The Neighborhood

Our little coffee shop around the corner was  a local affair. Nothing fancy, but the proprietor remembered I wanted milk in my coffee and he  made it hot and frothy, and  you could  have coffee and a croissant for under  $2 Euros. Sitting here  we watched  parents walk their kids to school, and businessmen dragging briefcases on wheels to work. On a street not any wider than  two cars there was a stream of bikes, motorcycles, taxis, cars and the occassional work truck that  navigated the narrow passage.

We started our days here and then caught the metro stop at Emile Zola to make our way to the museums etc. It began to feel like OUR neighborhood in the short time we were there. Language is an issue though. We found so many people willing to help us, but it was a bumbling experience where conversation is limited to what and where and many hand signals.. And there were so many times Susan and I wish we spoke more French to really HAVE a conversation with these interesting people and their lives in Paris. Perhaps next year Susan's French will be good enough to string sentences together instead of just words. As she says,  when she would try to speak French someone would perk up and say in English where do you want to go? Susan says that her French confuses french-speakers....so they convert to English to answer us. Here most people speak atleast two languages...but sometimes it is French and German.  The parking lot attendant who was from the Ivory Coast of Africa spoke his dialect AND French, German and English. Wow!

Comments

[Linda McClanahan]

Sounds wonderful. . .great way to start a vacation day. . .good cup of coffee and people watching!

[A little US news on that note. . .just announced - Starbuck's is closing 600 of their stores across the country).

Happy 4th of July, Friend!

[sequimswater]

You are off to a busy start today! I've enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks for sharing. I feel honored to know you.

[eve]

You look like you belong in that cafe!