paris, yet again

strange how efficient the eurostar is in comparison to all other trains in Britain. The journey time from London to paris is now less than 2 hours and 15 minutes, and the ride is smooth, far more so than my little nightly commute home, and more so than 3 years ago, when I was a regular commuter on the paris-london line.
So it has now been three years since I moved away from france. I have more or less switched here to writing in English, and I think in English more as well. (not that everyone is impressed by this great transition, given how often I am asked what my native tongue is!!)
Paris is good for visiting, far better than it is for living. So Sunday, as the weather held, I wandered around the right bank, dragging my 2 friends from one old haunt to another. We had brunch at le fumoir, where yaelle and I used to spend endless slow Sunday afternoons back in 2004-2005. I always find it amazing how so much is closed on Sundays in france. When I worked there is always really annoyed me: I worked on Saturdays, so I always had to run around after work and stock up on things, knowing everything would be closed the next day.
I also find it amazing how little the city changes comparatively. Three years have passed since I lived here, and still all the bars and restaurants I used to frequent are still in place. The shops have the same names and some even the same menu. I still know where things are and where to get what I need/want. This is such a contrast to, for example, Moscow, where there is more change in 6 months than in a paris decade. I sometimes find the endless continuity reassuring though, and it certainly makes it easier to play the tour guide!
But despite the continuity, I am aware how quickly time passes: it has been 3 years since I lived in paris, 4 since Budapest, 5 since Moscow, 8 since st Petersburg, 9 since montreal….and 27 since the friend I am showing around and I first met in the play yard of a school, whose name I no longer remember.