"America is my country and Paris is my hometown,” said Gertrude Stein. If you’ve ever lived in Paris, you understand what she meant. Paris is a dynamic and captivating city. Life is old, yet still modern. The French have a way of living that is easy to fall in love with. They call it savoir vivre - to know how to live. It’s not just in their customs or politesse or élégance, but also in the way they live life. I found the Parisians to be warm and welcoming, even before they knew that I spoke French.
Part of that savoir vivre is their value of equality. In fact, the French expression, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) dates back to the French Revolution and is inscribed on all public buildings. It is part of their national heritage and evident in French life. When shopping in Paris, it is customary to say “bonjour” to the salespeople when you enter a shop and to say “au revoir” when you leave. You wouldn’t enter a friend’s home without saying “hello” or leave without saying “good-bye.” The French expect that same courtesy, in part, I gathered, because they value equality.
The Louvre is a great place to start a tour of Paris. Once the site of a medieval fortress, then a palace for France’s kings, including Louis XIV, it now displays the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, the Venus de Milo and many other masterpieces. It is also the beginning of the precisely planned Historic Axis -- a line of Paris’ famous monuments and squares: the Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, les Champs Elysées, l’Arc de Triomphe and la Grande Arche in Paris’ business district. Musée d’Orsay is a more modern museum housed in the former Orsay train station on the banks of the Seine River. Its collections date from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, including Matisse, Monet and Van Gogh.
Reminders of France’s wars and of the German occupation are all around Paris. Memorials demonstrate how Paris -- and all of France -- were shaped and affected by its wars. The Memorial des Martyrs de la Déportation is an outdoor memorial along the Seine River dedicated to the memory of the 200,000 French who were taken prisoner and sent to German concentration camps during World War II. It replicates the structure and bleak and demoralizing conditions of those camps. Streets and Metro stops are named after French military generals and even France’s allies. There is a stop on the Champs Elysées named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Arc de Triomphe crowns the Champs Elysées and offers spectacular views of the city from the top. It honors all of those who fought to defend France, especially during the Napoleonic wars. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I lies underneath the arch. What is poignant about this site is that it became the place where the French were reminded of the passage of time under German occupation. Every day for four years, beginning at the fall of Paris in 1940 until the day of its liberation in 1944, a Nazi band and battalion of Nazi soldiers marched around l’Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysées to the Place de la Concorde. In the days following the liberation of France, the Free French and the American troops marched down the same avenue. I met French people who remembered, as children, American soldiers handing out candy to them in the streets. Today, the Champs Elysées is where the French celebrate their national holiday -- July 14th -- with a military parade before the people, the French president and American dignitaries.
Paris is a very walkable city and it’s a short and lovely walk from the Champs Elysées to the Eiffel Tower -- la Tour Eiffel. One of the most beautiful and most visited sites in Paris; it offers stunning views of the city. In the evening, the lights on the tower shimmer at the top of every hour, which you can enjoy on the Champ de Mars, the park in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Beyond the tourist attractions, it is the Parisians and Parisian life that make Paris so beautiful. It’s the sound of neighbors sharing animated conversations and laughter over a meal at tables pulled out onto sidewalks on a warm summer night. That was often the last sound I heard as I fell asleep at night in my bedroom overlooking Montmartre. It’s joining a group of people you don’t know in salsa dancing on the banks of the Seine River on summer nights. It’s in taking walks in the beautifully manicured gardens that dot the city. It’s the abundance of fine arts that are accessible to everyone in Paris because they were largely subsidized by the government. (Those subsidies have shrunk significantly since the economic crisis of 2008.) Still, everyday life in Paris has a certain beauty and joie de vivre. Many Parisians and visitors alike rollerblade through the city on Sunday afternoons.
Parisian life also makes an American sojourning in Paris acutely aware of the abundant blessings of being an American and offers great insight into the human condition and its power as the great equalizer. For example, in Paris’ Metro -- the underground subway -- like in most cities, there are performers panhandling. In Paris, musicians don’t just stand on the platform. They enter the train car, playing an accordion or some other instrument and passing around a hat or other container to collect money. At first, it seemed audacious. Some people were truly poor. Others seemed to be trying to make ends meet. Whatever their reasons, the panhandlers weren’t shamed. In fact, more often than not, I was moved to see the French people dig into their pockets and pull out money to give to the panhandlers. Life -- while charming -- is difficult there. I saw a spirit of looking out for one another -- fraternity -- inherent in Parisian life, and indeed, French life.
The best part of visiting Paris is coming home with an expanded and richer perspective and life lessons of humility and gratitude learned in the journey. Listening to the stories of Parisians, learning their culture, speaking their language and living like they do for a time stretches one’s appreciation for simplicity and makes Paris feels like everyone’s hometown. But, America is always my country and my home.
"America is my country and Paris is my hometown,” said Gertrude Stein. If you’ve ever lived in Paris, you understand what she meant. Paris is a dynamic and captivating city. Life is old, yet still modern. The French have a way of living that is easy to fall in love with. They call it savoir vivre - to know how to live. It’s not just in their customs or politesse or élégance, but also in the way they live life. I found the Parisians to be warm and welcoming, even before they knew that I spoke French.
Part of that savoir vivre is their value of equality. In fact, the French expression, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) dates back to the French Revolution and is inscribed on all public buildings. It is part of their national heritage and evident in French life. When shopping in Paris, it is customary to say “bonjour” to the salespeople when you enter a shop and to say “au revoir” when you leave. You wouldn’t enter a friend’s home without saying “hello” or leave without saying “good-bye.” The French expect that same courtesy, in part, I gathered, because they value equality.
The Louvre is a great place to start a tour of Paris. Once the site of a medieval fortress, then a palace for France’s kings, including Louis XIV, it now displays the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, the Venus de Milo and many other masterpieces. It is also the beginning of the precisely planned Historic Axis -- a line of Paris’ famous monuments and squares: the Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, les Champs Elysées, l’Arc de Triomphe and la Grande Arche in Paris’ business district. Musée d’Orsay is a more modern museum housed in the former Orsay train station on the banks of the Seine River. Its collections date from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, including Matisse, Monet and Van Gogh.
Reminders of France’s wars and of the German occupation are all around Paris. Memorials demonstrate how Paris -- and all of France -- were shaped and affected by its wars. The Memorial des Martyrs de la Déportation is an outdoor memorial along the Seine River dedicated to the memory of the 200,000 French who were taken prisoner and sent to German concentration camps during World War II. It replicates the structure and bleak and demoralizing conditions of those camps. Streets and Metro stops are named after French military generals and even France’s allies. There is a stop on the Champs Elysées named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Arc de Triomphe crowns the Champs Elysées and offers spectacular views of the city from the top. It honors all of those who fought to defend France, especially during the Napoleonic wars. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I lies underneath the arch. What is poignant about this site is that it became the place where the French were reminded of the passage of time under German occupation. Every day for four years, beginning at the fall of Paris in 1940 until the day of its liberation in 1944, a Nazi band and battalion of Nazi soldiers marched around l’Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysées to the Place de la Concorde. In the days following the liberation of France, the Free French and the American troops marched down the same avenue. I met French people who remembered, as children, American soldiers handing out candy to them in the streets. Today, the Champs Elysées is where the French celebrate their national holiday -- July 14th -- with a military parade before the people, the French president and American dignitaries.
Paris is a very walkable city and it’s a short and lovely walk from the Champs Elysées to the Eiffel Tower -- la Tour Eiffel. One of the most beautiful and most visited sites in Paris; it offers stunning views of the city. In the evening, the lights on the tower shimmer at the top of every hour, which you can enjoy on the Champ de Mars, the park in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Beyond the tourist attractions, it is the Parisians and Parisian life that make Paris so beautiful. It’s the sound of neighbors sharing animated conversations and laughter over a meal at tables pulled out onto sidewalks on a warm summer night. That was often the last sound I heard as I fell asleep at night in my bedroom overlooking Montmartre. It’s joining a group of people you don’t know in salsa dancing on the banks of the Seine River on summer nights. It’s in taking walks in the beautifully manicured gardens that dot the city. It’s the abundance of fine arts that are accessible to everyone in Paris because they were largely subsidized by the government. (Those subsidies have shrunk significantly since the economic crisis of 2008.) Still, everyday life in Paris has a certain beauty and joie de vivre. Many Parisians and visitors alike rollerblade through the city on Sunday afternoons.
Parisian life also makes an American sojourning in Paris acutely aware of the abundant blessings of being an American and offers great insight into the human condition and its power as the great equalizer. For example, in Paris’ Metro -- the underground subway -- like in most cities, there are performers panhandling. In Paris, musicians don’t just stand on the platform. They enter the train car, playing an accordion or some other instrument and passing around a hat or other container to collect money. At first, it seemed audacious. Some people were truly poor. Others seemed to be trying to make ends meet. Whatever their reasons, the panhandlers weren’t shamed. In fact, more often than not, I was moved to see the French people dig into their pockets and pull out money to give to the panhandlers. Life -- while charming -- is difficult there. I saw a spirit of looking out for one another -- fraternity -- inherent in Parisian life, and indeed, French life.
The best part of visiting Paris is coming home with an expanded and richer perspective and life lessons of humility and gratitude learned in the journey. Listening to the stories of Parisians, learning their culture, speaking their language and living like they do for a time stretches one’s appreciation for simplicity and makes Paris feels like everyone’s hometown. But, America is always my country and my home.
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Michele White is a freelance journalist from Anchorage. She also freelances as voice-over talent. She holds a Bachelor ofJournalism degree from the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Wasilla was her first home in Alaska, where she worked as the Valley BureauChief for KTUU in 2006. She enjoys cooking, camping, hiking and many other outdoor activities with her family.
