Paris: The city of surprises

Arriving in Paris alone on a Sunday left me feeling a tad bit overwhelmed. I was in this new country by myself and didn’t even speak the language. I was nervous of all the things I had heard about Paris, “Parisians are rude”, “Parisians are mean to Americans”, and on and on. But when I began venturing out into the city, I realized that these seem to be misconceptions. The people of Paris have been nothing but kind to me, I have yet to meet one rude or mean Parisian.

My favorite experience I’ve had so far here was when I went to a flea market. It was beautiful. There was an indoor part that had all this beautiful vintage furniture and art. It was incredible. My eye was immediately caught when walking past a window and seeing a ravishing gown on display. The dress was like nothing I had ever seen before. It had all these gems and sparkles and beautiful feathering towards the bottom of the dress. The texture was incredible. The feeling of the beads and lace was slightly rough, but you just know the inside of the dress is kind to the body.

It was just the most stunning dress I have ever seen. If I could wear it for my wedding, I would. I got to see more vintage luxury fashion that was just stunning. The clothes were so detailed and intricate, I was in awe.

After I left the indoor part of the flea market, I started walking down past the vendors selling things like vintage clothing, jewelry (I was able to buy my mom and sister some gorgeous pieces), and shoes. I stopped in my tracks when I saw an amazing home. The house was covered in ivy and had beautiful trees surrounding it. In the upper right side of the photo, you can see some of the tips of the leaves are a slightly orangish color and I thought that was very pretty. These different shades of green really represent to me Paris in color in the sense that coming here I couldn’t have imagined how much greenery Paris has and how in touch with nature the city can be. 

I think the thought of what is beyond this image is really very cool since there’s this home surrounded by lush greenery and outside the walls of this house there is a huge flea market with tons of people, leaving the home to feel very intimate.

When I continued walking through this flea market, I became extremely thirsty and so I decided to scour the area for a bottle of water. I came across this closed storefront that had graffiti art on it. I was super shocked seeing how much street art there is in Paris but, I love it. I think the usage of street art in such a rich in history and classy city really shows how the city is everchanging and growing while keeping its original beauty. The lines in this photo really caught my eye since you have the dashed line above the cat, the garage type door has the usual heavy lines these doors tend to have with more curving lines in the cat that overlap the doors lines. The ground having lines that go towards the cat also really draw your eye to the focus.

Being in Paris has been full of surprises and it’s been lovely. Being able to see all the new ideas, art, kind people, and nature this city holds is such an incredible experience.