Updated July 2021
Paris, France is seductive and resilient. Famed as one of the most romantic and passionate world cities with an abundance of history and cultural treasures. Paris is a lover chiming an ouverture that influences your life no matter where you were born or even if you’ve never felt the embrace. Paris is a caricature of itself. Visitors trip over each other to gaup at her luxuriant grandeur of sculptures and artefacts – and now, I too was seduced by her hypnotic Can-Can carousel.
Vive La France | First Encounters
Few global cities, if any, have made a greater contribution to the world’s lexicon of art, history, entertainment, and fashion as Paris, this European mecca. Gay Paree remains as diverse as ever, resonating with the vivacity of its populace. The melting pot of nationalities, artisans, and visionaries who define the Parisian lifestyle has created one of the richest and most refined urban centres in the Western Hemisphere. So prominent is the allure of Paris’ heritage, it’s easy to lose your sense of space and the hour as you ramble through its meandering maze of alleys walled off by tales and time.
I had only just arrived and immediately sensed my Paris rendezvous was not going to be a dull affair.
My excitement for Paris and its promises was swiftly interrupted. The moving cityscape through the window of the train travelling into the heart of romance was grim and disheveled. Not the welcome I expected from a capital city where strangers fall in love and lovers rekindle their fire. Then again, Paris always appears to be on a precipice, in part, because of its magnetic character and perpetual dalliance as a destination for migrating hopefuls.
Today, the city continues to strain by economic and social uncertainties. The debate about the French identity as part of Europe-united is ever-present. A lessor celebrated Paris is alive in banlieues and arrondissements not on tourist maps and travel apps. And so, my first hours in Paris were sobering, if not overwhelming. I abandoned the city I had conjured in my heart, one where the magic happened, and opened my mind to experience the ‘Real Paris’.
A surreal aura envelops the city. No single perspective captures what lies within the gem that was Napoleon’s realm. As one of the most photographed cities in the world, no single image truly encapsulates its enigma – Paris must be experienced. There is an allure to everything, but be warned, sometimes it is a bumpy ride. Nothing says welcome to Paris as its cramped spaces and poor air conditioning in summer that North Americans struggle to comprehend. Then there is the occasional pungent whiff of Eau de Urine L’homme.
A Speaking City | Taking it all in
Paris’ charm and charisma lovingly caress you as you stroll along Champs-Elysèes. The city comes alive when you submerge yourself in the bangarang that is Le Marais, the historic district replete with architectural substance also known as SoMa (South Marais). This 4th arrondissement is packed with trendy boutiques, galleries, and gay bars. It was once the Jewish quarter and many kosher restaurants remain. Navigating the slender lanes and thoroughfares you feel “Frenchier” with each step. Remarkably, for a city raised to the ground in the French Revolution, Paris retains its venerable glory, holding you in persistent reverence of its splendour and intricacies. In quaint boroughs, the barricades whisper wisdom, power, struggle, and nationalism.
The French really felt the pain of the last global crisis as it rocked Europe. Adding a few cents to the price of la baguette was enough to provoke Parisians onto the streets in anger, living up to the well-earned reputation for expression and protest. My travellling party almost never made it to Paris because flight controllers were on strike, again. However, soon after stepping off the train that discharged its passengers into neoclassical Gare du Nord, a union of train operators took up the baton in protest. Vive la révolution!
The brusque arrondissements of Paris amplifies majestic arrogance. Day three into my visit I began to appreciate the elements at play. The joie de vivre is in fact the feisty nature of Parisians against a backdrop of spectacular proportion. There are many reasons to bite the bullet and tackle the city’s hypomania. After all, Paris has a large concentration of the finest landmarks, museums, performance spaces, and theatres in Europe.
Love Seduction + Goodbyes
Fashion, art, and culture are the top reasons for most visits to Paris and the city does not disappoint. If shopping is your thing, then brace yourself. From Les Galleries Lafayette to every luxury designer on the planet, one needs an endless resource of funds if you are looking to get your Devil Wears Prada on! She is an expert seductress offering you the finest wines, fabulous food and restaurants, and titulation like the iconic Moulin Rouge. Paris is a temptress at the top of her profession.
Although chaotic, you cannot leave Paris without a visit to Le Louvre. It is so singularly famed it was a great way to spend day six in the city. Home to Venus de milo, David, and Mona Lisa, the more you browsed the most well-known collections of art and artefacts, the more you are captivated by the lesser-known relics of the past.
It’s amazing to witness the unfolding of romance in the streets of Paris. I was practically touched with passion! Daytime in Paris seems equally as short as the nighttime is long – and fabulous. Drinks were every present like friends who would never abandon you and as dinner was prepared table-side at the wonderful La Coupole, I began to get a knack for what life in Paris was all about.
By day seven you long for normalcy – the walking, the drinking, and the late nights catch up with you as you sit waiting for your plane to depart. The nostalgia of braving this wild, charismatic city, filled my senses. The photos on my memory card are evidence of this mystery of a place. The true story of chaos, wonder, and grandeur of the city of love remains a feeling, an experience, not an image. It remains a je ne sais quoi, an impression tinkering with your soul and edging you to return to the magnificence and spectacle that is Paris, Ile de France.
