Paris. Mon amour
“Paris is great for two, walking hand in hand, popping into a bar for an aperitif, to continue with dinner and romantic walks”
I have witnessed Paris change. In the many years I’ve been traveling there to nurture my soul with French chic, I have seen the phenomenon of the marriage of two things – tradition and conservativeness meeting innovation and the modern and “worldly”. I'm talking about food now. Gone are the days when the only joy of coffee was Starbucks or smoke-filled cafes. Gone are the days of only baguette and baguette traditionelle. Gone are the days with fromagerie full of everything but without attention to anything. Paris had been changing inside, still keeping the outside untouched.
Paris is great for two, walking hand in hand, popping into a bar for an aperitif, to continue with dinner and romantic walks. Paris is celebrated for walking from one place to another, from a museum to the Champs-Élysées, riding up the Eiffel Tower, and spinning on the merry-go-round. And, believe it or not, Paris is great for one, when it is just you and her, Paris. As I was on my last trip. Me and my very intimate relationships with her, the city that I fell in love with again.
I walked her streets for five days, being reintroduced to the old and discovering the new. One day, I sat in Paul Bert Bistro, a place I had wanted to visit for years when I realized I had been granted with much more than I could expect – the possibility to visit the city of chic, amour, romance, fashion, and passion. Visit it from tip to toe, from one arrondissement to another, from simple to sophisticated, from wet and sunny, from too hot to cold.
We tend to think we know places since we've already been there, when suddenly we don’t. I’ve walked 4 million steps in Paris from the 13th to the 18th and from the 11th to the 15th (arrondissements). I have walked half a million steps in Le Marais alone, and every time I do, I find something new – be it an alley, a secret garden, a newly opened ice cream shop, or a Michelin-starred restaurant. It is the magic of walking alone, as every single detail, place, hidden gem, or unseen statue grabs your eye. The thing with Paris is that even when you think you know it, you don't know it at all. It is a labyrinth of pleasures and beauty, temptation and sophistication. I walked past the garbage during the strikes not noticing the dirt because I saw Paris differently – as a person, I got to know more with every meeting. Next to being stubborn and tremendously beautiful, she has been cold and rainy, giving me a runny nose and new pair of warm boots (the first time). She has been dirty because of the garbage strikes. She has had hot days and closed local boulangeries, leaving us with wrinkled noses one August. She has been coffee-less and money-less a few times, but I have made my peace with her, the same as I do with close friends that don't call, forget about presents, or do something behind my back, but still we make our peace as that is what we do with someone we love.
