Down the Horizon

in spring, there is this unexplainable feeling, almost divine…

There I was, first time strolling in Paris. Not so much time as always, but enough to see at least one landmark at a time and catch some vibe. Some good and some bad ones.

Metro. From our airport hotel, it takes s while to get to anywhere near the center, but Montmartre seemed accessible and near the metro station. So, I said alright, let me go there then.

It was my first time in Paris and I went alone. The second time, a couple of months after, I went with some fellow crew members. I craved for some green vivid, lovely parks around the old blocks of Paris, to take it easy in the springtime, away from the hot and busy Dubai. I wanted to take a big deep breath from the stuffy airplane cabin. And also, it’s really nice to walk freely and alone sometimes, to just let the colors, designs, and details guide you on their own. To reconnect with yourself, without any control.

And here it is- Mont (mountain) Martre (martyr) with Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. The landmark is dedicated to the patron saint of France, Saint Denis who was decapitated on the same hill around 250 AD by the Romans. If you imagine there is no crowd of people around it, you can focus on the park’s greenery, a sacral architecture monument and a stretching view over the whole of Paris. Now there is a bad side. There are too many purse-snatchers emerging due to immigrants. The place is packed with robbers and scammers as tourists are the main targets. If they see a woman alone, they can be really open, direct, and “working” in groups. They are really not afraid, on a contrary, they are stopping you on your way, pushing you into talk, so the whole experience can be very upsetting.

Around the blocks, under the hill, there are restaurants, small shops, cafes, galleries…art installations. This crooked labyrinthine of Paris is famous for the most notable artists in history, such as Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Suzanne Valadon, and Maurice Utrillo. The history and heritage of Montmartre are connected with the art of old houses in which some of the famous artists lived.

It is a truly huge metropolis, expanding. There is never enough time to explore it.

Second time in Paris. Now it was a good time visiting some other landmarks…we took a walk around the Eiffel tower, Notre Damme and other Parisian famous landmarks, but I was much more fascinated by the huge Jardin du Luxembourg- park with a grand palace in which the king Louis XIII’s mother Marie de’ Medici lived. The Medici family was the most notable, leading banking   Italian family that ruled Florence and Tuscany starting from the 14th century. This beautiful royal palace with huge gardens contains over 100 statues honoring the Queens of France and other famous French women. Now it is the home of the French Senate.

Gustav Eiffel left many metal constructions around the world, innovative for his time, and most of them are bridges. His favorite field was the construction of railway bridges, just as the Bordeaux railway bridge, the Garabit viaduct in southern France, as well as the Maria Pia bridge in Portugal. There was an Eiffel Bridge even in the small town of Zrenjanin, Serbia, but it was put down in 1969 in order to be replaced with a new, concrete one.