Scenes from Paris in Month 9 of the Pandemic

Note: I wrote this in October, 2020, but I got busy, never quite finished the post, and didn’t publish it. I’m publishing it now, from home in California, as I look back on those last months in Paris during the pandemic.

It’s hard to believe we are now in month nine of the pandemic. While Paris is quieter than usual, carousels are running, residential neighborhoods are bustling, and many restaurants are crowded (unfortunately) during lunch hour. Spots that are normally heavily touristed are much sparser now, but in the neighborhood where people live, like Batignolles and the 15th, streets are crowded, markets doing their usual brisk business.

Masked man at Eiffel Tower

The Marais

Pont Alexandre III

The shops along Rivoli are shuttered or empty, and the high-end shops on Faubourg St. Honore are open but there are few customers, if any. Through the plate glass windows, beyond the elegant displays, you can see the guards and staff in…