Par(ad)is

If every city has a word, like Elisabeth Gilbert concerned in her great book Eat Pray Love, so the word for Paris is Elegance.
Like an old madame the city has it weaknesses: an old creaky ageing underground metro system, wasted garbage on the trottoirs, crumbling facades and dusty museums but first of all she has it`s pride. She affronts the new skyscrapers in the suburbs and does not bother about linearity of modern architecture. She refuses to bow to all this because she is amazing and marvellous just like she is since forever. The 35 million visitors yearly give her reason.

La tour Eiffel

What I have seen in this giant city is that most inhabitants connect to it with a love-hate relationship.
Daily struggles with ridiculous high costs, tourists from Asia, uneven and bumpy streets only to live in this metropolis. Is it worth it? I guess this question can only be answered by Parisians.
It is nearly impossible to see every gorgeous sight in two days like we tried. But it gets a little closer to possible with the Opentour buses. For prideful 31€ you can explore all areas with a day pass.

Macarons sur les Champs Elysees

So on Saturday me and my mother (yes, holidays with them become cool again when you are over 20) started at the opera and we admired the Eiffel tower, the Champy Elysees, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Obelisque, Point Neuf, the Dome of the Invalides and the streets of Paris. Sitting on top of an open bus in frozen november is not just fun but much better than walking 40 kilometres through the crowded hotspots.

Christmas decorations

We stayed overnight at the Ibis Montmartre, near the famous varieté theatre Moulin Rouge and the Place Pigalle. The rooms were tiny and breakfast was delicious because you can not do anything wrong with croissants and jam and most important: we had a metro station right 200 metres walk from us: Place de Clichy. In Paris you are never more than 600 metres away from a metro station, no matter where you are. True.

If you visit the capital of France over weekend, let me remind you that Sunday is dead. It was almost creepy. Most shops and cafés were closed and the streets were empty.
In the early morning we walked up the hill Montmartre to the Sacre Coeur. We and millions of other tourists. We were even allowed to attend the mass but this makes me always feel uncomfortable.
Like stumbling into the bedroom of strangers, standing there not knowing where to look at and what to do with your hands.

stairs to Sacre Coeur

 I did take the flight back on Sunday. Despite Paris is a quirky old lady, you know as soon as you step onto the plane that you have to come back someday. With more time and more money.