Why do you love Paris?
 

This is something I've been thinking about.. Why do I love Paris? After 7 trips to Paris you would think that I have had my fill and would like to move on to other places. But even though we are headed to the beach for our winter vacation, I still can't stop thinking about Paris.

What is it? The people, the food, the wonderful sights, walking along the Seine, the shopping? I couldn't pinpoint it, but MDH did. It's the feeling that I have when I am there----complete contentment and a feeling that I've come home.

Why do you love Paris?

Same as above! And I just booked our 26th trip for October!!

I wrote this in answer to the same question a few years ago:

I don't love Paris because it is beautiful. Is it beautiful? I love the funkiness of the apartments I have briefly inhabited there, the winding creaky staircases and the tiny elevators in the stairwells. I love that there is much more to see than I will ever see. Many more concerts than I can ever attend. Much more theater than I could hope to understand. All in French. The snippets of conversations that I hear and overhear and puzzle together into something comprehensible that may or may not resemble the actual meaning.

I love the music that leaks out of the nightclubs, the opera singers rehearsing in an apartment somewhere nearby, the piano being practiced somewhere else.

I don't love it because it is stylish. I love the cheese guy who throws in a camembert when I haven't ordered it. The old woman at the Porte de Vanves flea market who, when I return and she lowers the price of the old copper pot and I thank her says, "Non, c'est moi qui vous remercie." The several women who have commented on how they could tell immediately that my daughter and I were mother and daughter although the comparison is extremely flattering to me and not so much to her.

I love the people who compliment me on my deeply flawed French. I love the people who say hello to everyone in the wine bar when they enter and good-bye to us all when they leave. The restaurateur who invites my husband into a cafe for a coffee when he runs into him the morning after we dine in his restaurant.

I love the memory of my trip to Paris when I was a college student and I shared the cheapest hotel room in Paris with two friends and there was laundry hanging in the alley outside our room.

I don't love Paris because of the food. Oh wait, I'm lying.

I don't love Paris because of its history. I love it because of my own.

Bravo Nikki----fantastic description.
=D>

Nikki...bravo! I wish I could express it as well as you

Hard to beat that Nikki! :-) We are going in April....again....that about says it all.

I think this thread should stop after Nikki's comments. I will just say Moi aussi!

Moi aussi :-).

Moi aussi!!

Oui, Moi aussi

on the flip side...
what does Paris love about me?

my willingness to embarrass myself with trying to speak French.
my willingness to gain weight in order to try all the pastries.
my willingness to get blisters in order to see as much of her as I can.

Been there and done all that!

I love Paris in the spring time
I love Paris in the fall
I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles
I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles


I love Paris every moment
Every moment of the year
I love Paris, why oh why do I love Paris
Because my love is here


She's there, she's everywhere but she's really here...

I wouldn't say that I love Paris although I've been 1-2 times a year, almost annually since the mid 1970s, but I like it because it's an easy vacation as far as getting around in the city and it's architecturally very pleasing. I'm a very visual person.

Also I'm totally into fashion, and it's a great city for that. However, I'm probably more into Italian fashion, but haven't found it as easy to move around in the Italian cities that I've been to. Plus, in Paris no one really bothers me, as I usually travel alone. I can just roam around and be left alone in my thoughts. So, that's probably why I have gone back so much.

If I only took one overseas vacation a year instead of the two or three that I take, then I probably wouldn't be in Paris so much. But, by being able to take more than one overseas vacation a year, most of the time, I can have my cake and eat it to, so to speak. My two overseas stables are Bangkok and Paris. Hopefully I can move part-time to Bangkok within the next 7 years and not have to fly back and forth so much from L.A. Happy Travels!

One thing that struck me about Paris is that while many cities have one or a few areas that are very charming and pedestrian-friendly, central Paris is absolutely filled with them, each with its own character. And then you throw in a centrally-located navigable river, easily crossed by a series of lovely and varied bridges, and voila!

I Just had another thought about the random acts of kindness that we have experienced in Paris.

Entering a neighborhood store with things from a bakery and fresh juice from another shop and having the clerk give us a bag to hold all even though we we only buying a small item from his shop.

And a desk clerk offering us euros from her purse for a cab to be returned the next day because the ATM wasn't working----try that in Chicago, never happen.

Unfortunately, the Parisians have a reputation of being cold and rude and it's just the oposite. They are some of the warmest people we have ever met on our travels.

One of the things I love is the terrific amount of art exhibitions. Not the permanent collections of museums, but the huge array of temporary shows that are sometimes just so great I can't believe it. Feasts for my eyes. I go back again and again for the art.

I too consider Paris and easy vacation; easy to plan, easy to get around, easy to find myriad wonderful things to do.

To love Paris is to love life.
bravo,Nikki.

I love the art, cheese, wine, and the bread among other things.

Topping.

I love Paris because of how completely content I feel when I am there. I am taking trips 4 and 5 this year (5 days with my daughter in May and 17 days with hubby and friends in September) and I know that ever after 38 days spent over 3 trips, I have barely begun to scratch the surface. I love being able to walk everywhere and know that even when we get lost, we will be rewarded by beautiful scenery, a new cafe or bistro discovery, friendly Parisians who will be happy to point us in the right direction and a happiness for just being here, wherever we are at that moment, because it's always seems to be the right place to be.

We love the walks by the Seine, the little parks discovered by happenstance, the blooming gardens of late May, the markets where we can walk for hours happily looking at the unbelievable selection of fruit, veggies, meats, pastries, bread, cheese, spreads, etc, etc, the great house wine in almost every bistro, cafe and restaurant we try, the new foods that I wouldn't dare try anywhere else, but that seem to call my name when we are there, the apartments we have rented that let us pretend we live in Paris for a short while, having a glass of wine with the most wonderful cheese and bread in the late afternoon after a full day of walking, the Eiffel Tower twinkling for us every night (never fails to draw a huge inward sigh and a tear), the museums that share their precious treasures with us, walking back to our apartment with Paris all lit up around us after a wonderful meal, the many different arrondissements, each with their own treasures and character, Luxembourg and the peaceful Medici fountain where we can rest our render tootsies and enjoy peace and quiet in the middle of a bustling city, the unbelievable churches, the architecture, the small and winding roads, the grand boulevards, and the kindness of the people who live here and put up with millions of tourists every year, graciously sharing their city with all of us who can only dream of living here.

I love Paris because she loves me back unconditionally. She is like a beautiful woman, showing us just a little more of herself with each visit and giving us a deeper understanding of what she has to offer with each extra day spent admiring her.

I love Paris..............Jo

Great post ParisJo. As I read your last paragraph it made me think of MDH's quote---"Paris is like a Faberge egg. The first time all you see is the beautiful outside. As you return, you discover the jeweled interior."

I love that each time I go, and I have been about 15-20 times, I discover something new to love.

oh wow ... this is totally a pick-me-up right now! (i'm stuck in a small town on business and kinda going stir crazy in my hotel room).

thanks for the posts everyone ... DH and i went back to paris this past october to try and 'get it out of my system'. the obsession was curbed (only somewhat) but the yearning still exists.

so, moi aussi.

When I was five or six, my aunt was in high school French and sang the praises of Paris to me and anyone who would listen night and day. Somehow, even so young, I was completely enthralled. I took three years of French language and customs in high school and saved my money for a trip. Unfortunately, the economy went into a tailspin, dad got laid off, and I had to use the money to help out my family. Maybe the long wait has something to do with it, it was another 16 years before I got to go. One night, just for grins and giggles, I put DFW to CDG into AA.com and got back a rate of only $275 if I flew out before the end of February. I got permission for my daughter, then 11, to miss school and fly with me. The oddest bit, a friend tried to book the same fare the next day and couldn't get it. I must have confirmed that flight every way possible - phone, email, website - about a thousand times!

Finally, we got on the plane. When we got off it was a gray drizzly day in Paris, an improvement after having snowed every day the previous week. By the time we'd checked into our hotel and used the metro to travel to the Eiffel Tower, it was raining big, fat drops and turning darker, almost like night though it was pretty early. There was no one waiting for tickets, but we had to wait for a car to pick up the small crowd gathered to go up. As we hit the halfway point, the whole car let out a collective "oooooh" as big, fat, lazy snowflakes fluttered in the light breeze. As we stepped out at the top, everyone gasped as the lamps and lights came on, illuminating those fat, fluffy flakes so that they looked like snow faerie's dancing in the lights. As we peered out over the city, more and more lights were winking on, reflecting in the puddles, making the perfect twinkling background for our plump snow faeries.

The rest of our trip it was dry and sunny. Most days were warm enough we only needed a sweater very early in the day or after dark. I had taken a refresher and found my French was good enough we managed everywhere we went quite well, and everyone was just so nice to us. I honestly can't say I have been treated consistently as well in Dallas as we were in Paris. Now I am looking forward to visiting with the man of my dreams and I can't wait. Even back on my first trip, I could just feel the romance of a boat trip on the river or sitting on the benches and in the grass in the parks.