Paris
Why I like Paris
* * *
Like so many kids, I fell in love with Paris at an early age—long before I ever visited the city.
As a seven-year-old, I’d watch Madeleine on repeat, wondering what it would be like to live a similarly adventure-filled life in the most romantic city in the world. The Beauty and the Beast, while not set in Paris, planted in my mind the idea of a French castle filled with literature and great food and sentient candlesticks. A few years later, I’d sit down with Assassin’s Creed: Unity after school and play until it was dark out, exploring every back-alley in revolutionary-era Paris, climbing my way into busy cafés.
Buenos Aires, where I lived long before I ever went to France, gave me a taste of what I’d imagined Paris could be like. The architecture looked similar in places, and those grand cafés that take up the whole first floor of a building and look like the kind of place Jorge Luis Borges would write a novel—I spent a lot of time in those. But they weren’t exactly Paris.
So when we booked tickets to visit, I was a little bit nervous—would it be good? I’d read a lot of hate about the city (and the French people) online, discovered what ‘Paris Syndrome’ meant, and heard that it was overflowing with tourists, and that it was dirty.
I really liked Paris.
(Two caveats for this one: one that I visited in early November, which isn’t peak tourist season. I may have had a different impression if I’d visited during busy season. Another is that I recognize that a lot of the things I enjoyed doing in Paris might not be the kinds of things you’d do every day—this is not a ‘should you live in Paris’ review.)
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I spent about a week in Paris. Here is why I liked (and nearly loved) the city.
I. A Moveable Feast
You often hear about Japan that you can go to almost any restaurant and it will probably be good. I found a similar thing was true in Paris: while French cuisine isn’t my favorite (I find it a little bland), the quality and execution of the food across the board was excellent, even at the random spots we popped into without doing any prior research—especially at those spots.
The restaurants themselves had what some old travel guidebook might describe as “old-world charm”. Many of the places we visited were tastefully decorated, nostalgic in some strange way, and often small enough that you could just about bump elbows with the table next to you (which I liked, in some cases).
Good food is a main reason I visit places, and Paris had some excellent food. I do not think we ate a single bad, or even mediocre, meal during the week we were there—which is impressive.
II. The Remains of the Day
I’m convinced that there are few cities better to casually spend what remains of an afternoon or evening than Paris—there’s just so much to do (without really doing anything at all).
You can visit one of hundreds of beautiful cafés or small restaurants, settle down at a street-facing chair or a cozy window table, and alternate between reading and people watching. You can pop into somewhere like the Galeries Lafayette, the most beautiful department store I’ve been to in my entire life. You could grab a sandwich and eat it along the Seine, or cross to the Île de la Cité and duck into a small crepes shop. When it started pouring rain one evening, Maite and I found shelter in the nearest building that looked open, which ended up being the place they had held Marie Antoinette prisoner (it’s a gorgeous building). We spent the next few hours exploring the building.
I realize that, writing this, I sound like a generic starry-eyed American, on their first trip abroad to Paris, gushing to their friends about how much better everything is in France. But, honestly?
Some things actually are better in Paris.
III. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The activities I described above are all versions of things you can do in any city—but they felt special in Paris. And this is a real reason I liked Paris a lot: things simply felt more magical.
I’ve lived long-term on three continents and in more than twenty cities—and Paris had a certain magic to it that I haven’t exactly encountered in other places. This feeling comes, I think, from a couple of things.
One is the style, grandeur, and consistency of the architecture. Paris has a distinct identity and color palette, which means that no matter where you go (in the center-ish of the city) you feel like you are in one distinct place. Contrast this with somewhere like Barcelona, which felt like a bunch of different ideas that didn’t gel nicely.
The other magic ingredient is density. Not only is Paris dense with regard to population, it is dense with regard to the number of awe-inspiring things per square kilometer (to be extremely granular). In other cities you sometimes have to walk for long stretches between things you’re interested in seeing and doing—and even then, there might not be that many places you’d like to see. In Paris you don’t even have to have a plan, don’t even have to have a map: start in the middle and walk in any direction and you’ll find something spectacular.
Paris gave me a sense of awe, of hard-to-place nostaglia, that I’ve found in few other places on the planet. Part of it is that I was quite literally conditioned from an early age to like Paris: TV shows and video games planted the seeds. Part of it, though, is that Paris is simply a wonderful city.
Recap
• While I don’t love the cuisine, the quality of food and restaurants was top-notch. It was hard to find a bad place to eat.
• Paris is a great city for wandering (something I love to do). There are so many relaxing ways to pass an afternoon or evening in the city.
• The aesthetic consistency, architectural grandeur, and density of ‘special places’ in Paris makes it feel magical—like some place you could get lost in forever, if you wanted to.
* * *
Like so many kids, I fell in love with Paris at an early age—long before I ever visited the city.
As a seven-year-old, I’d watch Madeleine on repeat, wondering what it would be like to live a similarly adventure-filled life in the most romantic city in the world. The Beauty and the Beast, while not set in Paris, planted in my mind the idea of a French castle filled with literature and great food and sentient candlesticks. A few years later, I’d sit down with Assassin’s Creed: Unity after school and play until it was dark out, exploring every back-alley in revolutionary-era Paris, climbing my way into busy cafés.
Buenos Aires, where I lived long before I ever went to France, gave me a taste of what I’d imagined Paris could be like. The architecture looked similar in places, and those grand cafés that take up the whole first floor of a building and look like the kind of place Jorge Luis Borges would write a novel—I spent a lot of time in those. But they weren’t exactly Paris.
So when we booked tickets to visit, I was a little bit nervous—would it be good? I’d read a lot of hate about the city (and the French people) online, discovered what ‘Paris Syndrome’ meant, and heard that it was overflowing with tourists, and that it was dirty.
I really liked Paris.
(Two caveats for this one: one that I visited in early November, which isn’t peak tourist season. I may have had a different impression if I’d visited during busy season. Another is that I recognize that a lot of the things I enjoyed doing in Paris might not be the kinds of things you’d do every day—this is not a ‘should you live in Paris’ review.)
(Versailles is pictured—techincally not Paris.)
I spent about a week in Paris. Here is why I liked (and nearly loved) the city.
I. A Moveable Feast
You often hear about Japan that you can go to almost any restaurant and it will probably be good. I found a similar thing was true in Paris: while French cuisine isn’t my favorite (I find it a little bland), the quality and execution of the food across the board was excellent, even at the random spots we popped into without doing any prior research—especially at those spots.
The restaurants themselves had what some old travel guidebook might describe as “old-world charm”. Many of the places we visited were tastefully decorated, nostalgic in some strange way, and often small enough that you could just about bump elbows with the table next to you (which I liked, in some cases).
Good food is a main reason I visit places, and Paris had some excellent food. I do not think we ate a single bad, or even mediocre, meal during the week we were there—which is impressive.
II. The Remains of the Day
I’m convinced that there are few cities better to casually spend what remains of an afternoon or evening than Paris—there’s just so much to do (without really doing anything at all).
You can visit one of hundreds of beautiful cafés or small restaurants, settle down at a street-facing chair or a cozy window table, and alternate between reading and people watching. You can pop into somewhere like the Galeries Lafayette, the most beautiful department store I’ve been to in my entire life. You could grab a sandwich and eat it along the Seine, or cross to the Île de la Cité and duck into a small crepes shop. When it started pouring rain one evening, Maite and I found shelter in the nearest building that looked open, which ended up being the place they had held Marie Antoinette prisoner (it’s a gorgeous building). We spent the next few hours exploring the building.
I realize that, writing this, I sound like a generic starry-eyed American, on their first trip abroad to Paris, gushing to their friends about how much better everything is in France. But, honestly?
Some things actually are better in Paris.
III. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The activities I described above are all versions of things you can do in any city—but they felt special in Paris. And this is a real reason I liked Paris a lot: things simply felt more magical.
I’ve lived long-term on three continents and in more than twenty cities—and Paris had a certain magic to it that I haven’t exactly encountered in other places. This feeling comes, I think, from a couple of things.
One is the style, grandeur, and consistency of the architecture. Paris has a distinct identity and color palette, which means that no matter where you go (in the center-ish of the city) you feel like you are in one distinct place. Contrast this with somewhere like Barcelona, which felt like a bunch of different ideas that didn’t gel nicely.
The other magic ingredient is density. Not only is Paris dense with regard to population, it is dense with regard to the number of awe-inspiring things per square kilometer (to be extremely granular). In other cities you sometimes have to walk for long stretches between things you’re interested in seeing and doing—and even then, there might not be that many places you’d like to see. In Paris you don’t even have to have a plan, don’t even have to have a map: start in the middle and walk in any direction and you’ll find something spectacular.
Paris gave me a sense of awe, of hard-to-place nostaglia, that I’ve found in few other places on the planet. Part of it is that I was quite literally conditioned from an early age to like Paris: TV shows and video games planted the seeds. Part of it, though, is that Paris is simply a wonderful city.
Recap
• While I don’t love the cuisine, the quality of food and restaurants was top-notch. It was hard to find a bad place to eat.
• Paris is a great city for wandering (something I love to do). There are so many relaxing ways to pass an afternoon or evening in the city.
• The aesthetic consistency, architectural grandeur, and density of ‘special places’ in Paris makes it feel magical—like some place you could get lost in forever, if you wanted to.