Paris, France
We were both living independently in Paris when we met in 1990. Rodger, after having finished his PhD, had taken a job with a french startup – Chorus Systemes – based just outside Paris.
Doris, having decided that taking a degree in English Lit. in Germany just wasn’t challenging enough transferred to the Sorbonne in Paris to add French to the mix:-)
We moved into a ground floor apartment in the 15th arrondissement, just near Metro Convention. There was a brill market Saturday morning on Rue de Convention and we were in walking distance of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.
We loved and hated Paris – well, Rodger loved and hated it, Doris just loved it. Paris is a stunningly beautiful city to live in, easy to get around and full of life. However, the Parisians can be hard work at times, and it’s hell to get out at weekend to hike or climb.
Our local ‘marchand’ just around the corner – open all hours, ever helpful and prone to selling exotic but slightly dodgy dates.
‘Our’ metro station, not only because we took the metro there almost every day, but also because it ran right under the mattress in our bedroom!
Sartre was here, mais oui, and so was Doris, toiling away in the Sorbonne library Sainte Genevieve, hoping for inspiration.
My beloved ‘quattrel’ Bricolage – battered but undefeated – together we learned the art of parking a la parisienne :=). Here shown a few years later when a french friend (now living in Bristol) took Brocolage to the great scrap yard in the sky – well in this case down by the old docks:-(
When Rodger got the chance to move to Chorus’s new office in Oregon, we were both ready and reluctant to move!
