Urban Life

I took these photos today from the rooftop cafe at Les Printemps in the Opera district. It's visual representation of one dimension of change that I didn't anticipate: the transition to urban living. Those several years of living in the quiet Oakland hills with two cars was very different from living in the heart of a large, dense European capital and depending on public transportation. You can get a sense of the density in a few of these photos.

Yesterday we bought a kitchen table (for delivery) so today we went in search of stools to complete the ensemble. This means walking and subway riding. And if you buy something along the way, then you're carrying it for the next several hours. That's why European men are more into the whole man-purse thing than American men. Carrying small purchases in a shoulder bag is much preferable to shopping bags. Although that didn't help me much with the rolled up mattress we bought yesterday or the ceiling light we bought today. And here's another little tip: the metro is more crowded on Saturday than during rush hour during the week. One word: tourists.