Paris

Bonjour! I went through France in four days. It was a two-day whirlwind in Paris, exploring Montemarte (including the Dalí Museum), Musée d’Orsay, and the area around Gare du Nord. I tried taking this trip more slowly and ended up zipping through France like a spinning top! 

I tried picking up the basics of the French language. In high school, I took three years of Spanish, which seemed to help a little, since there are many words that look similar. Spanish is a little more forgiving, whereas French demands a certain precision on how words flow when spoken. At least, that has been my experience. (That’s also true with many languages.) My French pronunciation needs work. Thankfully, I met up with another friend in Nancy who is fluent, so he took me under his wing and quizzed me on the basics.

I’ve been working a lot, which leaves little to time to see much. It’s quite alright, because the world has become my office. I was already expecting this to be the case and wanted to take advantage of doing that. What a wonderful opportunity this is, to work on my laptop and watch the world go by.

Paris is one of those cities that leaves you in awe. It’s the architecture, the extensive history coming to life. It’s the way strangers called me “madame.” Every city has a personality, and Paris exudes a venerable elegance that commands respect.

Nancy

I took the bullet train in the morning to go to Nancy. Sometimes, little things like watching the sunrise is all you need.

Nancy is further east. What I loved the most about it was the Art Nouveau architecture throughout the city. Some of the buildings have such intricate details, inspired by botanical forms. Art Nouveau is an art genre from the 19th century, characterized by stylized, graceful forms of nature, such as plants and flowers. I could spend all day just admiring the shapes of doorways and façades. Sometimes, I’ll do a double-take, noticing a detail that was missed before. It’s the little things like that.

My friend, Owen, took us to a beautiful Art Nouveau gallery called Musée de l’École de Nancy. It’s a collection of art and furniture in that genre. It features lush gardens, beautiful furniture, utensils, vessels, and paintings. It’s a certain kind of excitement and inspiration that makes the brain tingle.

France is a country I would like to explore more of, especially Paris. Next time, I’m definitely hitting up the Louvre, which is apparently an all-day affair. I’ll be back one of these days!