Paris & the Pandemic

Clients have been asking, what I did during the pandemic, when I had to close my business. The temporary close of my business actually happened before the pandemic. My daughter, Juliana, asked to further her studies in French and so we set off Paris, for her 8th grade studies in 2019/20. Even though she was able to attend school in Paris, I didn't have a visa that allowed me to work, so I put my business on hold. It was a temporary business pause and to keep me current, I did Colors for friends that I made in Paris, free of charge. I also took in the street fashion and current fashions in the stores. We stayed in an area of Paris, called Passy, just across from the Eiffel Tower, known for it’s more residential feel.

The French have a lovely rhythm to their schooling, 6 weeks on and then either a 1- or 2-week break depending on the time of year. During those breaks, most people travel and we were fortunate enough to do so as well. We had just finished our February break when we started to hear about some friends of friends, who had been on a skiing holiday and had become really sick. And then, we heard of more people getting sick, and unfortunately really sick. We had been up at a ski resort in Alpes d'Huez, over February break and looking back, we feel so lucky not to have got sick at that time.

The ski town of Alpes d’Huez, France.

As February turned to March, we started to hear that the pandemic was indeed, in Europe. The French government started to prepare everyone for a lock down or as they called it, confinement. I quickly visited the Orangerie, which has a large collection of Monet’s waterlilies, before they closed it. People were starting to feel scared of the pandemic and the museum was largely empty. I was able to photograph the waterlilies with no one else in the room! A very unique experience at the Orangerie.

The French government was true to its word and sure enough, in March of 2020, we experienced lock down, French style. My daughter's school very quickly pivoted to full time online learning, which meant that she was on her computer, doing her regular class lessons from 8am - 4pm, every day. The teachers worked remotely from their homes and gave the lessons, as if they were in the classrooms. Even though it was a very ridged schedule, with too much screen time, it was actually just what she needed to get up in the morning and stay motived. In the first weeks it was a novelty to be online and she was happy to do her lessons that way. By the end of it, she was thoroughly fed-up with online learning and couldn't wait to get back to school in person!

Under the French rules, during confinment, we were allowed out of the apartment to buy food and to walk, once a day. We also couldn’t stray too far. Our designated park was about a 7 minute walk from the apartment. One of the good things is that we had the most glorious weather during confinement and the blossoms on the trees were divine! We all had to carry a piece of paper with us, every day, that had the date, time and reason for our outing written or printed on it. If we didn't have the piece of paper with us, or it showed that we were out longer than 1 hour, then a fine would be leveed. The police did stop us and others, to check our papers. It was a very surreal experience and it felt as if we had stepped back in time.

In those early days, before masks and vaccines, we didn't really know how to be safe, except to keep our distance from one another. At that time, the hospitals started to fill up and so many people were dying. It was a very strange and sad time. Being in confinement meant, that on the next school break, apart from the daily walk, and occasional grocery shop, there was nothing to do but stay in the apartment all day. Gone were the days of travel on her school breaks. At night, in our neighbourhood (and in many others) people quickly took up the Italian tradition of clapping for the health care workers, as their way of saying thank you. We opened the doors to the balcony at night and stood with our neighbours, clapping.

I took to walking up and down the apartment stairs, everyday, just to break up the monotony of the day and to have more exercise; desperate, I know! But at least the design of the staircase appealed to my sense of beauty! As you can see from the photo below, the garden surrounding the apartment, we were in, was very lush in the spring time, another welcome distraction.

Somehow, despite it all, time did pass quickly. Juliana's school finished up in late June and for the last 2 weeks of her schooling, they were allowed to go back in person. We were all so happy that she was able to return to school in person and be with kids her own age and get some much-needed closure. We had planned on doing more travel that summer, after her school ended but of course, this was no longer possible. The flowers in Pairs are always stunning and it was so good to be able to see the florists re-open.

Here are some photo’s I took, just after we got out of confinement. The were no tourists and the locals were still keen to stay away from one another. All parts of Paris where quiet. If you’ve ever visited areas in Paris, like Monmartre or Place de la Concorde, you’ll know the normal throng of people and rush of traffic. But now, it was empty and quiet. It was very strange to walk in these places and often be the only person. I visited one or two shops during this time and shop workers asked me if I had just arrived, they thought tourists were being let back in! That, however, wouldn’t happen for quiet some time to come.

Before going to Paris, we had thought through the things that could possibly be difficult, about spending a year away from Boulder. The French are notorious for strikes, especially train and garbage strikes and we thought we may encounter those. There was never a garbage strike, but there was a very, very long train strike. It dragged on and on and I think it only stopped during the pandemic because everything came to a halt. There were also the so called "yellow vests" who were regularly protesting but they didn't worry us. There was one time, however, when I was on the 3rd floor of store and I heard some loud booms. I immediately thought about a terrorist attack (this was the other thing that had been on our minds) but it turned out to be fire fighters from the surrounding districts of Paris, who were firing off fire crackers and flares, in protest. When I made my way through the crowd to the metro, it was filled with smoke from the flares that they were letting off and the trains weren't running. All this is to say, that although we had thought about a number of different scenarios that may make our time in Paris challenging, we had never, for a minute, thought about a pandemic!

Juliana's last day of school was on a Friday in late June of 2020 and we flew back to Boulder on that Sunday. We were two of 6 passengers and a dog, (actually the largest dog I've ever seen on an airplane, a Golden Retriever). By this time, we were all wearing masks on the plane. The crew hastily served us just after takeoff and informed us, that unless it was an emergency, we wouldn’t see them again until it was time to land. They were true to their word. It really should have been an enjoyable flight in a way, because it was such an empty plane, but because it was so surreal, we just felt mostly tense and couldn't wait to get off the plane!

Arriving back in Boulder, I already knew that I wasn't going to be able to open up my business right away. I was really disappointed, as I was looking forward to working again. Little did I know, how long it would take for me and my family to feel safe enough, for me to open again.

And, it does feel good to be open again. I love helping and supporting people to look and feel their very best!

Next week, look out for my blog post on the Christian Louboutin exhibit I went to with a friend, just as the French government was preparing to close things. We were nervous going, but it turned out well and I have some fabulous photo’s to share.