Like a rat in a maze

Generally I pride myself on my sense of direction and my ability to get from point A to point B without significant delay or difficulty. Luckily, this pride is still intact due to the fact that I actually have no plans or need to get to a specific point at a specific time. I have taken the approach that anywhere that I find myself is exactly where I wanted to be, otherwise, I fear that manly pride would be in tatters.

To be fair, I have wandered around areas that are not all considered tourist areas and I have attempted to stay off of the major roadways as much as possible. Much of my travels have revolved around the 15th arrondissement. Arrondissement is the fancy French word for section. There are 20 sections of Paris and I have walked through a considerable portion of the 15th, 7th, 1st, 6th, 5th, 8th, 2nd, and 9th. Much of the time is spent trying to find my apartment.

Going somewhere has been rather easy. As I have already stated, if I try to get somewhere and end up somewhere else, ok, it must be god's plan. The difficulty arises when attempting to coming home. On three consecutive days, what should have taken no more than 30 minutes to return home have led to at least 1 1/2 hour journeys.

The problem is that Paris is a giant maze. Most streets are narrow with buildings uniformly five to six stories high without any breaks between buildings; you can not see any landmarks, the sun, or other streets. There is no such thing in Paris as a yard. I have found that taking a side street as a short-cut is only a wise approach if you wish to extend your walk. Nicole tells me that even Parisian walk around the city with a guide book. This is probably not true, but bless her heart for trying.

If I could start the week over, I would not change a thing. This is how you learn a new city and I would have missed a ton of small parks and those quirky little things that make a place unique.