[ Paris ] Ville des Lumières

1. La Seine

2. Le Palais-Royal

3. Jardin du Palais Royal

4. Galerie Vivienne

5. Sainte-Chapelle

6. Château de Versailles

7. The Louvre

8. Champs-Élysées / Arc de Triomphe

9. Palais Garnier

When I travel, most of the time, it's for the purpose of escape--a temporary runaway's solution from reality. Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, even Arizona and Chicago. These places have offered a foreign safe haven for a little while when I felt personal entrapment within my own life. I turn to travel as tastes of freedom pulling me through and carrying me each day as I look forward to yet another curious adventure of an unknown.

But France.

Paris was something else. It was a liberation of another sort, one of which wasn't as unknown as I had expected. I've never been there, or to Europe at all, yet for some reason, this particular trip offered a sense of familiarity I didn't find in my other travels. In my eyes, I was a foreigner, but in my heart, I felt home. Maybe it was the similarities I found from my Canadian roots or the same city vibes I felt comfortable with in NY, too. Whatever it was, I felt a tug at my soul's hearth and an overwhelming sigh of "This is it. I am meant to be here." From the ornate bountiful architecture to the perfectly cliche details to the Parisian chic style to the effortlessly cool and simple locals to the innate elegance of its aura, Paris struck a comfortable chord in the pit of my stomach. I could feel my exonerated past come alive again--the amount of time I spent studying French throughout middle and high school, randomly watching Amélie days on end because I wanted to be her, visiting family in Montreal three times a year and holding its Quebecois dear to my heart. Stepping foot in Paris sunk deep into my bones with a past I carried vividly in its marrow. I felt a part of me awaken in the presence of homecoming as I intimately strolled in the streets like I knew the map beneath my feet.   

 I fell in love with a city I've never met other than the curated imagination of what I hoped it would be. And it was more than that by grander amounts of magic and beauty. If I had to describe what my other life would be, it'd be exactly what Paris embodies--a melodious flow synonymously singing the colors of the river, the careless whispers of the harmonious language, and the triumphant history echoing against all of the city's walls. And no matter where you are, love is found through and through ever demonstrating that you're never quite alone in a city where lonesome is valued and loved.

The City of Lights where I know the part of my heart I left will always find guidance, The City of Love where my hopeless romantic soul reigns gallantly. Paris, you truly have me.