Hangin' out on the Champ de Mars at the Eiffel Tower
Hangin' out. Like tying a scarf, the French have elevated hangin' out to an art form. I think it's in their genes. People here just hang out. Everywhere. All the time. Parks. Cafes. Squares. After two years here I still struggle with this concept since in Silicon Valley it is considered the eighth deadly sin and I am sadly engrained with that insane need to work constantly. The thought of simply taking a book to a park to read for a few hours is the last thing that comes to mind on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Luckily I have friends that have never come within 1000 miles of San Francisco nor a hi-tech company and they are much better at this hanging out thing than I am. Today it was a picnic at Champs de Mars, the park in front of the Eiffel Tower, and last week it was just hanging out in the Jardin de Luxembourg.
One reason that people spend so much time outdoors is that the cafes and parks are an extension of one's living room. Most apartments are very small and kitchens even smaller so people socialize outside. How a French person can make a 2 oz espresso last three hours is nothing short of remarkable. Once again, I am convinced it is in their genes.
Also, picnics are not the normal picnincs that I grew up with. I was too busy eating and too in awe of the fact that I was eating under the Eiffel Tower to take pictures of the food, but most picnics here consist of a chilled rose wine, great cheeses, chorizo sausage, bright red cherry tomatoes, a huge bowl of the most delicious deep burgundy cherries and the sandwiches are not just your regular ham and cheese on rye, it is white ham with camambert on a just-baked whole wheat baguette. For me it was too hot to do much of anything so I hopped across the street to Patisserie Pinaud and crazy Jean-Marc, zee spreeeng cheee-ken, and bought an assortment of mini pastries which weathered the subway ride relatively well.
