enjoying the weather. You can see that sun was strong and the shadows were long.

Paris grocery store

Just up the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, at the corner of the rue de Turenne, I saw this colorful grocery store display. The displays of fresh fruit and vegetables we saw in New York City when we arrived, and the ones we have seen around Albany, are not nearly as attractive.

A boulangerie that has become a clothes shop in the Marais

Just a little farther, there is this old bakery that is now occupied by a clothing store. It's nice that they preserved the baby blue storefront and the old signs.

Crossing the Seine near Notre Dame in late afternoon, 05 October 2006

Do you ever get the feeling, when you leave France and return to the U.S., that France really isn't there at all? That it was all just a dream? That's the way I feel now, and that's the way I've always felt when I return from France after spending time there. Now that I live there, the feeling is even stronger, paradoxically.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington, I had a very strong desire to return to Paris before somebody had a chance to destroy it. In my psyche, there developed a real fear that what happened in New York, or worse, could happen in Paris. What would I do if it weren't there any more? I guess that's one of the reasons I decided in 2003 to go live in France. And not to wait any more.

Speaking of terrorism and security issues, Walt and I were stopped by the police today in the Albany NY suburb where we are staying. We had gone out for a walk around our friends' neighborhood at about 10:30 a.m., and I was of course taking pictures. A lot of the houses are very beautiful, and they are very different from houses in France. Somebody called the police and reported me as a suspicious character. The policeman actually ran my ID through the police department computer to see if I was legitimate! He told me I could go on my way but that I shouldn't take any more pictures of houses. Do you think it's really illegal to take pictures when you are on a public right of way in America? Has it come to this? Are people this paranoid?

The policeman wasn't even polite or apologetic about it. It's creepy here. Not Albany, America. I don't like what's happened.