Illuminating the City of Light: Reflections on Paris

I think it's funny, the way people place Paris in their heads, how it means so much to them and more often than not they don't really know why that is. I know when I told my sister that part of my spring break would be in Paris, she drooled over it. In the weeks leading up to our trip, our conversations were speckled with her making very clear to me how she was upset that I was going to Paris and that she was not. And I kept telling her that she would be going to Rome soon enough. But she always told me the same thing: that she knew but it wasn't the same. And I suppose I'm guilty of it too. I saw Paris as my pilgrimage. If Hemingway and Fitzgerald had found such a love affair with the city, well, then there had to be something special about it. Not just special, but magical. I would walk out onto the street and it would transform me. I would be an artist, a fashion model, the star of some classic romance.

This makes me French, right?

Paris is tricky. I'm going to be honest. It's like she knows just how amazing she is so she doesn't think she has to try to impress you. You have to come to her. You have to work for it. In fact, it's like she wants to see you squirm, see that maybe she wasn't what you thought she'd be, see you fight with the fact that you're still infatuated despite all of that.

I think it's easy to hate on Rome. No one knows how to drive or how to walk or how to be on time. It's like no one wants to talk about how Paris isn't perfect. Well, I'm going to just put it out there. She is actually anything but perfect. Paris was taken off of her pedestal for me. However, it gave me the opportunity to fall in love with her for who she truly is. Not what people want her to be.

She's a beaut.

So let me tell you about why I love Paris. Because I love her in despite of and for all of her faults. 

Paris is honestly the most beautiful city I have been to in my life. Leave it to the French to have the most visually appealing city ever. Everything is symmetrical. Trees and bushes are cut at straight edges. There are flourishes and statues everywhere. And I mean the Eiffel Tower. It literally sparkles. 

Another thing about Paris that was really impactful for me was just the sheer amount of art there. Even the air is steeped with it. It probably relates to the fact that it's an incredibly beautiful city. But it's more than the Louvre or lines of trees. It's the murals commissioned on the walls of metro stations. It's the performers on every corner. It's the way people dress. It's the painters and caricaturists on the side of the Seine. It's literally everywhere. It envelopes you. I had a conversation with a rather nice French man in a McDonald's and what he told me when I commented on it surprised me. He said, "We don't even notice it. Only the people who leave and come back appreciate it." 

The sheer amount of history there is also incredible. For me, it was particularly special being able to walk in the footsteps of my heroes-- although I couldn't afford to drink at the same places. God knows I tried. 

So I guess what I'm trying to say with this post is that Paris wasn't what I thought it would be. But, not in a bad way. Just in a realistic way. And I think a lot of people find that they feel the same. You just have to love her for what she is. And now I do. 

xoxo

lauren