Above I’ve posted a short video made up of brief moments during my visit to France. All of it was filmed in Paris, except the very beginning which was on the train to Paris, so I’m guessing it might have been in the region of Picardie. After going to London, I figured this would be a good time to visit Paris while I was on that side of the Atlantic.

I didn’t know anyone to meet in Paris so I simply had three days to walk throughout the city on my own, which the weather permitted wonderfully. I liked La Pirouette and the wine bar/charcuterie shop, La Buvette, where the owner Camille enthusiastically told me about and poured for me several glasses of fantastic wine. L’Ambassage d’Auvergne was another great restaurant, with one funny oddity, which is that while everything else is well-portioned, if you order the delicious Mousse au Chocolat, you’re served with a giant bowl filled with enough mousse for six people. I was thinking of giving the bowl to the nearby table of Irish tourists, but the staff took it away before I could act. Here’s a photo:

The massive mousse bowl and my plate

Every time I spoke with Parisians I began in French, with which I’m not fluent but skilled enough to get by. In most conversations, however, after hearing my accent, the local French would respond to me in English. I should note that at no time did I encounter the stereotypical “rude Frenchman”, the concept of which resides in my xenophobic American culture. In the last few days I’ve begun a renewed attempt at improving my French. While I was in London, I met the French philosopher Catherine Malabou who gave me the name of a good Parisian bookstore, where I ended up buying a couple books by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his native tongue.

Of course now I need to return.

The sunset over the Seine