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Saturday, October 25, 2008 – Paris Sunshine

Our Man in Paris, Ric Erickson, editor of MetropoleParis, a different version of what you'll find there, with larger images –

Paris, Sunday, October 19 - Trying to calm down here I went out yesterday with the vague idea of shooting some innocent leaves in the process of dropping dead, under a clear blue sky with piercing sunshine. Sunshine, piercing or otherwise, is rare in Paris. We don't deserve it but it accompanies this October here. The news is depressing. We are supposed to sit around in gloom considering our sins while the air is having a party outside.

I had another season like this. Folks were sunbathing in the parks on October 31 and the next day it was freezing, raining, and grey as old fish. We lived through it, most of us, but each nice day now may be the last. Paris is full of trees and a lot of them are still green. Many leaves are dying and falling by stealth. The street cleaners are in action, constantly removing them. I haven't noticed any chestnuts though. They usually make a proper mess, and then there are the fellows selling them roasted. Maybe they were deported.

In the park behind Notre Dame, facing the Quartier Latin. A lot of people there but more in front of the cathedral, including some sects with their own shrines.

Café at the corner of the quay and the Petit Pont, across from Notre Dame. Lots of folks around, doing what? Were they tourists?

The Petit Pont leads into the rue Saint-Jacques and it goes up the hill past the Sorbonne, the Pantheon and all the way to Spain. For drivers it's a path from the centre to the south, maybe to Montrouge.

A few fresh leaves on a tree grill, before being snatched away by the city's leaf snatchers.

A block from Notre Dame's circus, on the Ile de la Cité. It's like that - around the corner from a million gawkers, some old-time peace and blue shadows.

Text and Photos Copyright © 2008 - Ric Erickson, MetropoleParis

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