Please sign in to post.

Without tourists, old Paris has returned

Another great travel article from the NY Times.

In this stage-set Paris, the monuments still brilliantly illuminated,
it is easy to imagine an earlier time when the city streets were
quiet: the German occupation. Photographs from that period show empty
streets, solitary pedestrians, and grand monuments jarringly out of
sync with the humiliated city. Like now, lines of grim-faced customers
stretch from the few open stores.

Thousands of affluent Parisians have left the city. Up to a quarter of
the people who were in the city at the time of confinement have left,
according to some estimates. The Paris of the 1960s, far more
economically diverse, seems to be back. Around Montmartre, where
working people still live, Parisians perch at their windows, greeting
each other and just looking out; my neighborhood around Madeleine, on
the other hand, given over to luxury shops, is dead.

Posted by
67 posts

It's funny it feels the same way in Amsterdam. Now all the tourists have left it is possible to bike again without fear for your life.

Posted by
2093 posts

Tiger, wait....you mean you were the one who was scared? You should have seen us pedestrians...we were terrified! Regards to everyone in our favorite city!
Stay healthy and be well.

Posted by
8573 posts

I have long thought that I would meet my demise in Amsterdam misjudging which path was for pedestrians, trams, cars and bikes -- every time we are in Amsterdam we have close calls with transport.

Of course it is lovely to think about the charm of the empty cities but how charming will it be as the cafes, restaurants and little shops go bankrupt and close one by one.

Posted by
1519 posts

In our area many of the small restaurants, cafes, breweries and wine shops here have been doing preorders online or smartphones for pickup. The wine shop will have your selection ready to go when you drive up. Many of the small shops, including one clothing boutique are showing their fashions and other goods online. The Boutique seller will take your measurements, discuss what you are looking for and even try them on for you. They can be picked up or delivery can be arranged. These really are not new ideas...but are now relying on Information Age Technology. Most will adapt to the New Normal. Some may even come to prefer it. Trends come and go. Technology changes everyday. Hopefully we will be able to make the best of the cards that we are dealt.

Posted by
153 posts

Very enterprising of you folks on Camano Island, Kathleen. We here in Anacortes could take a lesson from your shop owners inventiveness. The most we have seen here are listings of restaurants offering pickup/takeout service. Some of our friends who operate(d) small shops are really getting desperate.

Posted by
2916 posts

I read the NYT article that FastEddie mentioned, and was going to start a thread with a link to it, but I don't know how the NYT paywall works now. I know they used to allow a certain number of free articles to non-subscribers. I didn't want to post a link to an article that most people can't read. In any event, it was an enjoyable article.

Posted by
67 posts

It's a bit of both but most cyclists would probably point the finger at unsuspecting tourists who step out in the street without looking ;-)

I am happy to not be in Paris right now although I obviously miss my friends. In Amsterdam a lot of smaller cafés and restaurants are open during the day for takeaway or sell coffee. It's the low-end tourist-only shops and restaurants (particularly the "Argentinian" steakhouses) that will go bust as nobody will buy their over-priced food or tacky souvenirs - and too be honest I am not too sad about that. It might actually be good for local businesses who have been forced to move because of ever rising real estate prices.

Posted by
8573 posts

In Chicago restaurants are doing creative take out to try to survive as well. I will be having a catered 'comfort food' menu from Alinea our local Michelin 3 star restaurant for my birthday tonight. BUT these efforts are unlikely to keep restaurants afloat for long right now as many customers don't have incomes to support doing this any longer and the volume they do is much lower than normal. Restaurants run close margins as it is. Hope it doesn't kill off all the wonderful small independent places we love in Chicago and in Paris and leave us with nothing but chains.

Posted by
67 posts

Janettravels Happy birthday! I feel the exact same way as you do. We are fortunate enough to be in a position that we could order out from our favourite restaurants relatively regularly but is not a viable solution in the longterm (diet or finances). People also don't order wine or alcoholic beverages for takeaout which is what so many restaurants make profit on.

Posted by
10242 posts

This, to me, is the key:

Paris is no more Paris without its smart young people chattering outside at now closed cafes than New York is New York without skyscrapers. Paris reduced to its architectural essence is grandiose but cold, an unreal postcard.

Even after the terrorist attacks in 2015, the cafes were full, as to be « en terrace » was seen as an act of reclaiming the city and an act of defiance to those who would destroy the Parisian way of life.

It makes my heart hurt to walk by restaurant after cafe after bistro after bar, seeing the chairs all stacked up inside waiting for the day when people will return to fill them.

Posted by
2262 posts

Great article, great photos!

Thanks.