Europe is two-faced. You watch films like Midnight in Paris, the Before trilogy, Paris, I Love You, Moulin Rouge, and so on. There are hundreds of romantic films set in Paris. So, you deeply believe that Paris is the one. It is the city where everyone is happy, finding love, and smilingly drinking coffee. Well, let me tell you before you get disappointed by seeing the city first-hand.
It is easy to fall in love with the Eiffel Tower just like millions of other people, including me, did. Life is easy when you are sipping your cappuccino while looking at the shining Eiffel. You believe everything will be alright while waiting for the lights to turn on with the people around you at Champ de Mars. Arc de Triomphe mesmerizes you.
A monument standing right in the middle of a crowded street. Artworks at the Louvre complete you. When you set foot in the room where the Mona Lisa awaits, you get that electrical touch in your veins. All these experiences are pretty hard to explain if you have never lived through them.
What is harder to explain is the two-facedness of Paris. It is at a whole different craziness level. The M7, M9, and M12 metros— they have been such a joy-killer. The M7 metro is used for
reaching pretty much any tourist place. My memory usually prevents me from remembering the metro lines but I can’t forget about these ones because of the scariest experiences. They need renovation. I don’t just throw that sentence out. All the passengers swing from one side to the other, and not like on cruise ships. The other unforgettably bad experience was seeing human excrement everywhere. Many people say this has happened after the riots, but from what I have experienced, get your hygiene tools ready when traveling to Paris.
Paris also has many immigrants. You get out of the metro station for Notre Dame, thinking mind-blowing architecture will welcome you, except you are welcomed by immigrants living all around. It is hard not to feel sorry. Though every country has immigrants, France definitely couldn’t arrange what was necessary. Wandering around, your eyes finally meet Notre Dame which is still in renovation after a fire set in 2019. It will be ready to open in 2024. Even though you are destined to see cranes working on the cathedral, the Gothic architecture takes your breath away. A two-faced experience.
I will never forget visiting Paris. I can’t ever get over the feeling of seeing the Eiffel lit up for the first time or Napolion’s coronation painting at the Louvre, nor the delicious croissants.
Still, there are other ill experiences that have happened. It is not all sunshine and rainbows, expect to see the other face too.