She's looked at Paris from both sides now - 4-7-15

Living in a different place always has negatives and positives. I must say that there are remarkably few negatives to being here, but then again, this is something we’ve wanted to do for ages, so we’re not spending much time looking on the down side. However, people have asked about drawbacks of living here so I’ll try to outline a few plusses and minuses:

 

NEGATIVE: Food goes bad fast, even olives for example, because no preservatives in so many .

things. It also means we have to shop more often and buy in smaller quantities.

POSITIVE: I can eat bacon, ham, sausages, etc. here, things that drive my arthritis crazy in US because of the additives. And I must admit shopping is kind of a hoot, especially as we find our favorite shops and establish relationships. Our cheese monger (La Ferme de Chloe – Chloe’s Farm) is getting down to serious recommendations now that she is understanding more of our taste, although Warren was almost banished when he kindly asked for one of my favorite cheeses, Pave d’Affinois, and was told in tones of horror that they didn’t carry such “industrialized cheeses.” I’ll have to secretly buy it at Monoprix, a grocery store chain, and hide it in my shopping trolly. (ed. note: you think she's kidding but she's not)

 

NEGATIVE: Fruit is sold ripe rather than green for shipping so we often have to ask our fruiterer what day to eat something (today, tomorrow, the next day) so that it doesn’t go bad.

POSITIVE: The flavor of lots of this fruit and veg is unbelievable. I had forgotten how strawberries could taste, not to mention these funny little softball sized melon that are like candy.

 

 NEGATIVE: We’re in a non-touristy neighborhood, so everyone just assumes you can speak French and speaks to us accordingly. I stare like a deer in the headlights (Guffey memories) and try to catch one word out of twenty.

POSITIVE: When you explain that you don’t speak French all that well, they slow down and are pleasant and helpful.  They may not see many tourists, but they have lots of customers from different backgrounds in this multicultural neighborhood. We’re certainly getting lots of practice with the language.

 

NEGATIVE: This is a huge, crowded city. There are nearly 3 million people within the city limits, but more than 12 million in the greater Paris area and it’s one of the densest urban areas in the world (#27, even outranking some of the big Asian towns.) Amazingly, over 35 million people visit the city each year, so roughly 3 times the population in tourists visit over the span of a year.

POSITIVE: There is so much to do here that a year is only going to scratch the surface.

 

NEGATIVE: The city is dirty, trashy, polluted, noisy, gray.

POSITIVE: The city is vibrant, active, fascinating, charming, alive. Paraphrasing Samuel Johnson: “When a man is tired of Paris, he is tired of life.”