"Paris, je t'aime"

Paris, la visite:


The first time I was in Paris, I was 17 and on my way to spend a year in France. I've been back many times, and I lived there between college and graduate school. Most of the trips I made were when I had almost no money, so a lot of my memories of Paris involve walking, looking, the Metro, and counting my money carefully to see if I would have coffee or eat that day. And of course, I know "Paris" through all the books I've read, through films (Les enfants du paradis was one of dozens), art, and the many expensive copies of Le Nouvel Observateur, printed on special lighter paper for international mail, that I bought for years after I returned to the States so that I could keep up with the news in the days before electronic communication made it possible to see Paris through a photo a day blog.
"J'aime me promenes sur les grands boulevards" sung by Yves Montand

The last time I went was a few years ago with my daughter, after an absence of many years. It was the first time I'd been able to see Paris as a tourist with a little money in my pocket, and I loved it. So today I plan to see the film Paris, je t'aime: a series of five-minute films done by great directors, with amazing actors. I think they were each offered an arrondisement, and based their stories on the neighborhoods. I lived for a while in a maid's room in a very expensive apartment complex in the 17ieme; one of the rooms down the hall was rented by a Brazilian prostitute who worked the Bois de Boulogne to get money for his sex change operation. I had a job as a part-time nanny for a very wealthy couple in the building, but I also worked from time to time as a housecleaner, or as the replacement for the couple who were the "gardiens de l'immeuble," walking their Great Dane, sorting the mail, washing floors in the lobby, raking out the trash chutes and putting out the trash bins (you'd be amazed what rich people throw away!), helping people out if the elevators got stuck. It was an amazing opportunity to see how a wide range of people in Paris lived. If I were better at staying in touch with people, I'd have lots of connections there now.
But I am not going to Paris this year. I'm going to Amsterdam, to fulfill a childhood dream, and because of this song: