Paris in Autumn
Maybe Paris in the Springtime gets all the publicity, but Paris in the fall holds unique joys including La Rentrée, or "the return": return to the city from five or six weeks of vacation. Return to school after les vacances, return of the restaurants and shops that have been closed all August. Return to invigorating temperatures. There's a vibrancy in the air, yet the temperatures are still deliciously warm and the flowers are bursting with their last hooray in the all of the Parisian parks. It's a wonderful time to stroll...a wonderful time to sit in a café, people watch and just be.... And perhaps most importantly, a wonderful time to eat.
Foodies all know that fall is the best time in Paris. Autumn means harvest, and a glance in at the markets is to delight the eye. All kinds of autumn squash fill the stalls with color and heft, culminating with the giant orange pumpkins. The figs glisten sensually. Mushroom—chanterelles, giroffes, cêpes, compete with late-summer vegetables. And game is abundant.
There is a vibrancy to the air when sitting at a café outside, yet different from the anticipation of spring. There’s a certain stillness, the beginning of turing inward, a sense that winter approaches. When the skies turn seemingly permanently grey, the museums fill with those seeking the solemnity and timelessness of art. But a walk along the quais in a drizzling rain holds its own sense of poignancy. For this, too, is Paris.
Experience Paris with Kay Pfaltz, author, tour guide, and expat resident of the city for more than fifteen years.
