Why Paris?
 

After my first trip to Paris, I asked if it were possible to be "homesick" for somewhere you had only been to once. I've been back a couple of times since then and going again in a few weeks (although this time I'm going to venture out into France more and less time in Paris...but, still know I have to spend a few days in Paris.) I've been to quite a few places in Europe and in North America. But for me, it is always Paris.

Just so you know, Paris wasn't my dream trip before I went. Since then I've been on many of my dream trips, but they still aren't Paris.

I read many of the forums on this site, and it seems I'm not the only one. I can say it is the life-style for me, but what is it for you? Why Paris, again and again?

I don't know but I've always been drawn to Paris - since I was a little girl and it never disappoints. I'd love to live there someday.

I don't know if it's movies I saw when I was younger (Gigi, A Little Romance) that influenced what I thought Paris would be, or books I've read (Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles) or short stories (H. P. Lovecraft's The Music of Erich Zann) but I know I have all these differing images of Paris that culminate in my impression of Paris as being the master city for art, architecture, history, and literature.

Other cities that I know of have these same qualities: Dublin, Barcelona, Florence. I'm dying to visit them, I know I'll love them but I just don't think they'll touch me in quite the same way.

Personally, I like to think of Paris as Disneyland for adults! :D

I've been to Paris 4 times before, all between 1999-2001. Paris was my first European destination after my only other European trips, which were to Ireland. Paris lived up to all my ideals that I developed as I grew up. It was grand and over the top in many ways and every time I turned around I was found breathless but something I saw, smelled, tasted or heard. It was just a wonderfully overwhelming experience. It has so much to offer in such a small space...the museums and parks and monuments and art and architecture, food, music, churches, etc. etc. Sure, even my hometown of Boston has all that, but just not LIKE that.

I am about to go again, but now have visited several other countries and big cities, many of which I've fallen in love with. I'm curious to see how Paris holds up in comparison now. I tend to think she will not disappoint!

It's funny but I feel at home in Paris unlike anywhere else except my real home (Washington, DC). It is where I feel most relaxed and yet excited; where the food tastes best; where the streets look most familiar and where I want to go everytime I have the chance. It has become so familiar, so welcoming and so comfortable. It is the one city in the world where I never run out of wonderful things to do and see. And, along with Florence, Paris is the city I can return to again and again and never fail to be excited.

Disneyland for adults is precisely the reaction I've had.

The French invested a lot of money into Paris. Wouldn't surprise me if the federal govt. spent as much on Paris as they did on the rest of the country when it came to building, restoring and maintaining the "Patrimonie." Especially during the Mitterand years, when he wanted to leave a legacy as a Great Builder.

Paris is more relaxed than Rome (admittedly, I've been to Paris many more times) and is better equipped to handle the hordes of tourists.

In the summer, the moderate weather (compared to Spain and Italy) and the long days (sunset at 10 PM) make the place irresistable.

I worked and lived in Paris many years ago and have returned several times. No matter where I go in Europe I have to spend at least a few days in Paris on the way home.

Why Paris again and again? It never disappoints. It's familiar and comfortable yet ... there's always something to discover.

Mamc said it better than I could--same feeling. Have been often and my parents lived there before I was born so I have heard about it all my life.

I agree...not someplace I was originally enthralled w/going. Now I go every chance I get, forgoing new destinations just to go back.

I will just echo Luisah-
Paris never disappoints, it is familiar yet there is always something new to discover and it has a beauty that other places just don't have..Of course, they have their own, but Paris is just unique.
I never wanted to go to Paris, years ago, I believed the hype about rudeness etc. We were in London for my birthday and my husband said, lets take the train to Paris..so we spent 2 days there and it was love at first sight for me.
We went back 5 months later for 2 weeks and it has been a love affair ever since.
I still try to figure out how to move there and live :D

"I had never looked at a street as Henty does; every shop, every object in the shop, every café every hidden-away antique shop, every news vendor, every lottery-ticket vendor, every blind man, every begger, every clock, every church, every whore house, every wine shop, every shop where they sell erotica and transparent underwear, the circus, the night-club singer, the strip
tease, the girlie shows, the penny movies in the arcade, the bal musettes, the apache quarters the flea market, the gypsy cart, the markets in early morning."
Diary of Anais Nin
1932

Isn't it interesting that so many of we Paris lovers were originally not enthralled with the idea of a Paris visit? I planned my first trip in 1999 as it was always my husband's dream trip and it was his 50th that year. He, of course, loved it. What was unexpected was how much I would love the place. I too have visited other European cities but always travel through CDG in order to spend time in Paris. Persoanlly, I'm a city lover and am just plain bored with landscapes and countrysides. Maybe because I'm a New Yorker and love the tempo. I always feel more alive in Paris!

We were in Paris the first time in 1971 and have been back 13 times, and are trying to get there this spring
It's hard to put into words but it feels
like home with a bit more excitement.

:-B

Paris for me was like meeting a stranger that you found interesting and amusing...........then meeting the stranger a second time and seeing them in a different light, a different feel.
Then on the next meeting feeling sad to be saying goodbye........... then the next time realizing you have fallen in love and your heart is theirs forever.

Paris is more than a "Disneyland." It's Disneyland, New York and Washington all rolled up into one - lovingly restored and recreated with no fretting about the cost; the economic center and political ground zero of a great, grand old country - liberally doused with Gallic flavor.

I have had an inexplicable draw toward France since I was a young child. The French language seemed wonderful and I was eager to learn it. French music, art and literature seemed like the foundations of culture to me. All those things are still true.

I haven't lived in a city for many years, although I started out in one, and now I love spending leisure time in a city going to theater, concerts, museums, restaurants.

Paris combines these two desires and is easy to reach from Boston, making it a winter destination more appealing to me at this time in my life, and not as expensive as, Florida and the Carribbean.

And, most important, every time I have been there, I have felt stimulated, excited, and really really happy.

I can't put it as well as many of you have, but for me it is the life-style. The cliche "joie de vivre."

Prior to my first trip, I looked at Paris as a cliche. Afterall, it is in many ways; but there is nothing like seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time, sitting with a glass of wine at a sidewalk cafe, watching the children sail their boats at the Tuilleries.

Maybe we fall in love with Paris precisely because it is so comfortable as to become a cliche. It is predictable. As you so aptly said, "it never disappoints." It feels like home.

"...every time I have been there, I have felt stimulated, excited and really, really happy."

Well said, Nikki. I'm sure we will eventually be flamed for this thread, but count me among those who never tire of Paris. Perhaps I would have been to more places if I hadn't gone to Paris 17 times in the past decade, but I don't regret it at all. I go to other places and I visit them; many are enjoyable. But I go to Paris to live it for awhile again and I feel at home. :)

Why any particular place? For me it's Venice.

We all carry the baggage of our lives with us everywhere we go. In that baggage reside hopes, dreams, expectations, experiences good and bad, knowledge, prejudices, paradigms, memories, traumas, snippets of movies, books, articles, television shows, etc.

All of this colors every subsequent experience we have--including places we visit. Add onto that actual first impressions, early experiences in a new place or different situations, special things that happen to us there, that don't happen to someone else--mix it all up and we love a place, hate it, or somewhere in between.

I like Paris--had good experiences there. But it's not "the" special spot for me. But it might have been.

I think of cities like people... it is hard to put into words why you fall in love with who (or where) you do.

<<it feels like home with a bit more excitement.>>

YES!