L’Ouest

Paris is a city that can pull me in so many directions. I think that’s why I’ve always lived in the middle – I never could decide what I was most drawn to. At home in the Marais we get a bit of everything. In summer, something pulls me towards the edgier east, the Canal Saint Martin and the Buttes Chaumont. In the autumn however, I always go west. Autumn is the most precious season here.  The city takes a gentle breath after summer. It can blow past so swiftly it’s gone before we have even had a week. If we’re lucky sometimes it’s three or four of true fall. It’s my favorite moment, gentle golden light, leaves changing, blue skies and wispy clouds. I’m sentimental about this time of year because it reminds me of first settling in here. It draws me to the west where I spent my first October playing in the leaves on the Champs de Mars with my university friends. A bit further west, I joined two of them the other day, Meg and Caroline, who showed me the Jardins des Serres d’Auteuil. I love this part of Paris at this time of year, and find myself dreaming of one day ending up in the 16th too like many do when they start families. Like old times though, I finished the day in the gentle sun, treading on fallen leaves back to my place in the center, where it seems I still belong. For now the l’ouest can wait…