La Vie En Rose

Well, it happened. I fell for it. I succumbed. I fell utterly and unabashedly in love with Paris. It’s never been on my “must-see” travel list and I was so sure I wouldn’t like it, although I’m not exactly sure why. It may have been because everyone raves about it so much and I didn’t want to be mainstream. Or maybe it’s because I’ve heard so much about the snobby French. Ethnocentrism maybe? Too grand a love for greasy burgers and apple pie? Who knows. The point is Paris fully and completely and quite unexpectedly enchanted me. Oh man, I got to live the ultimate movie moment. You know when you see things in movies and think that’d it would be so great to have an experience like that while at the same time knowing it will never happen? Well it did. And it happened in Paris.
It wasn’t anything huge and exciting, like visiting the Eiffel Tower (which was actually a let-down for me). It came after my visit to Notre-Dame Cathedral, which was fabulous, by-the-way. Notre Dame was top on my list of what I wanted to see in my 8-hour layover in Paris. After countless humanities class discussions about it, looking at dozens of pictures of it and its famous rose window, I had to get there. And it didn’t disappoint. Gothic is so cool. Anyway, one of the most charming things about the Cathedral is the neighborhood it’s located in. It’s surrounded by shaded, narrow streets that lead to who-knows-where, brimming over with sidewalk cafes and lazy lovers. Time is just slower there. I can’t really describe it, but it was different from the hustle and bustle of our big cities. After cruising through the Cathedral I walked around the side and to the back. At the back is a grove of big trees with lots of benches and walkways. The benches were all occupied by romantic duos softly talking or kissing or just sitting there silently holding hands. And get this, I couldn’t believe it, right as I started to walk by the grove I heard the soft strains of “La Vie En Rose” floating towards me from a street musician nearby. I can’t tell you how romantic it was. I vowed right then and there to get back there someday with my one true love.
So all that was wonderful, but that wasn’t even the movie moment yet. I crossed the Seine and entered the neighborhood of little shops and narrow roads and found myself at a creperie. And this was my Sabrina moment. I sat at a little table outside the café and ate my delicious Suzette crepe and just watched and observed and thought and thought some more. And then I fell in love. It was so peaceful. Life is just quiet there. A French couple sitting next to me talked softly to each other and an occasional person on a cycle with a basket or a moped rider would pass by. I watched two friends meet up with joy and hugs and kinship as they mingled in the street talking and laughing quietly. It was shady, and cool, and slow, and perfect—a true human experience that makes you appreciate the quirky, unexpected world we live in, even with all its hurting and shortcomings.
I’ve seen some of the world, but not a lot. But the more I’m exposed to it, the greater my awe at the beauty of the human race. We’re all just people trying our best, aren’t we? I ran into the missionaries at the metro and I was telling them about my disappointment with the Eiffel Tower and one of the elders agreed and said something like, “the Eiffel Tower is only cool because it’s in Paris. If it was in Texas, no one would care two sticks about it.” And it’s kind of true…sure the Notre Dame Cathedral and Arc d’Triomphe and popular places like that are cool to see, but it’s the people that have surrounded them and that do surround them and who have woven a rich past and history around them that make them so wonderful. People truly are God’s greatest creation and they never cease to amaze me. I’ve learned that you’ll be surrounded by beauty all the time once you learn to see it in people.