Paris endures

This December, I am back in Paris for a week for many reasons, including simply being in Paris. Simply being in Paris means, for me at least, lots and lots of walking.
One can choose any street and follow it, until one decides to move to a different street.
This week, I followed rue Falguière in the 15th to rue de la Procession in the 14th, only to discover the urban planning of the 1960s and 70s. I was looking for a place to drop off my compost, which I did find in a community garden in the middle of a "ZAC" ("Zone d'aménagement concerté), an urban zone in which private and public entities work together to find solutions for lower income dwellers.

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Paris endures, Paris doesn't change. Paris still has women in thick woolen scarves elegantly wrapped around their necks.

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Paris also means the continuing existence of the "librairie papéterie," where one can not only buy books but also paper, notebooks, pens, and all kinds of colorful leather items.

Paris means museums, like the Musée de la Monnaie where I quite enjoyed the exhibit "Woman/House" that featured feminist artists from all over the world whose work concentrates on ideas about the home and domesticity. 

The museum was and remains the "money" museum, in an 18th century edifice, one of those many elegant buildings that grace France's capital. I took this shot in one of the many mirrored doors, capturing once again the travel coat, the Barbour I found in a vintage store in Northampton, MA, and that has been doing its best to keep me warm and dry. 

Paris still has its famous Saint-Ouen flea market where I went with a friend in search of a night stand. We didn't find one, but we did enjoy a meal at the Bistrot Voltaire where the waitresses are friendly, and the prix fixe lunch a deal. 

Paris means so many things, the metro that takes you from everywhere to everywhere, the buses that zigzag through its streets offering the best value tour of the city for a mere 1€90, the Paris Opera with its reliably graceful dancers sporting the latest couture...

  

Paris, sadly, also means beggars, homeless people, oblivious bourgeoisie still living in a bubble, fathers taking their tired children shopping on Saturday afternoons, overcrowded apartments, streets, buses, metros, breakdowns on the airport express train. But Paris endures. 

Another "PA" city where I was before Paris, Palermo. Totally random closing photo taken of a Vespa wheel cover turned into a lampshade in a bar in the Kalsi district. Another city well worth the visit, and for the same reasons, sharing the messiness and the beauty.