Letter From Paris: A Different Elegance and Grace

Drum Roll...announcement.  The Lone Wolf and I are beginning to really like living in the 20th Arrondissement. 

Yes, I know I've whined about being out here.  The 20th is not the center of the city--the picture postcard Paris, where I lived for five years, and which I adore even if some people call it "bourgeois."  It is that heart of Paris that is so stunningly beautiful that I can never get over it.  On the hush-hush, I must confess I relish the feeling of being wrapped in Parisian history that was played out in its monuments and streets. 

It is this beauty and elegance of the material foundation of Paris--its streets and architecture, the rolling Seine, the handsome bridges that connect Left Bank to Right, the treasure of art and monuments--along with the spirit and specter of personages that lived or spent time here to elevate their knowledge and consciousness that give Paris its grace.   

But that was then.  Today, I live in the Paris that is made up of hamlets and villages--Ménilmontant and Belleville--that were once on the outskirts of the great capital, and were absorbed into the city's voluptuous skirts in 1860.  It actually feels like a village out here on top of our hill.  From the rise of Ménilmontant, we can stand and see the smog that hovers over the Paris where we used to live, a cloud over the Centre Pompidou.  I never knew it was there until I moved.

In Belleville (Photo by Beth Arnold)

The 20th has accepted waves of immigrants since the middle of the 19th century, and Belleville has the second biggest Chinatown in Paris.  (Dim sum, baby.)  The food resources are top-notch, and young artists and designers are creating up a storm, graffitti artists are painting, while architects have had the opportunity to plot/draw/build dynamic spaces.  If I were younger, I would be smug with my hipness.

This Paris is fertile with tons of green space like the Le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, which is a gorgeous park that also happens to be a gated community for dead people.  It may be a different kind of tour of homes, but it's a fascinating one.  L.W. and I walk there often and never tire of the visions we discover.  Just walking by to say a little hi to Gertrude Stein and Oscar Wilde.  It is particularly charming now with spring blooms.  

Pere Lachaise  (Photo by Beth Arnold)

The Parc de Belleville has a spectacular view of Paris without the crowds that unpleasantly buzz around one at Sacre Coeur.  The Parc des Buttes Chaumont is a short walk away, but it feels more like you're in a fairy-tale forest, where elves and fairies live and play.

Buttes Chaumont.  (Photo by Beth Arnold)

The waterfall at Buttes Chaumont.  (Photo by Beth Arnold)

The 20th is a hidden world...a secret garden. 

The grace I now find around me is green and natural.  Our new elegance isn't the structures of man.  It is the sheltering earth.

                                                                               ---Beth Arnold in Paris