La Vie Est Belle au Printemps à Paris

Paris definitely knows it is spring, or printemps. I think the thermostat was turned up last week to a beautiful 60 degrees. Everywhere the trees are budding and will hopefully bloom soon, before I must leave here. Shutters and windows have been thrown open across the city to let in the fragrant breeze.

The Parisians have taken their furs and heavy tweed jackets down to the storage cellars in favor of their spring pea coats. The little girl whom I meet at her school and accompany to lunch each Monday was excited to show me her cute purple plaid "caban" (NOT a manteau, because c'est printemps!). She also rattled off in French what each of her parents and brothers wore to school and work that day and how chic they all looked in their warmer weather attire.

The fountains and ponds are filled with water and the parks are filled with people, lingering and feeling the sunshine on their faces. Paris parks are equipped with not only benches, but these reclined lazy-day chairs that allow for comfortable relaxing, napping, reading, or my favorite pastime: discrete people watching.

Brock and I spent our afternoon at a nearby park yesterday with our books in tow to enjoy this weather we thought we'd left in Barcelona, but were delighted to find waiting for us in Paris. It can be difficult to stay focused on a book with all of the people to watch. No park outing is complete without witnessing a few make-out sessions by people of all ages. In fact the male in one such couple, absorbed in kissing his girlfriend, was virtually back-to-back with another man eating his lunch. Noone seems the slightest bit suprised by this behavior. Last year at a Phoenix Coyotes game, a couple started making out in the bleechers during intermission and was promptly confronted and stopped by the staff. That kind of intervention would never occur here.

I also was distracted by baby birds learning to fly and fighting over a small hole in the ground behind me, by the people walking by with their spring wardrobes which include lightweight and colorful scarves and flats instead of winter boots, by a bum that kept falling off the bench he was napping on (a kind man attempted to prop him back up and make sure he was ok), and by the realization that my time here is running out so I need to soak up as much of this as possible.

This morning I took Majerle to Parc de Monceau, my favorite park in Paris, where there is a footbridge over a pond, a water fall, a small lake surrounded by Roman pillars, mini-castles, and numerous sculptures. I sat down on a bench on the main thoroughfare for a bit of people-watching and when I felt some tugging on the leash, I realized my dog was bathing in a gutter behind my bench. Maybe this is a sign it's time to give him a bath, or maybe he was just in need of a cool-off since he probably had forgotten what warm weather feels like.

Our next destination will provide many more opportunities to experience the outdoors, but this Paris ambiance is something I will always crave. And springtime in the parks of Paris is for me, as good as it gets.