I'm not trying to blog from Paris. I don't even know how many photos I'll take on this short trip. Here's another old postcard.
The boulevard des Italiens is near the old Garnier Opera house in Paris, on the Right Bank. In the late 1970s, I was walking in this neighborhood with a 95-year-old-woman I happened to know. She told me she used to work in the neighborhood in the years preceding and during World War I (approximately 1910-1920). I remarked that the area must have changed a lot in the intervening years. She stopped, looked around as if she'd never thought about it, and answered: « Pas tellement. » That means "Not so much." I loved that. Rachel died at the age of 100 in 1983.
I suppose all that horse-drawn traffic must have been about as smelly and noisy as it was in the late 70s. Though by WW1 there would have been a fair number of automobiles -very smelly and noisy! Enjoy your stay. P.
ReplyDeleteAnd... Bingo. That's why we love Paris :)
ReplyDelete(Well, of course... among other things, and we do all appreciate changes for modernity, but what's nice in France is that things aren't just torn down and replaced seemingly at whim.)
It's a blessing to be friends with an elderly person who can tell you things like this.
ReplyDeleteThat is a wonderful memory!
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