By Phaskal From Indonesia

 

A small illustration

When we think of France, we think of Paris, a city known as the fashion capital of the world. Paris is also a city rich in history, culture, cuisine and literature. Even writers and songwriters say that the French capital is a great source of inspiration. With all its beauty and wonder, the city has become one of the world’s favourite travel destinations.

Although they have been told thousands, perhaps even millions of times, the stories about Paris never seem to get old. You can never visit the city just once to experience all its beauty and stories.

The 16th of February was the beginning of a conversation about visiting Paris. That evening, my special friend and I were on the phone, and in the middle of our conversation about „winter is over in Europe at the end of February“, I spontaneously said, „Will you come to Paris with me?“ to which she hesitantly replied, „What? How? Hmmm, yes, maybe I would“. In the end, my special friend and I decided to enjoy the beautiful romantic city.

To cut a long story short: On 24 February at 11:50 am, we took a bus from Cologne/Bonn to Paris. A few minutes into the journey we were talking about how beautiful Paris was and what we would eat in Paris before we fell asleep, hahaha.

 

An announcement sounded quietly on the bus: „It’s 7.10am, dear passengers, we have arrived at our destination, Paris, France,“ said the bus driver as the bus door opened. Our sleepy faces immediately turned into smiling, puffy eyes. Excitedly, we got off the bus and realised that we had arrived in the romantic city. In our minds, croissants and pain au chocolat were our next ‚destinations‘. Next, we looked for a place where we could have breakfast and wake up from our dream world.

The journey began from Bercy Seine to Panthéon, we travelled along the famous Seine. The Panthéon itself is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, in the centre of the Place du Panthéon named after it. The building was constructed between 1758 and 1790 to designs by Jacques-Germain Soufflot on behalf of the French King Louis XV. The king wanted the church to be dedicated to St Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, whose relics were to be kept in the church. Neither Soufflot nor Louis XV lived until the church was completed, according to the Wikipedia explanation.

After the Panthéon, we continued our journey to the Eiffel Tower. My heart was pounding with excitement and I was a little cold, hahaha. On the way to the Eiffel Tower, we had a conversation about whether we should go up the tower or not. Just for the record, I’m scared of high places. When we arrived at the Eiffel Tower, we were so happy that we took pictures, laughed, ran around like excited kids and more until we forgot that it was time for lunch. We immediately looked for a place to have lunch to recharge our batteries as there was so much more to see.

We ate at an Asian restaurant not far from the Eiffel Tower. Imagine having lunch looking up at the Eiffel Tower. It’s pretty impressive. After lunch, we continued our journey to Paris‘ second landmark, the Arc de Triomphe. We knew it was a place with a park or a seating area, but it turned out to be a monument in the middle of the street, hahaha.

We passed monument after monument and it was time to head back to Germany. We walked along the Seine back to Bercy Seine. We arrived at Bercy Seine on time and immediately got on the bus and headed back to Germany.

I have something to say. Paris really is a romantic city, with lots of beautiful buildings, good food and plenty of warmth in between. But that was to be expected, because it’s clear that everything feels great when you see it or do it for the first time. So it’s not the building, the address or the splendour that matters, but who and how you enjoy it.