Geneva Semester: Spring 2011: Paris

I did not want to like Paris. I think that a lot of Americans (certainly myself included), have the idea of Paris as a beautiful city filled with people that want absolutely nothing to do with people who are not French. We also see the French as being very snooty and having a "more righteous than thou" attitude, and consistantly claiming the moral high-ground over the US. "Oh look at you stupid Americans! You spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on your military and your people do not even all have their basic 'needs' provided for them." Fact of the matter is, though, I think these views may be a little extreme. Imagine you work in a newspaper stand in Washington DC, and some person comes up to you and immediately starts speaking in French, and expects you to understand and respond in French, and gets snippy if you do not. Americans traveling around the world often expect people to accomodate our language, because after-all, they are all required to learn it in school. But as visitors, it is our responsibility to at least make an effort. I sound like a 5 year old with a speech impediment when I try to speak French. I'm really dreadful. Adrianne, who I was traveling with is actually pretty good. But even when I tried to order something in French, the very fact that I made the effort elicited a smile and usually some form of English from the person I was talking to. They just want the effort. Parisians are definitely city people, and the French often remind you that there are French people and there are Parisians -- they are not the same. And while they are guilty of the same fast-paced, less personable demeanor as big city dwellers in the States, I think I would live in a city filled with Parisians than a city filled with New Yorkers any day.

Paris surprised me. Walking through its wide avenues and historical areas seemed very oddly familiar. It wasn't until Adrianne mentioned the Mall in Washington DC that it clicked. Pierre L'Enfant, who was the man hired by George Washington in 1791 to design the new nation's capital, was a Frenchman, and his designs came right from Paris. The gravel walkways with grass between them are nearly identical to those in the Smithsonian. Even the bridge that leads across the Seine River from the Grand Palais to Les Invalides looks remarkably like the Memorial Bridge, leading from Virginia to DC between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetary (where L'Enfant is buried). As a final comparison, the Metro systems are nearly identical as well. Adrianne and I being DC pros, had no problem negotiating our way around the very efficient subway system in Paris.

Otherwise, Paris was a totally new experience. Wonderful old architecture, that has been taken care of very well. Of the major cities I have seen, Berlin was fantastically clean and well maintained, but that was because everything was rebuilt 60 years ago, and Florence was beautiful and old, but everything was falling apart and in need of some TLC. The French take immense pride in their old buildings, and it shows. The Eiffel Tower is about twice as big as I thought it would be. I was picturing Washington Monument size, and it is actually about two times bigger (or so). Notre Dame Cathedral was very beautiful, but very very crowded, and it is unfortunate, but there are a lot of buildings surrounding it so there are very few vantage points other than right next to it that you can really get good pictures. Still, a remarkable building. One of the most impressive buildings that I have seen was Les Invalides, which is a former Hospital and Armory in the heart of Paris. It has a chapel (which is the dome that you see in the pictures) called St. Louis des Invalides in which many of France's war heros are interred, including Napoleon Bonaparte. Much of the rest of the building serves as museums, including the Musee de l'Armee which has one of the best World War exhibits that I have ever seen. We also saw the Arc de Triomphe while there which was very impressive, but not quite as impressive as the traffic circle that surrounds it. No lane markers, enough room for cars to go 6-wide, and it is a total melee.

Paris was wonderful. I am not much of a city fan but as far as they go, Paris was fantastic. There is so much to explore, so much history, and so much beauty, that I really can understand why they call it the city of love. I would love to go back for another few days sometime, but with this trip I was ready to leave when we did, because our next stop was Normandy. . .