Was waiting for this moment for so long. Finally to have inspiration to write again. And here we go, another travel blog.

But before that, I want to give a kind of a prehistory of my attitude towards Paris. I never liked it. When in school, all the girls had notebooks, bags, tops with Paris, Eiffel tower etc. The favorite city to visit was almost always Paris. I never understood what is so special about it, why it is the city of love and bla bla bla. And I never wanted and even thought about going to Paris. But then suddenly I realized that my opinion was wrong, because I was judging sth without getting acquainted with it, without seeing or feeling it. I wanted to see it just to solve the mystery that came from childhood, why is it “the best city”. And the occasion came round, we went to Paris. And now I can say, I love it, I really do. Still I won’t say that it’s the best city, it’s a typical European city, with beautiful buildings, great architecture, nice atmosphere. It has some romantic vibes, but for me it wasn’t the feeling of love, but the feeling of oldness, the vintage, the imagination of old times, described in so many great novels. I was right there, in the present, but I was seeing and feeling the past. I adored the old town part of the city, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, especially after reading Hugo, I literally was imagining everything that happened in the book, happening there. The small bridges, the river, old cafes, bookshops, everything. The same with Louvre but this time thinking about “Da Vinci Code” and Grail, whether it’s there, under the pyramid or not. Yes, I know that it’s a fiction, but still, I’m a weirdo, believing every great thing I read. But let’s go back to Paris. You can say for sure that it’s a royal city. Almost every second building, museums, cathedrals, churches were so magnificent. People in the past had great taste, not like now, the same square buildings everywhere. 2 things that made me love Paris even more were the weather and the absence of crowds. The weather was cloudy and rainy, and yes it is inconvenient to walk with umbrellas, and it’s cold but whatever. When I imagine the past, I think about cloudy gloomy weather, just like the ancient times, like the gothic architecture, they’re all so connected with each other. And that’s what I enjoyed. The movie I had in my head all the way through Paris was perfect, with its little but beautiful nuances. Now about crowds. If you know me, you’ll know, that I’m not the big lover of people and society (no offense), and I hate crowded places. When there are lots of people in one place, it makes me feel uncomfortable and kinda anxious. But also people don’t let me feel the place, get the vibes, feel the energy and just enjoy it. So it was an amazing advantage for me.

Now moving on to a little controversial part of my story. The Eiffel Tower. I didn’t like it. Maybe because it was the only place with lots of people. But no, I just didn’t like it. Yeah it’s nice, especially at night, but it’s still a metallic something standing there like “hey”. For me personally it isn’t the symbol of the city. The meaning of the city for me is its antiquity and history, the small roads, streets, houses, little cathedrals, bridges and everything else. But not the Eiffel. Sorry, Eiffel. The next thing. Arch of Triumph. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t like woow, that’s a masterpiece. Just an arch. Like the one in Italy, or Portugal or other places. As we were talking about it, it’s just an arch with a great PR agent, thanks to Remarque.

From this trip, the two things that I can advise you are: never judge something or someone without trying/seeing/getting acquainted with it or them. And the second one. When visiting Paris, don’t only go to it “must see” places. Walk around the streets, go here and there, find cute vintage cafes and shops, find little statues or cathedrals. Only then you can really feel the city. And eat croissants and macarons. I just couldn’t not mention food, could I?

P.s. Yep, God is making fun of me. I was just downloading all the photos here at the same time, and the first one it downloads is the one with Eiffel tower, and I’m like, great irony! 😂