The weather, Paris, tourism ... and Chopin

Here is another long and eclectic post as I'll be addressing a couple of subjects and I'll give you ample time to read it.  First, the weather, of course.  The beginning of this week was extremely cold in Georgia.  It was colder here last Monday than in Anchorage, Alaska.  The cold affected almost 190 million people in the country - too cold for the polar bear in Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago as it had to be kept inside.  I even read that some places were colder than Mars which was -32.8F on January 2, 2014 and Babbitt, Minnesota was -37F (-38.3C.)  I saw beautiful pictures on the web showing snowy scenes, like Thomas Zakowski's photos below of Lake Michigan.

Some people scoff at global warming.  Global warming is creating extreme temperatures in the earth's climate: extreme cold, extreme heat, floods, storms, droughts, etc.  Some parts of Australia have seen record heat with kangaroos collapsing and bats dropping from trees.  The Pilbara region in the northwest coast of Australia had a heat wave approaching 112 F (50C.)  The heat balance between the North Pole and the equator is being altered by arctic warming.  Many people who do not understand the scientists' reports deny that there is global warming or climate change, and that is depressing.  Unfortunately this has become a political issue which slows the programs working for solutions to this menace to our planet - very depressing, indeed.

Today it is warmer here - 63 F (17C) but dark with rain, severe thunderstorms and we are under a tornado watch - still depressing.  When I am depressed I read a French book or think about my hometown to feel better.  To give you an idea, just image that you left your country, your family and friends and went to tour Japan, then married a Japanese.  Imagine you speak fluent Japanese, even write a blog in Japanese and have been living there for years.  However, you do not know anyone who speaks English, have no English speaking friends and never hear it spoken.  You may be happy in Japan, but when you feel kind of low, wouldn't you read something in English, or think of your hometown, whether it is Washington, New York, Toronto or Sydney, Australia?  and also to get back a little to your own culture?  This is the way I feel - my language is French and my hometown happens to be Paris, France - a long way away.  Vintage postcards below - Kyo-maiko girl and Kinkakuji Temple next to Kyo-maiko girl and Sanjo-oashi bridge by Masaki Nakamura (1907-1993.)

 Which Paris do I think about?  The Paris I grew up in or the Paris of today?  In some aspect it has not changed, and in others it has changed tremendously.  I have seen it change because when my mother was still alive I used to fly to Paris twice to 3 times a year.  I counted that, until 2002 when she passed away, I went back to Paris 59 times (for 2 or 3 weeks or more,) and since then I have been back at least 5 times to Paris (plus one time to St Pierre et Miquelon, France in North America -  across Newfoundland, Canada, one time to Nice on the Riviera, and one time to Martinique, France in the Caribbean.)  So it is not such a shock to see the changes in Paris and France but there are many.  The predominant one is the number of tourists.  I like to travel so I know that tourism is good, although I think that I am more "traveling" than being a tourist as I go independently and sometime avoid the better known attractions in a city.  The last time I went to France, in October 2012, I did not even go into Paris, but went to Nice instead.  Below are some tomatoes we bought from the Nice vegetable market.

 I love Paris of course but it is not easy to have it as your hometown when so many other people love it too.  For example when my father passed away during a month of August I could not get a flight out of Atlanta for several days to attend his funeral as the tourists and travel groups had booked all the flights - his funeral had to wait.  Also, when my mother passed away in late December 2002, I could not fly back home to Atlanta on December 20 in time for the holidays as all the flights were booked from Paris to Atlanta until January 5th in my airline in coach.  I was lucky to get a ticket on the Eurostar train to the St Pancreas Station in London on the 20th to catch a flight to Atlanta (via Birmingham, England and another stop in New Jersey) on December 23rd.  Would I have had such a hard time if it had been another town than Paris?  Well, I think so since it was already easier, somewhat, from London.  Below is the clock tower from the St Pancreas Station in London (courtesy of Wikipedia.) 

I remember when I would tell my co-workers I was going to Paris to see my mother they would exclaim "Oh how lucky you are to go to Paris."  I would tell them my mother had Parkinson's disease and was paralyzed and that is the reason I had to go so often to help her since she had no close family to take care of her and could not come here because of the non-existent health care (or that I could afford for her.)  I did not go as a tourist, I just went home.  I rarely went to the tourist areas in Paris and that is why I have so few photos of them.  Does anyone take tourist photos when they go home to take care of an ailing parent?  But I have postcards...

When I was growing up I lived in Paris, in the Cite Condorcet.  That was in the 9th arrondissement or quarter - which is on the Right bank and goes from around the Opera to the avenue at the base of the Sacre-Coeur of Montmartre.  On the bottom map below of the 9th quarter I circled where our apartment was located.  (Please click twice to see better.)

Going up and down the stairs of the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, I rarely saw tourists around.  The last time I went to the Sacre-Coeur, in May 2011, I barely could get up the stairs because of the crowd.  Of course that was in May during the high tourist season.  I have read many articles on Paris these last few days and picked up some statistics.  In 2012 the population of mainland France was 63.7 million and 83 million tourists visited the country, or about 30% more than the whole population.  In 2012 the population of the USA was 315 million and 67 million tourists visited the US.  It if had been the same proportional number like France there should have been 409.5 million tourists coming to the USA and only to the most touristy cities and sights, just think of that.  My point is that it is wonderful that France is the most popular tourist destination in the world (and the top one for US tourists) and that 29 million people visited Paris last year, but it is also hard for the 2,300,000 Parisians (intra-muros, i.e. inside the perimeter) who live there (or are trying to go there ...)  So please understand when they seem cold or too reserved.  Below is a postcard of the Sacre-Coeur in the 1950s and a current photo.

Tourism brings much revenue to Paris, that is true, but mostly to the restaurants, hotels, shops, etc.  In addition many tourists come just for the day or on tour buses and do not stay there.  The Parisians and French have to pay taxes to upkeep all the monuments (all churches are classed as monuments and maintained by the government = taxes,) security forces, cleaning, etc.  I was reading that 300,000 people walk up and down the Champs-Elysees per day, on average.  The city has to pay an extra 720,000 Euros ($984,125) a year to keep the boulevard clean - just that one boulevard.  I read that Berlin, in Germany, is thinking about asking the tourists to pay a tax to help upkeep all the sights they visit.  I believe Venice is considering the same thing as its citizens are moving away from the center of town as rents are rising and regular shops have closed to leave room for tourist shops, hotels and restaurants.   My friend Peter in Paris told me that, in 2012, 13,650,000 people visited the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris (built in 1160-1345.)  This is good but hard on the old building and much litter is left around it.

The other numbers Peter mentioned were 10,500,000 visitors at the Sacre-Coeur de Montmartre, 9,667,000 at the Museum of the Louvre, and 6,270,000 at the Eiffel Tower, in 2012, and it keeps going up.  All these visitors have to use either public transportation or tour buses or cars.  They of course visit mostly the tourist areas in the center of town, so this becomes difficult for French people who work there (not counting all the extra carbon dioxide.)  I read in a travel magazine a Parisian saying "The center of Paris is a museum.  It's for tourists.." and "most Parisians don't feel comfortable there anymore"  and certainly outnumbered more than 10 to one.  With 29 million tourists in Paris (and only 2,300,000 inhabitants many of whom are foreign residents or immigrants) it is clear that apart from the monuments, tourists can only photograph shopkeepers or other tourists - either from the rest of France, Europe or other countries.  This is OK, but too many people bring extra pollution.

When I took my husband to the Louvre in 1968, we saw the Mona Lisa painting with hardly anyone around, in the morning on a week-day.  Now, I read that it takes at least 2 hours to get into the museum, and with 30,000 people a day coming in, this brings quite a lot of human heat and perspiration to the priceless masterpieces there.  Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) painted the Mona Lisa between 1503 and 1506, so it is extremely fragile.  You can see above how many people gather around it.  (You may see it better below...)

Unfortunately with such a large number of visitors congregating in limited areas this attracts pickpockets.  Paris is not number one for the number of pickpockets in Europe - I believe it is either Rome or Barcelona, but it is in the top ten.  I read and look at, with pleasure, American, Australian and other foreign blogs on Paris, showing beautiful pictures of the sights in the tourists areas and people they see there.  They rarely show the other side of Paris, the crowds, the poor and seedy areas, and that is understandable.  So I am afraid that some people who have never been there and are under the spell of all these lovely photographs think that Paris has mystical qualities and forget that there are many types of people living in the city, and some are unsavory.  There are many beggars, homeless people, and immigrants from many continents who are not fashion-conscious.  Paris is a living city not just a bunch of tourist sights, just like Chicago or Hong Kong where there are gangs.   I am trying to show another look of Paris, just not lovely artistic photos.  Tourists may have a deeply romantic view of Paris (the Paris usually represented on TV, travel brochures and blogs) and may not take the regular precautions that they would take in another city.  They may become an easy prey.  I believe that my hometown, Paris, is the most beautiful city in the world and still low in crime rate.  It would pain me if tourists, because of pickpockets, or a rude waiter, taxi driver or passerby, would no longer think that Paris is a magical city.

I read that some new groups of pickpockets dress like tourists (maps in hand, cameras dangling from their necks) to look innocent and to blend in, but are very quick and slip away without getting caught.  The usual gangs to watch for are little children unfortunately.  Most come from Eastern Europe and are run by criminal gangs.  Since they are usually under age they cannot be arrested.  They work in groups and are very good at getting wallets and at snatching purses.  Little girls come and surround you and their opening ploy is to ask "do you speak English?"  you better never answer them.

La Petite Mendiante (the little beggar) by William Bouguereau, French 1825-1905

I saw some of these Eastern young ones doing just that while my husband and I were on the Pont des Arts which is well known for all the "love locks" tied there.  The children and even older teenage girls (mostly Romanian, Bulgarian, etc.) indicated that they could not speak, that they were mute and made hand signs asking people to sign their names on clipboards on their phony "charitable" petitions and give money to "starving orphans back home."  A couple of these "mute" girls would encircle the tourists and pick their pockets and bags.  When the police appeared they suddenly got their voices again to warn their accomplices and they all scattered.  I was so surprised I did not even take a picture.  An earlier year while in Paris, I saw some kids snatching a purse from an older German lady in the Metro, going up the escalator.  I am not trying to stop you from taking a trip to Paris, au contraire, I think everyone should go there at least once in their lifetime, but stay on your guards as you would in any other large city.

When I am depressed, I do not think about these disgraceful developments in Paris.  I feel that just as some beautiful women, Paris is victim of its beauty.  It is the price to pay for success.  Instead I try to remember our apartment in Paris.  I can visualize the sitting room where I slept on the sofa.  As you came in you could see the large marble chimney with the piano on the left and the French doors on the wall going into the dining room.  A large painting from a Dutch master was hung over the chimney.  On the right was a curio cabinet.  I do not have a photo of this room but the vintage picture below gives a good example of it.

My father would often come into the room to play the piano, usually Chopin.  Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) was born in Poland and at 20 years of age immigrated to France.  He never saw Poland again.  My father immigrated to France also when he was in his twenties and never saw his native Turkey again (he was Armenian, which is why he could not go back.)  Below is a photo of my father, dated January 1935, when he was in his twenties.  In the back he wrote "A mes Parents, respectueusement" (to my parents, respectfully.)

Maybe my dad felt a connection with Chopin.  He often played the piece below called "Tristesse" which means sadness - it is Chopin etude 10, op 3.  In the video below it is played by Freddy Kempf, a British pianist born in Croydon to a German father and a Japanese mother.  He now lives in Berlin.  I listen to the music and I can see myself in our Paris flat once again, and I am happy.

Chopin reminiscing on Poland by Jan Styka, Polish, 1858-1925