The Teddy Bear That Gives Parisians Smiles🧸🎈

Inside every adult lives a little child, who from time to time brings out your childishness. It happened to Philippe Labourel as well, who is the owner of a bookstore in Gobelins in Paris. One day in 2018, he placed some giant teddy bears around the neighbourhood. Why? He wanted to put a smile on every Parisian and encourage them to talk to each other.

A GESTURE NOT AT ALL TRIVIAL

Whenever the weather is nice, the bears will go out and put their feet on the table to enjoy the bright sunlight

Philippe was so serious about this and even gave a storyline to these bears. He imagined that they had lived at the bottom of the 🏔️ Himalayas and had to flee to Paris to escape capture from hunters. Like many others, he also had one and named him Gorille. One day, he imagined that Gorille complained about not having a little bear of his own; so Philippe bought him one and started the stocking of these bears.

NOUNOURS EVERYWHERE IN PARIS

Giant teddy bear with Ukrainian flag riding a motorcycle

At first, Philippe only placed these nounours in his own store and his friends’, but they have become so loved that he was asked to lend some out🐻♥️. As long as they promise to place them somewhere easy to spot, he is willing to lend the bears to them. Right now, it is estimated that there are over 50 of them in Paris dressed in different costumes. Some are wearing white coats in pharmacies; some are riding motorbikes in car shops; some are reading and some (who are called Starsky and Hutch) are staying in a police station. How funny is that!

NOUNOURS UNDER THE PANDEMIC

Dark brown bear outside a bar in the 7th arrondissement in Paris

Originally, Philippe intended to get them back after a few months. Seeing how serious the pandemic has affected each other’s life, he had a change of heart. He has lent more instead so that they can be put outside different buildings to cheer everyone (especially the medical staff) up. Now, we even see them in libraries and restaurants to remind people of the importance of social distancing. Not only in the 5th and 13th arrondissements in Paris, they can now be seen in other cities in France, blending in nicely.

Everyone loves nounours so much that people have formed a team of Protection of the Gobelins Bears to patrol and protect them. Next time you travel to France, while busy tasting champagne or taking pictures with the Eiffel tower or Arc de Triomphe, you might as well look for them. There might just be one around you😉!

P.s. knowing a place takes time. Here are the two Frances that we got to experience.