Peace out Paris

Well, I know my blog has dwindled but only because I was enjoying Paris too much to spend it behind my laptop. I am leaving today to take an 8 hour train ride to Tarbes, France where I will be working at a bed and breakfast for a month. I am then going to my high school reunion in Kenya and on family holiday in Florence. Eventually I will find myself back in DC.

Paris has been everything I could have hoped for and more. I am really sad about leaving, but as always it's time to go. I will absolutely be back one day.

Street Noise

It's May now which means I have opened my window. I now have a cool breeze blowing through my room and slamming my door when I'm not careful. This change has added something else though - street noise.

I now hear the delivery trucks bringing fresh fish to the "poissonnerie" across the street and the fresh vegetables/fruits to the "epecerie". Dogs bark all the time because the French take their dogs everywhere. Dogs on the metro, in clothing stores, in the grocery store... Fans cheering/yelling at the soccer game. Birds, birds, and more birds because almost every street in Paris is lined with trees which are finally full of leaves. The garbage collectors who come everyday. The clinking of people putting their wine bottles in the recycling bins found on almost every street corner. The number 80 bus. The neighbors talking to each other while on their respective balconies.

Street noise, I find, is actually rather comforting. It's another perspective on the daily routine of Parisians. These are noises from any city in the world and somehow that makes Paris seem more real to me.