Spring 2020 Paris went into lockdown. Soon after that announcement the internet was flooded with beautiful pictures of an eerily empty city. People from the Netherlands were wondering how I felt about those deserted streets. Well, impossible to say for since we were only allowed to go as far as 1km from our homes there was no way for me to see the Louvre or the Eiffel tower. As they were too far out of reach for me I never got to experience the beautiful and monumental empty Paris.
The lockdown was tough for us, both mentally and physically. The beauty of summer was like a revelation. The first time I could cycle through Paris again I had tears in my eyes realizing how much I had missed the most beautiful city in the world. It never occurred to me that we would end up with a second lockdown.
We will give you light-hearted updates from Paris in lockdown and how to get away with those tiring rules.
A summary after a week in lockdown II, fall 2020
You can’t leave your home without an “attestation de déplacement” either on paper or electronically. You have to give your name, place of birth and date, address and the reason you are outside. There are several options such as a medical necessity, errands, taking children to school or simply going to work.
I take my oldest little boy to his school just around the corner in the morning, and then walk a little extra with my youngest for we have a good reason to be out. If there is a police check, I am within the permitted kilometer so I am good. When we go to the playground during the weekend (which fortunately is open nowadays, whereas it was closed in the spring) I bring an attestation on my phone and one on paper, with different timeslots so we can stay outside for 2 hours if we are checked.
Another trick people use is taking several papers with different timeslots, using the address of their partners, or pretending they are in urgent need of a new lamp. The latter is the ideal one, it is option 2 on the attestation and it allows you to go further than 1 kilometer and take for more than an hour! I haven’t tried these yet though…
My friend Thérèse, mother of two children about the same age as my sons, attends church every Sunday in the 5th arrondissement. Masses are prohibited, but she went out with her girls last weekend. During the “illegal” mass they were warned that a police check was in progress in the neighborhood. They all panicked. What to do now? They felt their only option was to go hiding in the crypt of the church! After playing hide and seek in the crypt for more than an hour, the priest got so claustrophobic that they all had to leave very silently and then walk back home.
It looks as if this lockdown opens a treasure-trove of creativity to circumvent it. We’ll get back to you with more stories next week.