Paris, city to love

One of my professed aims in choosing to move to Paris was to see if I could learn to love the city the way the rest of the world does.  Paris never caught my eye the way other cities did, and given its reputation I wanted to see if it could given enough time.  After a day like yesterday I think it's safe to say that after five years I am finally learning to truly appreciate and enjoy Paris.

With my head-cold relegated from hindrance to nuisance, I decided to head into Paris on this cloudy Sunday and sip hot chocolate on the Seine - a cliche, I know, but considering I moved to Paris three weeks ago I've seen surprisingly little of Paris, and I haven't had a single chocolat chaud yet - not one that wasn't entirely machine-made, anyway.

I decided on Pont Neuf as the best bet, being one of the two metro stations on line 7 located beside the Seine and located in the oldest, therefore most developed and touristy area.  I figured I should easily be able to find a cafe where I could sit and sip hot chocolate for an hour while I watched the activity on the Seine before heading quietly home to nurse my cold.

I should have known that nothing involving me ever goes that smoothly.

Pont Neuf is a real misnomer - the so-called 'New Bridge' is actually the oldest of the bridges in Paris that crosses the Seine.  Along with the Pont Marie, the other Seine metro stop on line 7, Pont Neuf actually crosses to the Ile-de-la-Cite, the island in the middle of the Seine on which Notre-Dame-de-Paris is located, before reaching the south side of the Seine.  The location and the excitement were too much for me, and, naturally, I began wandering.

I finally settled on a little cafe bistro on the south side of the Seine, with amazing views of the Pont Neuf on my left, Notre Dame to my right and the tall, imposing buildings of the Ile-de-la-Cite directly before me.  Having consumed what was definitely an inferior cup of Paris hot chocolate, I thanked the funny adorable waiter and explored the south side of the Seine for a while, walking alongside the river and looking at the various riverside merchants - you know, the ones you see in all the stereotypical Paris pictures.  I wandered back across the Pont Neuf and took a short walk on the Ile-de-la-Cite, before finally settling on a cheese crepe at a little tourist shop on the north side of the Seine for lunch.

I wanted to learn to love Paris, if I could, but I didn't want to fall into the soppish (soppy + foppish) adoration of most tourists simply because it's 'Paris' without any justifiable reasons for my infatuation.  Luckily Paris is willingly to provide ample reasons if you're willing to look for them.

Paris is an elegant city, with more history than you can shake a stick at and plenty of class to go with it.  Unlike most cities, though, Paris wears her age wonderfully well, resembling a dignified lady who grows old gracefully, her many years beautifying her rather than burdening her.  London, too, has the sense of being improved by her years rather than ruined, but London, like the British, is much more stiff and reserved, with a very regal air that reminds you she is London, jewel of the crown that is the British Isles.  Paris wears her beauty with a much more casual grace, allowing you to fall at her feet and admire her rather than commanding our sincere but restrained worship, as does London.

But Paris also has an air of 'more than meets the eye'.  For a city so much worshipped by strangers who simply run around to the Eiffel Tower, Sacre-Coeur and the Arc de Triomphe and claim to be in 'love' with the place, Paris seems to have a soft spot for those more sincere admirers who are willing to look for the undiscovered places and walk the untrod paths to find the real history, the real stories, the real atmosphere behind the much-worn stereotype and appreciate the real city.  In other words, I think Paris likes my skepticism.

Looking west from Pont Neuf towards the Eiffel Tower

Napoleon's tomb, Les Invalides (left) and Eiffel Tower (right)

Boats along the river (inoperative, sadly)

Looking east towards Pont Neuf from the cafe

Looking west at Notre-Dame-de-Paris

Ile-de-la-Cite and my chocolat chaud

Street vendors along the Seine - guess who has a new painting?

Pont Neuf from water level

Mum, explain what 'sapeurs-pompiers' means to Dad, please...

The 'Palace of Justice' on Ile-de-la-Cite

Looking north from Ile-de-la-Cite...

...and looking south

East along the Seine - it beats the Yarra hollow