Paris
G.K Chesterson said: “London is an enigma. Paris is the explanation ”.
And indeed my last trip to Paris, I must admit, was very enlightening. I state that it was not the first time that I stayed in the French capital; to tell the truth, I can’t even count the times I’ve been there anymore. But this time it was different. First of all because, unlike at other times, going to Paris was almost a necessity. In fact, I didn’t go there with the specific aim of visiting something, also because, as mentioned, I practically visited it all. This time the only real goal was to be there. Yes, because, first revelation, what I understood about Paris is that this city is like a beautiful woman who, unlike all the others, does not age with time, and while on the others the years add wrinkles, in Paris they add charm. . A beautiful woman always ready to welcome you, seducing you with her sensuality. She cannot be resisted and there is no man (but in this case we can say that there is not even a woman) who is able to resist her charm. If you hear someone saying they have been to Paris and have not appreciated it, well, beware of what they say, there is no need to believe it.
Revelations
Paris bewitches everyone who visits it from the moment in which, by taxi, you leave the airport towards the center, and you begin to see its typical buildings all the same, all light with dark gray sloping roofs. There comes the second revelation: Paris did not become Paris by chance. Just think: on an area as large as the whole of Milan, the Parisians have managed to build buildings that are all identical to each other, or very similar, in terms of construction and color. Thus was born that urban homogeneity that I believe is unique in the world. And be careful because the urban uniformity of Paris does not lead to the final result of monotony but of elegance. Illuminating.
The third revelation I had in my (umpteenth) stay in Paris is that you have to come here with the right person. If you think you can fully and alone appreciate the walks along the Seine or the lights that illuminate the Eiffel Tower in the evening, you are out of the way; you may perhaps appreciate the landscape but you would not be captured by it. The same applies if you visit Paris with a group of friends: it will be fun but not engaging. Paris deserves to be visited with someone special by your side. Not necessarily that of life, but that which in that moment is your life. In fact, from this triangle (you, she / him and Paris), that magic is released, as if it were an enchanted talisman, that makes your stay in the French capital unforgettable, that magic that, once you return home, will make you talk about Paris with dreamy air. “Ah Paris …”.
More
Then there is the last thing, the fourth revelation, that I realized during this early June holiday in Paris and that is that when you are in this city everyone should take the time, whether it is a whole day or a single evening, to put aside guides. tourist, guided tours and bizarre programs, to simply get carried away by the city, as if we were a paper boat let go on the Seine. It is an experience that I recommend to everyone and that I, given the torrid weather of this early summer 2022, I thought of relegating to an after dinner. How to do? It’s very simple. Go to the city center, a good starting point could be the long walk of the Champs Elysees and let yourself be carried away without planning. A little bit you will follow the crowd, a little bit it will be your unconscious inner curiosity to lead you, perhaps to the symbolic places of the city, or rather to some bar in a back alley. Don’t think about it too much and leave it to Paris (and here the comparison with the beautiful woman mentioned above returns).
In this way, maybe you will find yourself at the first light of dawn tired but satisfied, or drunk from a few glasses of wine too drunk, but not drunk. But above all, you will be full and you will feel that feeling that I felt this time, of having really lived this city to the full. A city that, to be understood, cannot be imagined as a sequence of places to see, but to “live”. The secret is all there, if you visit Montmartre but don’t try to experience the bohemian style that still strongly characterizes this artistic district, then you won’t have fully understood it, perhaps you have only seen it and taken some photos with a view of the panorama below. If looking at places like the Eiffel Tower itself, or the Louvre, or Place de la Concorde, you fail to perceive the ultimate meaning of “French grandeur”, that is the attempt to give eternity to a country proud of its origins, then you risk mistaking the national feeling typical of the French for megalomania.
Final
Jules Renard used to say: “Add two letters to Paris, and it’s the paradis”. Now, I don’t even know we can approach Paris to the idea of paradise, whatever it may be (I am the first to tell you, and I don’t have a precise one). But I can assure you one thing, and perhaps this is fifth revelation. If God exists and he wanted to treat himself to a weekend away from the messes of the world, well, he would most likely give himself a weekend here in Paris in some hotel room with a view of the city. I can already see him looking in amazement at the view outside the window with a glass of champagne in his hand and, confused, wondering if so much beauty can really be the work of man or is it his work.
