Vignettes de Paris

What a different city this is from the one we visited in February! The flowers are blooming, the trees are leafy and green and there are tourists everywhere. They are easily recognizable from their cameras, maps and guidebooks draped about their bodies as well as the curious shoes they wear. We, of course, do not think of ourselves as tourists, although we occasionally have to break out a map! We are in another apartment, on rue du Dragon in the heart of the Rive Gauche, meeting friends and family, just wandering the smaller streets and staying away from The Sights. David's sister has been to visit from Geneva for the weekend and by great good luck, our La Rochelle friends, Géry and Marie happen to be here from Africa so we spent a day with them. We are now chafing at the bit to get on the plane and do not have much left in us to stand in line to see anything. However, we are still having adventures!

• What are the odds of seven Canadians sitting together by chance on the same Métro carriage in Paris AND speaking to each other! Travelling with Mary (3 Canadians), David noticed someone sitting beside me wearing a small (so Canadian) flag so we began to talk. She and her husband (2 more Canadians) were from St. John, NB and visiting France for a month. When she heard us speaking, the woman sitting beside Mary joined in. She was here with her granddaughter (2 more Canadians) from Victoria Harbour, ON. We didn't all break into O Canada but we were all happy to see each other.

• While looking at a map (how touristy) a smartly dressed Parisienne of a certain age asked if she could help. As we were all going in the same direction, we began to talk. Out of the blue, she said to me and Mary: "How are you finding buying clothes in Paris? Isn't it difficult? There are only small sizes and the shops that sell big ones only have huge sizes."!!!! She was on her way to her boutique where she sells hats—of all sizes!

• What a contrast as we sat in a Paris restaurant, eating a delicious lunch with Géry and Marie and they talked with us about their lives in Bénin. Here we were eating delicious food, beautifully served and they talked about the lack of vegetables and fruit in the north where they live. For the first few months, they survived on various carbs, sardines and La Vache Qui Rit cheese! They have discovered where to buy milk so they can make yoghourt; it is possible—sometimes--to find vegetables at the market and Marie is now growing her own. There are power cuts all the time, so they have little access to internet and telephone; they are three hours uncomfortable drive from a small city and 10 hours from a hospital. The local school has close to 100 pupils and one teacher. They are on an adventure, more courageous and difficult than ours in La Rochelle and we are in deep admiration of their good spirits and excitement about it.

• Memories are everywhere here for me. I spent one glorious year in Paris at the age of 20 living with my dear friend, Anna. Our first evening here, David and I set off for Monoprix to buy some food. I suddenly realized was the store where Anna and I shopped; the same store I was returning from when I was hit by a car on the pedestrian crossing at the end of rue du Dragon. Rue du Dragon ends at the Boulevard St. Germain across the street from the apartment where Anna and I lived so long ago. Our current apartment is close to the art school Anna attended. The old 'hood has certainly changed. It is now full of luscious and expensive boutiques selling everything from clothing and shoes to first edition books and letters of famous people. But Gibert Jeune is still around where we used to buy books and stationery, the post office is still on the same corner. Les Deux Magots, the café where Sartre and Beauvoir hung out, is now terribly smart and offers valet parking. We were on the cusp of womanhood then, excited and full of dreams of what lay ahead for us. Now, still friends after 51 years, we continue to laugh about our adventures and look to each other in gratitude for this friendship that has seen us through what actually lay ahead following that amazing year together.