Paris - au revoir

We left Paris today. Fourteen days of wandering about the nicest city I've ever been in. Not that I've been in a lot and I might not have a very wide view of things, but - there's one thing I'm very pleased about, and that's that we visited Rome before Paris and not after - as was originally planned.

I was happy to leave Rome. I'm sure there are people who love that city, but I'm not a real fan. Whereas I could've stayed in Paris for another two weeks, or two months, or maybe even two years. Having said that, the actual leaving bit was quite surreal. We left from Gare De Nord, one of the seven major train stations in Paris. When you arrive at the station, it's as imposing and impressive as any of the others, and as you approach there's an expectation that you'll find the inside to be bright and beautiful, with lots of nice shops and cafés... 

But when you get inside you actually feel disconnected from Paris 'cause it's just a lot of plain concrete floors and walls, bollards everywhere, a few very ordinary shops and cafés, lots of beggars and a few young men, that haven't needed to learn how to shave yet, wandering about with automatic rifles at the ready...

See the woman sitting on the Crash Barrier in the background? This is 'cause there's nowhere to sit for the hundreds of people we saw waiting to catch trains.

Anyway, that's enough negativity. It was only a couple of hours and I was probably in the wrong frame of mind as I didn't really want to leave. 

So what was the thing we most enjoyed in Paris? 

It's difficult to explain, but, here goes...

It's not a place; it's not a "thing", it's not the people. It's all these things and more. It's being able to be totally immersed in the culture and atmosphere of the city. When we were in Italy, there were places and people that made us welcome, and there were a lot of enjoyable experiences, but we always felt like tourists and a little apart from the real Italy. In Paris, this wasn't the case. We could walk down the street to the Metro and catch a train, just like everyone else. We could walk into a shop or a cafe and be treated just like everyone else. We could go to the market and buy our fruit and veges, just like everyone else. Or we could go and be a tourist, just like everyone else. Yep - there were a lot of French tourists about, and there was no discernible difference in the way they were treated compared to us. 

So this was a big part of what we enjoyed about Paris, but it was more than that. Parisians, as a group, seem to have a sense of self worth that they display unconsciously in their general attitude and conciously in their dress and in the way they interact with each other. When you become aware of this you tend to want to emulate them. But, at the same time, as individuals they are self-deprecating, and very quick to laugh at themselves, or at you, if you're being a dick! 

The actual things we saw... mindboggling!! How to describe them?... Difficult!

Highlights...

The walking tour of the Latin Quarter.

The Lilly Pond at Monet's Garden.

The Marais District...

Montmarte...

The Bastille...

And... The rest of Paris!

I know I haven't done this city justice with these words! but they're the only ones I have, so they'll have to suffice. If I had the wherewithal to sit and write for days on end I might be able to do better, but... 

We've now moved on to a new experience called Amsterdam, and just in the last day and a bit, this city has imposed itself on me in lots of different and impressive ways and given me another task to complete, so, for now... Au revoir Paree!