At first, I felt uncomfortable admitting that I embraced the lockdown. If anything, I joked that I was suffering from a version of Stockholm Syndrome. And then articles began emerging about le confinement heureux (the happy confinement) and I’ve since been amazed by this shared revelation. Outside, the empty streets revealed more and more to me. Inside, I established a rhythm that was productive yet calm. Outside, with one-quarter of the population scattered elsewhere across the country, and with no tourists and no traffic, Paris had never felt so peaceful. Inside, I was alone but, thanks to constant catch-ups with friends and family, I was not lonely.
As I write this, I hear birdsong out my window instead of people carousing after work at the corner bar. No matter where my morning walks have taken me this week—from the Trocadero overlooking the Eiffel Tower to the top of Sacre Cœur overlooking the entire city—I have heard birdsong.
Listen to enough news programs, meanwhile, and it becomes clear that French experts are far more prone to philosophizing, intellectualizing, and psycho-analyzing than sensationalizing. They will discuss proxemics—the study of space between people—and debate whether French people had reached peak bise. Is cheek-kissing all your colleagues or friends-of-friends really necessary? Can we show respect without shaking hands? The questions are valid; but to what degree will people suddenly rethink these ingrained social practices? Tuesday would have been the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival and a virtual ‘market’ for the films is currently in the works as proof of the industry’s ability to adapt. But the ceremonies and parties, the stars on the red carpet, the knockout gowns, the interviews at close range—all of that seems unimaginable, the stuff of movies.
In this current reality, we try to smile with our eyes and sniff perfumes through surgical masks. We line up to enter stores one at a time, and purchase our market fruits and vegetables from behind a screen of plastic film. The Fondation Giacometti, one of the first museums to reopen this weekend, will only allow 10 people to tour the rooms; the next available opening is May 28. At this rate, should we just stay at home and take virtual museum tours instead? Shop for books online or support our local bookshop? As déconfinement continues, each day will require countless calculations that we will make based on perceived and actual risk, patience, individual confidence, and collective trust. Paris however, will continue being Paris—a city that always tempts you out, rain or shine.