When the Lone Wolf and I moved from the 2nd arrondissement to the 20th arrondissement, some friends and acquaintances started saying to us, “Now you’re living in the real Paris.” What did they mean?

My take: They said this because there aren’t as many tourists outside the center. (And I’ve been told that things aren’t quite as expensive since one isn’t paying tourist prices.) The neighborhoods are chummier. There are even houses with yards, neighborhoods in the sense that we Americans know them. The diversity includes more of a cultural and financial range, including working men and women.

Some are saying this to justify their own residence in neighborhoods which aren’t in the center of the Paris, where they don’t walk out their doors to be in the midst of St. Sulpice or the Louvre. Some prefer the outer arrondissements of Paris because they were part of the countryside longer and truly are greener–places where people have more balconies and terraces and the outdoors seems more a part of their lives–and the parks and plants are wilder in a sense. These green spaces and architectural planning make Paris more a part of  nature.

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