Cosmopolitanism in Paris

I've been fortunate in that I've spent much of the last ten years traveling all over the world.  I've been lucky enough to visi much of Asia and Europe, as well as parts of Africa and Central America.  Despite my fortune, I've never visited Paris.  I've been to Charles de Gaulle airport many times for transfers, but I never left the airport.  Part of the reason that I've never seen Paris (or any of France for that matter) is that I've always had opportunities to travel other places.  But at the same time, I was always slightly reluctant to visit Paris.  For so many Americans, it is the place they want to visit, and I've never been one to do what everyone else does.  And when people describe what they like about Paris, they say things about how "French" or "European" it is.  Another reason for my reluctance has been that I simply knew I would visit Paris some day - Paris isn't going anywhere. 

This past weekend, I finally visited Paris.  In four days in Paris, I managed to eat plenty of bread and cheese, as well as Lebanese, Thai, and Chinese. I drank more than a few espressos.  Vanessa and I saw some of the sites that everyone raves about: Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, the Louvre, and the Champs-Elysses.  I saw the Eiffel

Image by bramhubbell via Flickr

Tower in the distance, but I never got too close.  We were fortunate to visit during the festival in Montmarte, and got to drink fresh, local wines on the steps of Sacre Coeur and look out at the city.  I understood why everyone loves Paris - it is beautiful and amazing.

At the same time, Vanessa and I visited the Institut du Monde arabe, which had two amazing exhibits going on. One was a special collection called "the arts of Islam" that had an amazing diversity of Islamic art from all periods until the early twentieth century.  There was also an entirely different exhibit on contemporary Palestinian art.  It captured the rich contemporary artistic culture of Palestine that so few people see, instead of the ubiquitous notion of Palestinian being linked to terrorism.  And then we made it to the Grand Palais to see "De Byzance à Istanbul," to see an incredible new exhibit that showcases the history of the city from its early neolithic foundations to Constantinople the capital of the Byzantine Empire through the Ottoman and present day Istanbul.

We finished off the four days with a little nod to stereotypical France, sitting on our balcony eating brie, chevre, pears, and figs with freshly baked bread, while drinking red wine. 

The four days sounds like a whirlwind on paper, but we actually weren't too busy.  There were lots of moments sitting around and just taking in Paris.  By the end of the trip, I realized how comfortably "classical" Paris coexists with this incredibly rich and culturally diverse Paris. This isn't necessarily surprising, but it's not what one expects on a trip to Paris. It's what made the trip so special, and reminded me how easy it is to make assumptions about people and places.  But as I begin to look closely at everything, I can see how my initial impressions can't fully make sense of the complexity of a person or place.  I should have guessed that Paris would surprise me based on my other travels, but for some reason I just kept assuming that Paris couldn't be as great as everyone says.  I now want to return and see more.