April in Paris...what have you done to my heart?

We walked through the streets of Paris, holding hands, taking in everyone and everything that makes Paris the city of romance. I wondered about the sterotype I'd heard about the "rude" French. We encountered only warmth and graciousness. People are less hurried in Paris; they sip coffee, smoke in cafes, talk with friends, and enjoy life.

April is a beautiful time in Paris. The air is crisp and the flowers are just starting to bloom. Our balcony looked over the roof of an old, beautiful church. In the distance, we could see the Eiffel Tower. Michael and I prefer to become local rather than do the touristy things that travelers often do. We visited the Louvre, but that was the extent of our touristy travels. Our time was spent hanging out in smoky bars and cafes, vowing to hear live music every night.

I was surprised at the nightlife, which reminded me very much of New York. We stayed in the St. Germaine area, a Greenwich Village of sorts. It's easy to find gypsy Django Reinhardt-style jazz at most clubs, and live music is happening on every street corner. We felt the urge to smoke (strange since neither of us are or have ever been smokers, in fact, we loathe smoking) so Michael bought a pack of cigarettes. One late night I found Michael sitting on our terrace writing while smoking a cigarette. It was a black-and-white Kodak moment. Paris does that to people.

One night, we heard Warrant and Poison songs blaring from a club so we wandered in out of curiosity. The bar was geared toward American tourists so it was filled with pictures of half-naked women, beer signs, a menu of burgers and fries, and awful American 80s music. I guess that's how the French see us. We struck up a conversation with a young French cop and a U.S. Marine who shared some great stories. It's strange how we can all find something to talk to each about if we just break down our barriers.

I found it interesting that Starbuck's were all over Paris. I asked a cab driver who was drinking from a big Starbuck's paper cup, why? He said it was simple. Starbuck's served coffee in big sizes and they served it to go. You just don't find large servings of coffee, or coffee to go in Paris. It's an American thing to load up on caffeine to go.

You really get a different perpective of the United States when you travel outside of it. We are so quick to judge people different than us and tend to believe that our way of living is the only way. I find our way of life exhausting. We're always in such a hurry. We slug down coffee on the go, grab fast food to go, and run as if we're trying to win a race. In the end, it's all for nothing. It's doubtful that we'll wish on our deathbeds that we had worked harder. We won't care if there are still more minutes left on our cellphones or if we achieved the crown for winning the rat race. I have a feeling that we'll all wish we played harder. And coffee really does taste better when sipped slowly out of a china cup.

"When you go to a place you've never been before, it's like all the people were imaginary until you got there. It's like until you saw them, they never existed and you never existed to them. It's the same when you die; life goes on without you, just like it does in Paris when you're not here."
-Carmela Soprano