Rue de Charonne

Horrible news from Paris today.  I lived for about three months on the Rue de Lappe, just a stone's throw from the small bar/cafe where one of the attacks occurred, La Belle Equipe on the Rue de Charonne.  I remember walking almost daily from the Bastille metro station to my little room on the Rue de Lappe; I always took the Rue de Charonne to get to my street, and both of those streets together form a vivid image in my mind:  Rue de Charonne was the more sophisticated street, with its more expensive (yet still modest) restaurants, but there was something intimate and old-Parisian about both locales, while both were also lively and bustling and full of young hip artist-types looking to make things happen in one of the most colorful cities on the planet.

Rue de Charonne...I remember one of the first times I ventured into one of its little bar/cafes to have something simple and cheap for lunch, probably a sandwich and an espresso.  I was drawn in by the clientele, French for the most part, laughing and lively, not a single tourist in their midst, or so it seemed when I glanced inside. The Rue de Charonne wasn't far from the Place de la Bastille, yet it felt like the part of Paris that wasn't putting on a show for tourists, that was effortlessly sophisticated yet casual, both intellectual and working-class (bobo, I guess the term is--"bohemian bourgeois"), and enjoying itself immensely.  I was intimidated yet fascinated; I ate and drank and read my book and surreptitiously snuck glances at everyone.

And today, nineteen people were slaughtered at one of those bars on the Rue de Charonne, as well as at six other locations in Paris.

I am a bit too sad to write any more about this tonight.