Residency in Paris, France

Streets of Paris, France, iPhone photo by Samantha Henneke

     Our residency in Paris. We have been here for two weeks..... just about the longest amount of time we have ever been away from our home in Seagrove, NC. A Big Thank You goes out to Ed and Gloria for taking care of Luna and Koi and maintaining the pottery shop business at home.

     So far since we have been here we have seen a handful of museums.... still so much more to see and so much more we want to experience and do before our time is up here. The first 5-6 days we experienced Paris through the funky feeling of jet lag. It took us a few days to set ourselves up with the basic needs for living in our studio/flat ...  paper goods i.e. paper towels, toilet paper, and Kleenex for our Parisian colds, a cloth kitchen hand towel, a larger coffee pot for the drip filter system, coffee, shampoo and soap....etc.  We complete most of our grocery shopping at the Bastille Market (Sunday and Thursday mornings), which is a short mile jaunt up the street.

Paris is a walking city.

We read about this back home before arriving here to the Cite International Des Arts residency program, but experiencing it is another thing.  Walking 5 miles round trip to get somewhere doesn't seem all that long anymore. We may feel it at the end of the day when we get back to the flat and look at our health data app to find out how many steps we took, and the miles we walked. As we are walking the Paris streets there is so much to look at.... architecture, doors, people, the shop windows.  I am taking lots of pictures, it is hard to keep our phones in our pockets.

Some of the museums that we have visited are Sevres Porcelain Museum, Picasso Museum, The Musee Cluny, and the Pompidou. We went to a gallery show opening at the Parrotin Gallery and met the sculptor Johen Creten. We purchased books of his works that were available at the the gallery's next door bookstore and are excited to add them to our library. We were thrilled to be able to have him sign them too!

During the first few days we were a little nervous and didn't know what to expect when walking the streets of Paris. Living in a rural area, and working from home full-time is an isolated environment.  We were curious on how we would integrate ourselves, and navigate a foreign environment. We are not used to the city life, people, and traffic. After reading a few blogs about being leery of pick pockets, tricks that folks pull to steal from you, and stories from personal friends .... we have loosened up a bit and feel more comfortable. We try to remind ourselves not to let our guard down, but we are more comfortable now when walking around than we were the first few days. Feelings change, visuals change, and the new becomes recognizable, more familiar, and comfort sets in. We see many French families on the street with their children scooting about, young adults walking to school, folks drinking coffee, walking and eating a sweet they just purchased from the corner bakery.

One of the most intriguing feelings I have when traveling around is that this is going on everywhere.... All over the world people are walking across streets, they are getting on and off public transportation, flying in the sky, eating, drinking, and at home our dog Bella is sleeping on her favorite chair or playing with Ed and Gloria, and Koi is wondering if she wants inside or outside.  Life goes on... we are all the same.

Streets of Paris, France, iPhone photo by Samantha Henneke

Streets of Paris, France, iPhone photo by Samantha Henneke

We have been in awe over the sky-line of the buildings and walking down the city streets. The curves contrasted against the straight lines.  The scenery is so different than what we are used too. I really was looking forward to the visuals of the Paris architecture and living in a city for a short period of time. The dropping in for one baguette, or one piece of fish, a container of yogurt or two beers.  Where we live the purchasing of food is usually done using a large shopping cart and the knowledge that we won't be back to the store for a week.  Here the shops are right around the corner.

Streets of Paris, France, iPhone photo by Samantha Henneke

Streets of Paris, France, iPhone photo by Samantha Henneke