Paris

Paristocrats I: 23^rd October

Paris might be the capital of a most republican nation but for the most part it retains aristocratic distinction and class. Having said that, it can let you down. Scene One. Machine-gun touting security guards in camouflage outside Notre Dame seems like the reign of terror revisited. Scene Two. The Champs Elysées might have the Arc de Triomphe at its head but it is no triomphe in itself: it is a shopping ‘corridor’ divided by traffic a la Chicago’s ‘magnificent mile’, moreover, with the many of the same transnational retailers. Seen once, seen twice, thrice…. Scene Three. The Eiffel Tower, which we walked up to, and not up, is best seen from a distance and not close up, where the tackiness of the first level and the souvenir sellers is a distinct let down.

No, the aristocracy of Paris lies off the boulevards in such districts as the Marais (where, thanks to Alexis, we have a most stylish and comfortable), Saint-Germain-des-Pres, on Ile de St Louis, in the passages, rues, parcs, jardins and places, even the impasse, and in the marché where we are shopping daily for fresh produce to cook French style. And of course as with all the cities we have visited the river tour shows the centrality of the river to the city in this case the Seine to the geography of Paris.

Paris is a city in which being lost is a source of unexpected pleasure. Indeed one should dispense with the Michelin, Lonely Planet and Guides Voir and allow the streets to be your compass.

Paris is best appreciated at street level, on foot. Walter Benjamin talked about shops being the art galleries of capitalism. In Paris the shops seem to be more art galleries than actual art galleries; they make a forte of being aesthetic. It is their sheer profusion which makes the city distinctive. They plus the cafes provide Paris with street culture that knocks the socks off New York, its nearest competitor in these stakes. Here we are not referring to the Galeries Lafayette—the mega department store—but the small specialist boutiques that are fixtures of every street and fill the streets with their visual character; shops that just sell electric light bulbs, Mongolian clothes, autographed manuscripts, rhythm and blue vinyl….