Of all the world’s great cities
there is one that seems to provoke more passion, more devotion, and more
romantic inspiration than all the others.
The city, of course, is Paris, the endlessly fascinating, always
regenerating French capital. From Man
Ray to Gershwin, Paris has been particularly intriguing for twentieth-century
American artists. In his paean to the
city, Hemingway wrote:
“If you rare lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then
where ever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a
movable feast.”
I have always believed that the
world is filled with countless fascinating places worth visiting. Once.
But the remarkable thing about Europe and Paris in particular, is that
the more you go, the more you want to stay.
Each stay yields its own rewards, its own discoveries, and its own
justification for returning again. Each
stay is a renewal rather than a rerun, even if you always frequent the same
venues.
Just walk a block, turn a corner -
in Paris there is always something interesting, something beautiful and new,
something that has been there forever but has gone unnoticed until now.
Nothing caused so much controversy in Paris as "the
Pyramid".
It is either a work of genius or an abomination,
depending on what opinion you hold of the object, Parisians will take the opposite view.
Paris now is Paris as ever, as
changing and constant as the weather, with new shops and restaurants, new
people to watch and places to go.
And I’ll always remember, no
matter what happens, I’ll always have Paris.
