sunny days & long bus rides

One of the only regrets I have in living a couple of metro stops just outside the city is just that-the couple of metro stops. On ordinary days it's not a big deal. I charge up my ipod, stick a copy of The New Yorker in my bag, and cut myself off from the world for the time it takes to reach my destination. But on sunny days, goodness it's difficult. Who wants to descend to the dark underground and stand in a packed train when there is a beautiful ray of sunshine waiting just above the surface ?

My first year or two in Paris, I rarely took advantage of the bus system. Having grown up in the middle of nowhere, public transportation was a relatively new challenge for me, and I preferred the predicability of the metro. That is to say that the bus are not exactly the most reliable mode of transportation around. But then I moved to the 17th-an area where the metro stops are few and far between, and the choice of lines limited to the 2, 3, or 13. At first I started taking the 66-a bus that meandered down my street to St. Lazare and Opera- two places where I could get a train to just about anywhere in the city. Then buses became an obsession. I knew I could probably get there faster by metro, but maybe there's a bus. Wouldn't that just be so much more pleasant? To take the bus?

I soon became intimately familiar with the bus routes in my area, and could get just about anywhere without walking down the dreaded metro steps. I was actually terribly relieved to find out that where I'm living now is a bus depot--which means that many different bus lines have their terminus here. We have seven different buses to choose from just outside our door, as well as the metro, RER about ten minutes away, and the Vogueo- a public transportation boat which takes us from our door to either Bercy or Gare D'Austerlitz. We have a wealth of transportation to choose from.

On Saturday, being a particulary sunny spring day, my heart hurt at the thought of taking the metro to go to a concert in my old neighborhood of the 17th. Luckily, I had some time and decided to take, for the first time, the bus 24 from terminus to terminus. The bus starts at Ecole Veterinaire and ends at St. Lazare. Not a short journey, but a terribly pleasant one.

The entire ride took about 50 minutes--which I calculate as between 10-15 minutes faster than the metro would have taken. Along the ride, I took all of the pictures found in this post. I also saw a group of old men playing boules, a young girl learning to ride a bike, two beautiful magpies playing in the bushes, a couple having a romantic moment on the Pont Neuf, and a bookseller on the Quai contently posing for a photo with some grateful customers.

Getting from place to place in this beautiful and frustrating city can be a nightmare. I say, when in doubt, grab a window seat and watch as the city passes you by.