Paris...

And then, after taking a train ride from Berlin to Mannheim, then Mannheim to France....I was suddenly in Paris, yet again.  Arriving at Gare de l'Est, I grabbed the Metro to Chatelet to meet the owner of the flat I'd rented for my stay there. It was a great apartment, small but clean, and in a great location on the corner of Boulevard de Sebastapol and Rue de Rivoli.   This is the view that greeted me every day out my window, the Tour Saint-Jacques...

After settling in after a day's train ride/travel, I started the usual Paris street patrol. I'd made it my mission this time to keep a careful eye out for the best light, watch for good subjects, and yet not try so hard that I'd come back with hundreds of useless shots on SD card or film.

Paris is a beautiful city. It's a city that has consistently moved me, a truly great city (I'm also enamoured somewhat now with Berlin too....).  Although many people have reported less-than-perfect experiences there, citing bad waiters, arrogant people, and so forth, I have always had nothing but a wonderful time - friendly people and no end of things to do and explore. I'll never forget my first time in its midst, and while I've lost some of that wide-eyed amazement (coming from Edmonton, or a lot of cities to be honest, can make the scope of Paris and all its attendant grandeur a little overwhelming), it's been replaced by a comfort and ease and a desire to satisfy deeper curiosities about the details and the people. I'm with Audrey Hepburn when she said, "Paris is always a good idea".

Balcony view

Fountain, Rue St. Denis

I spent more time this trip walking along the river. I'd always stuck to the streets above in the past - not for any particular reason, for they have their charms as well - but I discovered a bit of a subculture along the riverside.

And Paris is about love. It seems cliché to say it, but it truly is a place like no other I've been for public displays of affection. Which I think is wonderful, though it is somewhat lonely to constantly witness for the solitary traveller. But I saw so many great romantic moments, truly beautiful photogenic people embracing, kissing. Joni Mitchell was right when she sang, "In France they kiss on main street, amour...not cheap display.."

I particularly love the shot of this couple, at Pont Neuf. A wonderful location, the very apex of the island piercing the Seine like an arrow.

This shot shows the very apex of the island. It's my attempt at reprising a beautiful Cartier-Bresson photo in the fog in the 1950s. I love this spot.

A girl relaxing on a park bench, in front of Notre Dame. The plethora of parks, large and small, located throughout the city is but one of Paris' many charms. People seem to take the time, everywhere, to sit and relax and simply take it all in. I expect the tourists to be walking around with their mouths agape, but I love even more how the Parisians seem to really enjoy and celebrate the breadth and depth of their city.

Paris with its narrow streets and alleys. I love it.  It takes restraint not to just take pictures of everything.

This is likely my favourite picture from Paris this trip...I took it on Rue St. Denis, and something about it - the beautiful woman, the movement of the crowd, the old buildings, the paving stones..it all says "Paris" to me. It's almost like watching people on a dance floor at a Viennese waltz or something...everything all fits together, they come and go/ebb and flow, and no one runs into each other.

Likewise I love this shot of the girl on the scooter.  She wasn't happy with me taking her photo, but it's a great shot all the same. It also says something about the youthful energy of Paris.

But the energy and style of Paris is not all about the young, as this photo shows. Here, again on Rue St. Denis, you see a stylish older woman, moving through the street, and a man looking at her from the opposite side. These are the kind of moments I love to capture, when you freeze something that otherwise is lost in the countless movements and seconds that would otherwise go unseen.

Paris is a nice city to be alone in, and also not so nice, in light of all of the loving couples you see around you. So at some points I was lonely, and missed many of those I care about, and those I wished were there with me - but even that loneliness, which was more of a reminiscent melancholy was charming and enjoyable, and piqued my creativity.

Frequent traveller to Paris pro-tip:  Don't waste your time with the gong show and line ups to go up the Tour Eiffel...instead spend time on the grounds adjacent to it as you walk from the Bir Hakiem metro station to the Tour.  Much more beautiful. Immediately below the Eiffel, it's just too busy, people selling t-shirts, etc.  Not at all in keeping with my romantic vision of those great black and white photos of Cartier-Bresson or Doisneau.  

I love this shot of the boy running in the metro. I think this is in Chatelet-Les Halles station. I love riding the metro in Paris. You really get a feel for the movement of the people as they run about from train to train. I'm sure they're bored of it by now, it's just a means of transport, and I too am annoyed when Gypsies come on board playing for money...but the novelty hasn't quite slipped away just yet. 

Paris, like Berlin, has some great street art. This is a fantastic poster of Le Chat Noir! I love street art like this, or some of the cool graffiti/paintings that you'll see that are actually integrated into the architecture.  I remember Ross and I talking about graffiti...this kind of thing I really enjoy, and the Banksy type of stuff (Berlin has a lot of that style and it's very clever; in some cases it actually enhances what you're seeing as well as making a statement).  What I can't stand, and what is really disappointing, is all the graffiti along the trains, fences, etc.  I strongly believe that those things are simply vandalism and pollution...and it has nothing to do with an opinion on what constitutes 'art' or not.  Kilometres of fence sprayed up with people simply writing their names, or the names of their gangs,  in Fat Albert-style writing does not constitute art. It starts to just look like garbage piled along the fences at a certain point. And there's never, ever an excuse for someone defacing old architectural masterpieces and stone work.

I'd never been to la Basilique due Sacré Coeur de Montmarte before. The streets are very steep up there on the hillside, and the metro station involves a multilevel tight spiral staircase that leaves you pretty winded when you come up (because it's also hot down there). Fortunately as I emerged from the station, there was a great three piece band playing some of the best Django Reinhardt I'd heard in a while. They love their jazz and blues in Paris, no question. 

Love locks on the Pont des Arts

These last pictures are of my last night in Paris. A glass of wine, beautiful people nearby with their ever-present cigarettes, the streets dark and alive. 

In the brilliant Steve McQueen movie "Le Mans", McQueen tells a woman about the intensity of racing, and of how for those that do it well, racing is life...you're racing, and everything else is...just waiting. I've come to see that is how my relationship is with Paris (and likely now Berlin as well). As I flew home, letting all the experiences and photographs, moments sink into my head and heart, I realized that I'm either in Paris...or I'm waiting. It's not the only place in Europe I want to go - I plan to visit Iceland (something I've wanted to do for years), Russia, Poland, Rome....but Paris, with its history and influence on the things more on top of my own life in ways I can't fully describe or understand, is always closest in my heart. If I could do it, I'd be back on a plane within a week or two.