Le vieil accordéoniste

On the metro this morning, an elderly man and his accordion got on the ligne 4 at Cité. His frail fingers lifted up in anticipation of the first note and then hopped magically along the pegs and keyboard like young dancers. His choice of songs was perhaps cliché, though I prefer to call it classic. Something inside me longed to burst into tears as his wrinkled eyelids closed for Edith Piaf.

He didn't stop playing or ask for money until St. Placide when a woman pressed a 1 EUR coin into his hand before two policemen escorted him off the train. When I walked up the stairs at Vavin, I could still see their hands coaxing the frail elbows of the still-smiling man off the car, waiting for him to put away the accordion that made him come alive. As I made my way to the top of the stairs, the skies were gray.

I thought of the accordionist's lingering smile and hopeful melodies but I felt that a world where an old man got punished for a 1 EUR coin was not "la vie en rose."

Paris is still a mystery to me. Part romance, part tradgedy, she's like the girlfriend you could never figure out, the Emma Bovary of cities. I may never understand her.

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Budget tips for the day:

I packed a lunch to-go today. Just picked up a fresh baguette and filled up tupperware with some goodies: brie, salami, jam, cucumbers, grapes.


A good way to save money on tupperware containers is to reuse the containers from ice cream. The tupperware here is really expensive -- like 4 - 9 EUR per box. Why not just buy the ice cream for 2 EUR (or 4 EUR if you want the expensive kind) and get the tupperware for free at the end?


Total Damages today:
Salami package: 1,10 EUR
Fresh baguette from the wednesday boulangerie (Biatrix is closed on wednesdays): 80 centimes
hefty bag of red grapes (at 1,29 the kilo): 74 centimes
month of october on the navigo: 56 EUR