More on what I will miss....

Tuesday May 17^th

As I reflect on our time here, there are more things that I know I will miss about Paris.  I will miss the Eiffel Tower, particularly at night, and the excitement of watching the tower light show from the Trocadero. I will miss the crazy vendors selling mini Eiffel tower keychains. I will miss the street performers at the Trocerdero and the tower like the man who was breathing fire and held propane in his mouth, the Greek dancers and the pan flutists. I will miss how the entire crowd gasps when the tower begins to twinkle and the entire crowd goes “Ohhhhh” in disappointment when it stops.

I will miss the ads in the metro stops.  I love watching Katie read the ads. They have been a major source of her French instruction and give her a lot of confidence when she can read them. She came to France knowing no French, and can now read French on advertisements and signs has a vocabulary of several hundred words. It has been so fun to watch her language skills develop.

I will miss the view of my neighborhood from the metro, which is elevated in this area.  I love emerging from the underground section of the metro into this beautiful sunlight region.  I love seeing the trees manicured into square shapes, the old buildings with the wrought iron railings and the golden dome of Les Invalides shining above it all.  I will miss the boucherie, the charcuterie and the boulangerie all in a row and watching the people in the neighborhood line up on Saturday morning to do their shopping at all three.

I will not miss sneaking out my garbage so I don’t get yelled out, and I will not miss unlocking the door to our apartment.  The door is so hard to unlock even when you turn it the correct way that there is always a moment of anxiety that it won’t open at all as I jiggle the key around trying to get it to catch correctly.