Has anyone else reached the point I have with visits to France. I%26#39;ve done all the touristy things, I speak reasonably fluent French. I%26#39;ve been to France so many times I%26#39;ve lost count - must be about 20 times altogether. I increasingly find I want to do more ordinary things, similar to the things I do in London. So I might go to an exhibition, but I also go for a walk in the park, or sit people-watching in a cafe. I also find myself toying with the possibility of spending a month, rather than a week in France. Has anyone else made this shift in perspective? Did you do anything about it? I know I%26#39;ll always be a visitor, but still . . .
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I think we made this shift in the late 90s. We%26#39;ve been coming here since the early-mid 80s, we%26#39;d exhausted all the postcard-Paris romantic notions by the early 90s, decided we loved this city for other reasons, and now find ourselves enjoying much simpler pleasures away from the usual places.
This morning we grabbed the books we are currently reading and Métroed to the Jardin des Serres d%26#39;Auteuil, a relatively obscure botanical garden and park in the 16th, and we did our reading time together in a beautiful place with no crowds. No people at all for the most part. We saw maybe a dozen people visit the park in a little more than four hours. The daily ritual of reading together in a park is now a permanent habit. You can%26#39;t really do this unless you spend time in a place. I think the best of Paris is the stuff you DON%26#39;T read about on TA. If you can spare a month instead of just a week, it%26#39;s worth the price.
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For the last 10 years or so we have tried to get under France%26#39;s skin, by visiting some out of the way places that a tourist would never see.
Last year for example, we found a place in Burgundy where the local bar was effectively the front room of a house. To get to the WC we had to go through Madame%26#39;s kitchen / living area which was a very frugal set up. More recently in Paris we visited Hameau Boileau - a well to do residential area in the 16th and Square Montsouris, also a well to do street. We are inquisitive souls and pick a new arondissement or part thereof, each visit.
I also love people watching and if ever it became an Olympic sport I%26#39;d be up there on the podium.
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What you describe is a bit of a natural evolution, yes?
I lived in Paris for two years so the %26quot;tourist%26quot; persona wore off very quickly...In fact, I grew to disdain tourist to some degree and then I realized they were just people, like me, that wanted to see something they love or had not seen before. As long as they behave repsectfully, I don%26#39;t really see anything wrong with tourists, I suppose.
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I think my experience with Paris has been a bit backwards. A number of years ago, I moved to Paris for about 6 months. Due to my very busy schedule and the fact that I rented a room from a wonderful Parisien woman who cooked traditional French dinners every evening, I feel like I never had the traditional tourist experience. Also, there are a lot of the tourist activities that I never did, partly because I felt as though I had so much time to do it all and then somehow just never got around to them. My favorite memories of Paris are simple, every day activities like walking to school and stopping by the neighborhood crepe stand.
I%26#39;m thrilled that I%26#39;m going back to Paris (in less than a week!) and will have a real tourist experience. Maybe after this trip, I will be able to see the exciting Paris that everyone else sees as well as the homey, comfortable Paris that I remember and love.
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Odd thing I guess…I’ve lived in cities where there are tourist things to do and never did them unless someone visited and wanted to go.
When in Paris I met, and soon thereafter lived with, a French girl. She was in her mid-twenties, lived in Paris and had never been to the Louvre, amongst most other places that any visitor wants to experience. We basically discovered Paris together and she had lived there for most of her life.
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yeah its like when its on your doorstep you don%26#39;t notice it anymore,
I grew up in Tipperary Ireland, Cashel. Moved away 25 years ago. I had the Rock Of Cashel on my street, im sure a few of you have heard of it if you%26#39;re familiar with Ireland. I used to play around it , climbing the hills etc, I couldnt understand why all these %26#39;mostly American%26#39; tourists were arriving in their thousands each Summer.
I just recently drove there and took my kids to see it, just like tourists!!.
The above poster who lived in Paris and never got to do the touristy things just brought it to my mind again, Enjoy Paris as a tourist, I do, and I have yet to tire of it.
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I think it%26#39;s like the difference between an affaire and settling down for 40 years of marriage.
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Hmmmm, ChicChantal…
Now that you put it that way, I think I prefer to be a tourist :)
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oh lol1 chichantal you%26#39;ve just brought a smile to my face, what a way to describe this conversation..
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Like aocean, I%26#39;ve come to this the opposite way round. I spent a lot of time in Paris as a student between 1977 and 1979. My first %26#39;home%26#39; in Paris was a room on the 6th floor (no lift) of a building in Rue Reaumur. Later I stayed near Denfert Rochereau. As a student I was mostly in the Latin Quarter with other students and spent many happy afternoons sitting in the Jardins du Luxembourg with a book. Of course I went to see the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur, but it was several weeks before I set foot in the Louvre. The Pompidou Centre was still under construction when I arrived and Orsay was still %26#39;Gare%26#39; rather than %26#39;Musee%26#39;. On the other hand, I often attended Sunday mass in Notre Dame.
In 1979 I left Paris, got a full-time job in the UK and, apart from a couple of brief visits in the 1980s, did not return until 2005.
Since then, I%26#39;ve been back several times, and find myself a strange hybrid of the student I was then and the middle-aged tourist I am now. I still want to spend time just sitting relaxing, but am painfully aware of how much I want to see in just a short visit. I still like to stay in the Latin quarter and prepare my own food. I find it hard to envisage the mindset of those who stay in luxury hotels, dine in smart restaurants, and contemplate buying a whole new wardrobe of clothes in order to %26#39;fit in%26#39; just for a week...yet I will willingly pay for a Paris Visite pass, knowing it%26#39;s not my cheapest option, purely because I find it so convenient.
Most frustratingly, although I still want to speak French, my accent has deteriorated to the point that, as soon as I speak, %26#39;helpful%26#39; Parisians reply in English. And there are whole new post-1980 concepts for which my elderly dictionary and my favourite novels can not supply the vocabulary...like laptops, mobile phones - and recycling!
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