#13: Paris

Scene
The City of Lights. The epitome of fashion and high class sophisticated European life. After several days relaxing in suburbia of Angers, Paris kind of smacked me in the face. Bam! There were people literally everywhere, but most were doing absolutely nothing. Well, that's wrong. They sat outside a cafe, drank coffee or wine or beer, and smoked and smoked and smoked. It was truly a stark contrast from my preconception of the lofty Parisian life. I guess doing nothing is tres chic.

Despite my not liking the Parisian way of doing nothing, the happiest thing I did out and about in the city was sitting on a lawn chair in Jardin du Luxembourg in front of the Palais du Luxembourg and taking a 2 hour snooze and people watching. I felt like a lazy lump of unproductiveness, but I deserved that for myself.


Like London, Paris was huge...mainly because I arrogantly decided that my feet were better than public transportation.  Within a day or 2, I realized that I was completely out of shape to put my money where my mouth was. Because of my stubborn decision to walk everywhere, I admit that I didn't see all of Paris. But, you can't really. I wish I had seen the Catacombs, but why wasn't it open on a Monday?! I guess that's the French way of being tres chic in doing nothing.

Again, like Angers, the best part of staying in Paris was catching with a friend's family that I consider pretty much family to me. I haven't seen them in over half a year. They were like my 3rd family. And, they're just plain awesome with the bestest dog ever. I'm not a dog person at all, but I would jump immediately at the opportunity to have that dog.

I also visited another cousin who lives on the outskirt suburbs of Paris. Like the other cousin, I haven't seen her in years. (I have a lot, a lot of cousins). We just spent the entire day talking about life, family, and catching up. I really enjoy kicking back and slowing things down outside of school and work. To shoot the breeze and get to know my cousin like that for a whole day was fawesome.

All in all, Paris was just too...lofty(?) for me. Just wasn't my crowd. Parisian folks were just too Parisian and too...easy going, not doing much. Too tres chic with fancy shmancy fashion and tight jeans and sports coats that fit. In my eyes, the city just seemed to uppity and full of itself. And basically every big thing in Paris was a tourist attraction. Hordes of Americans, Italians, and Japanese everyfreakingwhere. As a solo traveler, it was oftentimes frustrating to navigate through swarms after swarms of upward gazers with protruding fannypacks, dangling Nikon cameras from their necks, and ingenious ideas of taking photos at the end or beginning of crosswalks. I get a lot of that when I go through NYC, but there are plenty of locals to outnumber the tourists. Paris was just too much.

Amsterdam next! Hookers and blow!

Question
Which city don't you like so much? Why?