![]() Traveling south from our apartment we would pick up our croissant along Rue de Buci and head to the garden of Église de Saint Germain des Prés to watch the pigeons, then stop for sandwiches and pastries at Maison Mulot, continue along Rue de Tournon to Le Jardin du Luxembourg to enjoy our treats at the stunning Fontaine Médicis, and finally share in the wonder and laughter of children playing with boats and riding on carousels. Traveling north from our apartment would take us through Square Gabriel-Pierné for a morning croissant and fun in a tiny play area, then to the Seine to be amazed by the bicycles, and lastly across the river and east into the Jardin des Tuileries to be awed by the ducks at the pond and our dancing shadows. A thirty-minute walk put us in touch with larger parks that are more widely spread throughout the City. We also find joy in the abundance and variety of accessible open spaces.įrom our apartment in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, we were within a three-minute walk of two greens, one small public plaza, one pocket green, one pedestrian plaza, one shared street, and the Seine. Within these spaces, we find joy in unobstructed movement and awe in nature. They are breaks of warm, sunny light and fresh air within a dense, urban fabric. When we are within a three-minute walk, we use them. People innately need to be connected to natural open places. The most vivid memories I have of Jashan expressing awe within our Parisian neighborhood were when we were in public open spaces. Experiences that challenge our existing understanding evoke a desire to explore and seek out new knowledge. When we experience awe, our focus is outward as opposed to inward and there is a shrinking of our ego and self-importance. Shared moments of awe helped our ancestors shift towards collaboration improving our odds of survival. It strengthens our social bonds, makes us kinder and more generous to others, and fosters a sense of curiosity about our world. It is a necessary human emotion that has helped us evolve as a species. Awe can be elicited by people, nature, art, architecture, music, and religious experiences. It makes our bodies and minds more receptive to new information, new experiences, and life’s deeper meaning. Awe is an emotional response to extraordinary conceptual or physical stimuli that challenge our normal day-to-day existence and are not integrated into our understanding of the world. What is awe and why do we experience it? Lani Shiota, an associate professor at Arizona State University, explains that awe is a fundamental part of being human. Architecture that challenged his present understanding of the world. He associated "wow" with awe and expressed awe through architecture within the built environment. As we were passing, Jashan said “wow" and pointed directly to the Pantheon. A week later, we were strolling and passed a sightline of the Pantheon down Rue Sufflot. This was the first time and it was so magical. Within seconds Jashan started to say “wow” to express his own awe and wonder. We kept saying “wow” to express our awe as it paced before us. My husband and I gazed in amazement at the muscular structure of this animal that we could see so closely. ![]() ![]() The most incredible animal was the white leopard. The animals were in a more natural setting, the fences were lower and the animals felt closer. I typically don’t like zoos, but this was different. We were surprised and charmed by the outdoor zoo embedded within the park. Jashan was excited to chase the water shooting out of the sprinklers. I was so excited to see the rows of bright, manicured flowers. ![]() One morning, we went to the Jardin des Plants. During our first couple of weeks in Paris, we decided to take morning walks to the most notable parks in the City. Mainly with screams to generate laughter and “oooo's" to express delight. He had just started to walk and was only expressing himself in a handful of ways. When we went to Paris last year, our son was about 15 months old.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |