Bordeaux and Palmiers

In Paris, you exist with ghosts.

You can’t just walk down the street in Paris. Any street you walk down has a history, stories of the thousands of people who have been there before you. I suppose this is true of any city, but in Paris you can’t avoid it: the mere feeling of walking in Paris a reminder of all of those people who came before you.

Walking down the Champs Elysées, it’s hard not to think about the 19th century, when these boulevards were first built to replace the winding streets that had made up the city before. Crossing the Pont Neuf, it’s funny to think about when this bridge actually was “neuf,” or new. When everywhere you turn, a Gothic church stares you in the face, when the ubiquitous Eiffel Tower hardly ever leaves your line of vision, Paris’ history becomes part of her present. It’s impossible to ignore: you have to embrace it, to live within it.

But just in case you have a moment of doubt, the Parisians have put up signs, so you couldn’t forget her history even if you wanted to.

Translations:

In memory of the students of this school deported from 1942 to 1944 because they were born Jews, innocent victims of the Nazi barbarianism and the Vichy government. They were exterminated in concentration camps. More than 700 of these children lived in the 18th. We shall never forget them.

Here, three Frenchmen died for the Liberation, August 22nd, 1944.

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