Paris

september 01, 2015

Paris

“You can’t escape the past in Paris, and yet what’s so wonderful about it is that the past and present intermingle so intangibly that it doesn’t seem to burden.”

- Allen Ginsberg

During the end of August my mom decided to take me to Paris as a mother-daughter sort of trip. Paris is bold, but in a soft way. It's big, and it has a sort of feel to it that feels a little like waking up to eggs and a warm cup of coffee and eating with someone you love on a Sunday morning. Paris is like they say; romance. You witness a lot of couples, kissing on the street and street musicians making the whole scenario even more electric. Paris is like a candle with a sweet sent. It's not too overwhelming, like the sort of feeling you can get waking the streets on Manhattan in New York, but more like the city is confident. Relaxed. People take their time to sit back, even if it was just for a smoke or to taste their food properly. It was nice to see people taking time enjoy the little things.

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If you ask me how I felt coming to Paris, I will look at you with a hidden smile and say: "It felt a little like coming home." Don't ask me why, but it felt like I fit in. I felt relaxed, and I was in no hurry. It felt like I'd been there a dusin of times before. I can't remember traveling to anywhere else and getting this feeling, but it felt nice. Like I have a home somewhere I've no memory of ever being.

A lonely chair on the street

Lovely Paris

Two Parisians talking over coffee

This couple looked like they were so in love, it was adorable.

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I'm seriously considering learning french. I think it's something I need to do for myself sooner or later. Then maybe I can live in a little apartment and get the feeling of the city under my skin for real.

It was a taxi drive we took while being there, where the taxi driver seemed like a very nice person. But what he said stayed with me, and I've been thinking about it lots of times before that as well. I think my mom said something like: "Paris is so beautiful!" And he said: "Yes, well, I've lived here my whole life, so for me it's just usual. It's every day."
We get used to beauty. We settle. And we forget to observe and explore. It's just the same. But it's always something you haven't seen. And the same goes when I listen to music. If I like a song and listen to it a lot, I always discover something in the song I heven't heard before. Often it's sudden, but it's as much fun every time.

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