Ce n'est qu'un au revoir...
Our two weeks in Paris are over, and once again, it was really hard to say goodbye to the city I grew up in.
I love Paris, and really enjoyed it this time around. Our trip was memorable for many reasons: spending time with my parents in their new home, seeing old friends, setting foot on familiar ground, and gorging daily on pain au chocolat and baguettes.
An additional reason would have to be the length of our stay. In contrast to my last few visits where I was only able to stay for one week, or say 4-5 days, I was there for 2 whole weeks and it really made a difference.
Traveling to Europe from the US is definitely more tiring than the other way round. It often takes 2 to 3 days to acclimate yourself to the time difference alone. So if you're scheduling a vacation in Europe, don't shortchange yourself. Do it right. With two weeks in my pocket, I was really able to take it all in.
A couple of observations:
# 1: Paris is (even more) beautiful. When you grow up in a fabled city like Paris, you tend to overlook its beauty. Even the little things, like how the names of the architect's are usually etched on the front of buildings, or how the street signs have one or two lines explaining what or who the street is named after. This time around, it felt like Paris emanated even more elegance, its streets and avenues being more picturesque. A diamond to the mayor, Bertrand Delanoë, who decided to make the capital a little more green by delineating more travel lanes for cyclists and pedestrians. Coal to French drivers, who still drive like psychopaths.
# 2: Paris is (even more) expensive. Coming from the US, I felt like I was slumming in the Euro zone this time around. Being unemployed definitely put that extra hurt in the equation but still... it's gotten mad expensive. I remember the days when the Euro felt like play money: all those delightful bills of different sizes and colours... those coins revendicating their national origins on one side, while flexing the European motif on the other... and that highly favourable exchange rate. This time around, I simply yearned for the days when the currency was on parity with the dollar. We got killed out there: 2 coffees? 7 euros ($9!). 4 drinks? 48 euros ($65!). At least when you pay double digits for a drink in the US you get some alcohol. In Paris, we got some watered down ish while the people next to us constantly blew cigarette smoke in our face (thankfully that will all change come February when the smoking ban takes effect... hopefully, they'll ban crappy drinks too!).
# 3: Paris is full of (even more) loaded people. For every Smart Car I saw on the street, there was a Bentley Continental GT or an Aston Martin. I kid you not. One night, we went out to dinner at Le Bistro du 7eme and parked underground in a public garage. On our way back to our car, we must have pressed the B for b@ller button on the elevator because we were let out on this ridiculous level that looked like an airstrip. There, we saw 4 Astons, a Carrera GT, 2 Scagliettis, 2 Maranellos, and a colorful assortment of Modenas. And that was only on the left hand side of the elevator exit... I felt like I was in my virtual garage in Project Gotham 2 (old school xbox... I know) except that this time, everything was in ultra-high-definition salivation-inducing reality. To the uninitiated, the cars listed above roughly totaled a gazillion dollars, or 1,937,000 Kudos points in video game parlance. Needless to say, I pissed myself out of excitement... just a little bit, like Fergie.
#4: Paris is (even more) historic. No revelations or epiphanies here, but one night, we were all invited for drinks by an acquaintance who lives in Voltaire's old house along the river. I shit you not. To think that we were in the actual salon where Voltaire (no relation to Voltron), Thomas Jefferson, and other luminaries stood–including now my father with his glass of scotch in hand–was truly inspiring.
Notwithstanding these casual observations, it also felt overall like there was a different air about Paris and France this time. Perhaps because our visit came right on the heels of a historic presidential election, it felt like change was coming and imminent.
If, under Sarkozy, France starts rewarding hard work and entrepreneurs like the US does, I wouldn't mind returning there post-MBA. Hopefully it won't entail working at Starbucks, but I'll take what I can get.
