I left the office at 6 pm, jumped on the metro and zipped straight down to the Place de la Concorde. My mission? To buy the required book for my brand new book club meeting next Monday night. I’m excited. I’ve never belonged to a book club before. Which is odd considering I love books, and I’m writing one. The English-language bookstore, W.H. Smith, is located on the rue de Rivoli at the Place de la Concorde. And the required book for next Monday night’s discussion is Jeanette Winterson’s The Gap of Time. (I hated it.)

Once in the bookstore, I wasted no time going out again because the evening light was so beautiful. Across the road, the Tuileries Gardens beckoned. I went into the gardens and took these photos at the Round Pond.

What is it about water that soothes and mesmerizes us?

Actually, I know the answer to that question. Because water reminds us of where we came from. It invokes a feeling of connection to something or someone beyond ourselves.

7 pm on a weekday, an oasis in the middle of a chaotic, jarring (and terribly polluted) metropolis. Sadly, the noise and air pollution in this city has become intolerable.

Have you ever seen Parisians so relaxed? Or maybe they weren’t Parisians at all. It’s still August and the city is jam-packed with tourists.

The air temperature was a perfect 25°C (77°F). The last of summer before autumn arrives. But I love autumn, so I’m looking forward to September and October.

Here’s the rue de Rivoli where W.H. Smith is located. The Tuileries Gardens are directly opposite (metro Concorde).

And here’s the entrance into the gardens from the Place de la Concorde.