The Sensitive Traveler Finds Peace in Paris

[Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris; 5/2/07; click to view larger]

Paris is a bustling city. When I was there in early May, in addition to the city's residents there were throngs of tourists waiting to get in to various sites. We avoided some of the major attractions, except to walk nearby - Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre - I had no interest in waiting in interminable lines. Montmarte was the most crowded place we went and I couldn't wait to get out of there. My friend J said she loves being in crowds. I don't think it was only the crowds that bothered me - the Metro was crowded, but still interesting to me. Crowds of tourists and tacky gift shops were the combined irritant at Montmarte.

It's also noisy in the city. We stayed on a very quiet street, with shops but no nightlife. Still there was the occasional motorcycle revving down the narrow canyon of the street at night, or someone talking loudly (somehow less distracting when it's in French at least) on their way from a bar to home or elsewhere. At 4:00 or so every morning a truck would clang open its metal doors and make deliveries to the boulangerie next door. One morning the garbage trucks came before dawn. After a few nights of intermittent sleep in the living room on the sofa bed, J let me switch with her and sleep in the interior bedroom. It was definitely quieter during the night, but early every morning a construction crew arrived to chip and chisel the walls of the interior courtyard off the bedroom. What can you do?

Anyway, I knew from past experience that going to a big city would mean a certain amount of overload. As much as I love all the culture and stimulation that a city offers, I was going to need an antidote somewhere.

I found it at the Luxembourg Gardens, a beautiful, quiet park, its visitors as well behaved as the neatly trimmed orchard at one end. We ambled slowly around the pool and gardens in the sunshine and eventually settled on a shady bench in a far corner near a statue of Silenus, father of Dionysus, have a jolly drunken (albeit silent) time with his satyr friends. It was a lovely spot and refreshed us both before we got back on our tired feet (we walked for hours every day in Paris) and headed home to the apartment.

[Triomphe de Silene, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris; 5/2/07]

As some of you may know, I started a blog a couple of years ago called The Sensitive Traveler, which I intended to be a place to compile ideas and tips and stories for those of us who are sensitive but love to travel. Unfortunately, since I took my full-time job last year I haven't had time to keep it up. But I still live it, whether traveling abroad or just traveling through everyday life. So I'll keep that site up and add to it whenever I have time or inspiration. As always, I welcome your own tips and recommendations for favorite oases wherever you find them.

Comments

[marja-leena]

Oh, yes, I feel the same. I find noise and crowds and lineups exhausting mentally and physically. It really is important ot have a wuiet place to stay and find lovely green spaces to unwind in. Your post reminds me of our stay in Prague, where we walked miles every day (I had blisters on my feet!). We found a wonderful park on a mountain on our last day where we felt ourselves rejuvenated and able to face the tiring journey home again. I never realized I was a 'sensitive' traveller until I read your blog on it, Leslee.

[Leslee]

Marja-Leena: We all have our limits, even the hardiest among us! My friend and I spent each morning preparing to go by putting bandaids all over our feet and throwing a few extra in our bags in case a new sore spot or blister emerged. Hard to complain, though - Paris is a great walking city. I'd love to see Prague some day.

[Sara]

I once (briefly) lived across the street from this park in a "foyer" for international students. It was one of my haunts, mine and my friends'. We ate many, many lunches there -- fresh bread, cheese, wine, sometimes those odd little dollar ham sandwiches (two-dollar, now, I imagine) of which every food seller has a full basket outside, at the doorway. Sometimes my roommate and I, or I alone, would wander around the circle of statues of dead queens along the tree-lined walk that I remember rings the toy boat sailing pond and wonder what their lives had really been like, and what they had really looked like and felt like in those clothes on any July day like the one we ambled through in shorts, sunglasses, and little, stylish heels.

My last night in Paris, we went to this park. We met two tall, cute, French punk boys who promised to call us when they got to America, the way young people do promise such things, and at a phone booth across the street, while a friend made a call, a stranger came up and grabbed me and kissed me because he had just gotten off work and his vacances started right then, that moment, a full month of his own time at last.

It was 25 years ago. I can't believe it. It feels like just a few summers gone by.

I think my favorite quiet place, besides a particular tree in the Bois de Boulogne beneath which I sat and wrote poetry all afternoon one cloudy day, was the grounds of the Musée Rodin at the Hôtel Biron. Very quiet. Very beautiful.

Look what you started in me by showing a picture of the Jardin de Luxembourg. Heh. I really need to get back there.

[Leslee]

Wow, Sara, that's so cool. And so French! Ah to be young and in Paris. Well, it is lovely there. I can see being swept off one's feet. Great memories, and yes you must go back!

[Lucy]

I remember we used to get hit by a real low of exhaustion in Paris at about 3 or 4 pm, when everything seemed to go pear-shaped; it was best if we could just flake out somewhere, and if we'd had a bit longer we'd probably have learned to time the rythm of our walking and looking to take it into account. But somehow when you've limited time in a place you feel you have to take advantage of every minute; a mistake, but never mind.

[Leslee]

Yes, even with the idea in mind before I went that I'd pace myself, I still got overloaded. We'd be somewhere and think "let's just go here because we're in the area..." or "oh look, let's check this out..." There's so much to pull you in.

[Kevin]

Hello,

I recently visited the Jardin du Luxembourg and really loved it. I wrote about my experience here: http://mynock51.blogspot.com/2009/07/paris-529-530-je-reve-de-sommeil.html. Unfortunately I had lost my camera during my trip by this point, so I was unable to take pictures myself. Do you mind if I use your wonderful picture on my post? I looked on Flickr for CC photos but none of them were nearly as good. If you don't want me to use it I will take it down immediately, just send me an e-mail at mynock5.1@gmail.com. If I can use it I would like to give you attribution credit. Is there a name you would prefer I use to credit the photo? Thanks.