It was fine getting them through the front door of the apartment complex, but then I got to the elevator. It was tiny! There was barely enough space in there for me after putting in one of the bags. I then had to go back down for the other bag. When I mentioned this to Kai, she told me that a lot of Parisian apartments were built before elevators were invented. When they decided to install elevators, they had to transform little, old spiral stairwells into the elevator shafts. That’s why the elevators are so small.
Many of Paris’ roads are also very narrow (another reminder that the city was built before cars existed!). Traffic can be really bad during the daytime, so most people choose to walk and use the Métro to get to work. I love this because it means there are lots of people out and about in my neighborhood, which gives it a lively and busy feel. On the weekends, people walk around to visit the many shops, cafes, boulangeries (bakeries), grocery stores, farmers’ markets and fruit and vegetable shops found in my neighborhood. There always seems to be something going on and worth exploring.
Kai has shown me where to buy fresh ingredients for cooking, including at the many fruit and vegetable shops and the farmers’ markets. She explained that food is really important to French people, and that often quality and flavor are much more important to them than low price.
Exploring the shops and visiting booths at the farmers’ markets has been really fun and has opened up my eyes to so many new foods! For example, there is a type of lemon called Buddha’s Hand that is really quite strange (see my photo)! A lot of the produce sold at these markets is biologique (organic).
