I love Paris in the springtime, I love Paris in the fall, I love Paris in the winter when it 
drizzles
, I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles? , but most of all I love in August! For me, however strange it may seem, it is always hard to say goodbye to August for some personal and seasonal preferences, especially giving 
up whatever warm summer weather we might have had, which wasn’t much this year!
I adore August for what it does have, and doesn’t the rest of the year! Yet, I had no idea before I moved here that I would love August in Paris for what is missing!
Though August rarely sizzles heat wise, it is usually the most generous of warm days and nights; this year being an exception with one of the coolest and rainiest on record. It was so lousy this year that the city extended Paris Plage for a week, where my toes can dig into the warm sand while watching the Bateau Mouches plying up and down the Seine.
August in France was for me my days of milk and honey, as it was traditionally the month that I usually traveled to France with much excitement! Being here , even now, brings back memories of my first days in awe and wonder of her beauty.
At that time I don’t remember ever feeling deprived of any gastronomic experiences, with the many small bistros that traditionally close, because I usually headed to the famous multi starred ones to check out a chef that had been accumulating rave reviews, which are opened year round.
Since living here, I have learned to look forward to Assumption Day, a national holiday here in France. You will always find me patiently waiting in front of Notre Dame to take part in the lovely procession around Ile de La Cité and Ile Saint Louis that always fills me with much joy.
Walking with many other faithful devotees of Mother Mary, reciting the rosary, is like a meditative trance that gives me much sweet peace and pleasure. Another reminder of how blessed I feel to be living here.
Then of course, exactly a week later I get to celebrate my birthday in my beloved adoptive city. The most recent recount of my birthday can be found in the previous post.
By August the flowers in the park and on my own balcony have reached their peak of enthralling beauty! And last, but not least the mirabelles, those very small golden perfumed plums, from Lorraine, start to flood the marchés, that easily find their way 
in one of my delicious fruit tarts.
Precisely, what is missing, that makes August so special, is the hoards of Parisians who have left! The rest of the year they crowd the sidewalks and stores that I constantly have to dodge or risk bumping into. Then there is the constant rattling thunder of cars, the horrible shrill of motorcycles and tires screeching madly around the avenues everywhere.
I am so grateful that the majority of Parisians leave in scores for their annual month long vacation. In August I have the feeling that the city belongs mostly to the tourists, and the few diehard August lovers like me!
The parks almost feel very rural with only a few folks scattered on the grounds and the ice cream vendor looking lonely, without the usual long line.
Some of Paris’s major business and residential areas look deserted , including some of the central thoroughfares. August is the only time I feel half way comfortable to drive in the city, except for an occasional Sunday, though I still avoid like the plague, the crazy and dangerous circle around the Arc de Triomphe.
It felt really strange to venture out one day, that took me back to my old street in the 5th, then driving towards Notre Dame where I turned on the quai and drove along the Seine, before turning back at the Musee d’Orsay. Heading south, I picked up Blvd Saint Germain des Prés back towards the fifth, turned towards the Pantheon then back to Blvd Saint Michel, along side Jardin Luxembourg till I reached the 14th, all done without being tied in a bundle of nerves!
Here is a small portion of it, mostly on Saint Germain, narrated in a playful manner by my daughter, while I was driving, still very defensively.
Sure a lot of the shops and restaurants are closed, but so what? I much prefer eating my own delicious meals overlooking my abundance of colourful flowers seemingly suspended above the rooftops against the blue sky( which hasn’t been too blue recently).
Today is September the first and I could tell by this weekend, that the deluge of Parisians have returned to roost for la rentree! Just by the noise level alone, I knew before I even ventured back out into the streets!
I woke up Saturday to a band playing across the street to promote a new organic store that had just opened, and when I stepped out there where two horses in front of an old buggy munching away on hay, oblivious to the traffic and folks stopping by to gaze and take photos to this rather unusual sight.
Saturday the lines in stores had already lengthen by several meters. The sidewalks were once again flooded with people and the parks had me dodging the little kiddies on their scooters whizzing by at breakneck speed.
Worst was the mob of people, that I got caught in and had me worried about getting tramped on, at the annual Fete de Ganesh. Held in the 18 arrondissement, I love going to the parade for the brightly coloured floats, Indian music, flashy costumes and saris in all the colours of the rainbow, and sights of smashed coconuts everywhere, which I wrote about: https://www.cherrychapman.com/2012/09/03/smashing-cocon…or-lord-ganesh/
The Hindi community here are so very generous with freely handing out the wonderful and unusual beverages with packages of beautifully seasoned rice and this year spicy chickpeas.
I was able to obtain another blessing this year of having my forehead dabbed with red. I was wondering why folks were staring at me on my way home on the metro, as it wasn’t till I looked in the mirror did I realise I looked like I had suffered a bad injury!
Well, the city is back in full, and as loud and busy as ever! September has really neat things about it too, that I am sure to write about. Hopefully there will be another August and birthday to enjoy next year!
With the exception of so many businesses being closed for the month long vacation, your description of August in Paris sounds very nice. By contrast we just returned from an Alaskan cruise via Seattle, WA. In “the heat of the summer in Alaska, the temperatures range from 50 degrees to the mid 70’s; and while we were there half the time the sky was fairly overcast with clouds frequently hovering a couple of hundred feet above the water and the land with frequent heavy fog banks in the mornings, and misty rains. It was rather surprising how few residents there are in Juneau and in Skagway, which only has a seasonal population of 3,000, and less than 900 residents in the winter time when they experience well below zero degree weather with raging, howling 90 mph winds 24/7 for weeks at a time. (Quite a contrast to August in Paris . . . Ha!) The ship made a short stop in Victoria, B.C. Victoria is an very nice, relatively small town with quite a British ambiance. We spent a few days before and after the cruise in Seattle, WA, which is an extremely nice and interesting city . . . lots of history (such as we have in the USA). Seattle is the home of Boeing aircraft, Microsoft . . . Bill & Melinda Gates have all sorts of ties and organizations in Seattle, and AMAZON.com started there; and are in the process of building three new facilities; and hiring over 3,000 new employees.
Seattle is really a terrific and rather vibrant place with lots of historical sites, and rather quaint buildings; the sea food is superb also. The stories about how it purportedly rains so much in Seattle are gross exaggerations; we only experience the light, misty type “rain” a few times. It was rather surprising to learn that Seattle usually has rather mild winters also. Seattle has rather hilly terrain with some flat areas; it isn’t as bad as San Francisco though. I would highly recommend a trip to Seattle for anyone.
The Alaskan cruise was a nice one time trip . . . seeing it once was enough; and if it wasn’t for tourism, esp. the cruise ships, there would be very little there. Juneau, for example, with it’s small population, had over 31 jewelry stores with a lot of high end jewelry. The vast majority of those stores are owned and operated by “partners” of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. My next door neighbor is a Senior Accountant with RCL. The food onboard the ships is superb; and Ben said that it only costs RCL $11.00 a day in food costs for passengers, and that include the costs of food in the onboard upscale restaurants; and all of the frozen foods are shipped out of Miami, even for their European and Asian cruises.
Based on your description of August in Paris, it sounds like it might be an ideal time to see the sights and to avoid the hordes of tourists. (I’m not much for “on-the-bus, off the bus, and back on the bus” type of tours . . . Ha!) The girls (June and her sister) wanted to go on some of those tours, which we did of course; but in hindsight, it would a lot more convenient and effective to have hired taxis or rented a car . . . . a lot of time is lost on many of those tours due to the ways that they operate.
We spent Labor Day weekend in Naples visiting with the kids and the grandchildren; I spent a lot of time checking out real estate. I/we have almost decided to design and build a new home . . . one can build a new home for the costs of buying older homes; and one can design in everything that one. June wants to scale down the house size; but so far all of the designs are about the same size as our existing home. Naples, FL is sort of like those Alaskan cities/towns with significant seasonal changes in population. The population in Naples reportedly varies by almost 40% between the low of summer and the high of winter. Naples is somewhat of a seasonal get-away for the Northerners and Midwesterners. It is really a little too laid back after having lived in the metropolitan areas for so many years. (They almost roll up the sidewalks around 9:00 P.M.; most of the restaurants close at 9 or 10:00 P.m. . . . Ha!} But the county has a population of a little over 300K. We’re just not that we want to make that type of life style change yet . . . Ha!
Your descriptions of Paris and life in Europe make it all sound to be extremely vibrant, and an endless stream of terrific things to enjoy; but then Paris is a rather unique city unto itself. Living in such a city is so vastly DIFFERENT than just being a “tourist” just passing through. You can take your time and enjoy almost everything in the city year round . . . there is just such a difference in being able to savor it all at your leisure, huh?
Well, I wish you well with your life in Paris; you seem to making maximum efforts to enjoy it all . . . savoring it all to the fullest extent. Best wishes.
David
Your cruise to Alaska sounds like the perfect thing to do for South Floridians to get away and enjoy a change of seasons! The sunshine you take for granted is not always available here!
Cherry – I totally agree with you. When we were living in Europe, we used to love to go to Paris in August for just the reasons you pointed out. Paris is one of my favorite places in the world. It’s such a wonderful city.
Thank you Janet for sharing your own experience here in August! There is such a visual contrast between August and the other months, without half the Parisians, that makes it so special!
Hope to see you again here soon! Hugs.
Cherry I like your photos,you always post great photos that gives me a better insight of France. I also like August a great time for swimming and other outdoor activities that I love so much. But after last summer I don’t do well in the heat and high humidity. I had pass out at work in the outside with a near heat stroke . After a trip to the hospital I was told to stay out of the heat. Well you know I love the outdoors, but the doctor wasn’t kidding when he said it would be a long time for my body to re a just to the heat . So now I must work
inside .I just don’t do well in the heat anymore.
Soon the cool days of fall will be here and once again I can enjoy the great outdoors.
In all the blogs that you have wrote I can tell that you really do love Paris, and especially August.
Hugs
Isham, I am so sorry hearing that you passed out at work! I remember well the Louisiana summers, with searing temperatures, that can be dangerous without maintaining proper sodium and fluid levels if outside. It is never that hot here, nor as humid as Louisiana.
Glad you like the photos, but wish I could do better. Thank you for your kind comment! Hugs