The first time I went to Paris was the first time that I went to Europe, in 2003. I couldn’t speak French at all, and I was just doing a tour with my family around 6 different countries around west-Europe. We stopped in Paris for about 4 days; I have to admit that I didn’t like the city that first time that I went. We were staying on a hostel in one of the suburbs around the city, the place wasn’t really nice at all, it was quite dangerous actually, I know it may sound funny that kind of comment coming from a Latin American girl, but seriously, the suburb was really dodgy. I guess that was one of the first reasons why I didn’t enjoy 100% the time in Paris.
It is always easier to get in love with a city or even a whole country if you speak their language, which is the opposite that happened to me with Berlin, where I was barely capable of swearing in German. But French people tend to be nasty and impolite with the people when they are not in the mood, especially with tourist that can’t speak the language at all. So, I didn’t feel really welcome to the city like in the way I felt in cities like Madrid, London, Roma, etc, where the local people tend to be really nice to tourist. But anyway, even though I was quite disappointed with a few things in Paris, I did felt in love with the Eiffel tower and some different tourist places such as Notre Dame, Champs Elise and the Museum of Louvre, which I found amazing.
The 2nd time that I went to Paris was two years later; I went for a weekend with my best friends; we all spoke French already, and we can all definitively say that we had the best time of our life. Paris was just awesome, and I have to say that my experience over there was completely different after I spoke the language and I was able to communicate with the local people. We went to Sacred Coeur, where we talked for hours with the merchants, bakers, painters, etc. what a lovely people!!!...
My best friend in Venezuela lived in Paris for 3years when she was little, so she was the most excited one in the group walking around the city. The first night we went to have dinner (crepes, of course) close to the Eiffel tower, and at 10pm we appreciated the white intermittent lights that they normally turn on for 10mins all around the tower, it was just amazing. I have to admit that since that trip to Paris with my friends that city became part of my top 5 of best cities around the world. Paris definitively is part of my heart.
2 comments:
Paris could be a crazy city also... well I just stayed 5 days, but I walking around I saw a theft chasing near to the Sena river and a Venezuelan girl told us that she was kidnapped in a car parking area but she could escape from her van, on other hand I found the city at itself really amazing... the Eiffel Tower was really impressing, Montmartre, Arc d triump, Louvre was closed when we try to visit it :(... and we meet Jamel :D... on the moment he was just the guy from Amelie... the all the frenchs that i know make jealous of us... but well its like a french comes and knows Pepeto Lopez I will feel jealous of him also hehehe
yeeeeah I remember that the first thing that I told you when I met u was "NOOOO WAY MAN, YOU MET JAMEL" hahahaha....man I LOOOOOVE AMELIE POULAIN!!!... BEST FILM EEEEVER...!! You have no idea how lucky u were!!....
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