More Dead People, Where I Live Part 1

Time is beginning to move quickly. It dawned on me yesterday that I only have a couple more "normal" weekends here in Paris before my family comes over to do the whole Parisian-Christmas thing.

Even still, home seems so far away. I must admit that I was a bad little girl today- I finally broke down and bought myself a chai at Starbucks, which I'm sure some people would consider blasphemous. But whatever. Sitting in one of the comfy-ish chairs with my piping-hot paper cup full of spicy goodness, I fooled myself into thinking I was at school for a second. I almost told myself to hurry up so I could get into studio, wondering if Caryn had beat me there. I also thought I saw Forbes Ave outside the window instead of the Grande Arche.

The Starbucks I visited is located at the Quatre Temps, which is a huge mall out at la Defense. La Defense is a little outside of Paris, providing a number of tall buildings that the city-center doesn't want with a home. In order to keep the Parisian skyline relatively low, tall buildings (or anything that would stick out) are constructed on the edges of the city. But yes, there are two exceptions: the Eiffel Tower, and Montparnasse Tower (Tour Montparnasse). I happen to live extremely close to the Tour Montparnasse (it's the big black building in one of the pictures I posted previously from the cemetery). It's a convenient landmark, kind of like the classier Parisian version of the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh. It also makes it easy to describe where I live when meeting new people without having to be too specific.

Anyway, one of the things that catches me off guard whenever I go out to la Defense is how totally different it is from Paris. While this should be astoundingly obvious, it never ceases to surprise me how stark the contrast is. It's especially noticeable standing on the steps that lead up to the Grande Arche- from there you have a slightly crooked line of sight to the Arc de Triomphe, forcing you to consider how different the shiny new arch you happen to be standing under is from the old one off a little bit in the distance.

As you can see, this is not Forbes Ave. Or Craig Street.

Happy French children playing soccer. This is the view from Starbucks, except I was standing outside, in front of the old French people smoking while drinking their afternoon coffee. They probably did not appreciate my American bum blocking the view.

As promised, I returned to the Cimetière Montparnasse (not yet with the nice camera, sorry). Because one post about dead people is never enough, you have another opportunity to look at more pictures of creepy looking little death houses. Today is most definitely your lucky day. No need to thank me.

This image needs snow. And a bent old lady wearing a black shawl.

So many dead people, so little space.

I hope that when I die, I am cool enough to have an old, cranky, scowling man-bust on my grave.

Door to Moria?

I'm sure the dead love truck-noise.

I have decided to start taking pictures of my neighborhood. I've probably mentioned this before, but I'm quite fond of my 'hood. I really like living in Montparnasse. It's relatively quiet, which is nice. It's also filled with Parisians, as opposed to other areas that ooze tourism. I find it comforting to walk down the streets, knowing that the people I'm passing actually live here. I think it's allowed me to get a nice sense of what life is like for 30-50 year-old Parisians with kids and a little bit of money. I'm going to post a few pictures at a time, so as not to overwhelm you with the awesomeness that is my quartier.

Two views from the spiral staircase in my building.

The alleyway I use to get to the street. The red awning is a restaurant/bar. The smell of slightly rancid salmon often wafts out the door to greet me on my way to the metro. This is especially pleasant in the morning.

Christmas decorations on one of the bigger streets by my place.

Stay tuned: more to come.