Paris, France

 

Paris, France

 

 I didn't think I'd like Paris, but in truth, I LOVED it and would gladly go back!

Why?

• The food is AMAZING! Their produce is 100 times better than ours. The closest I've had that can compare was in California, right where it's grown. Everywhere else in the U.S.? Farmers grow the varieties of produce that ship well. Taste doesn't even enter into it. So, in Europe, potatoes have a flavor. And they taste different in England than they do in Germany or France. Yes, they have a genuine taste! Carrots are phenomenal, and I HATE carrots! The meat taste just like ours, so does the frozen food (I accidentally ate at a touristy cafe and although it was not nearly as good as the others, but it was light years better than what we have at home). The chocolate isn't even comparable to ours and just the little things, like tea, is so much better in Paris. If you wondered why Parisian women are thinner while living in the same city as the very best pastries on the planet, it's because it's so easy to eat healthy when the food is actually delicious.
• The City of Lights is gorgeous! You can't beat that architecture. Charming beyond belief! And, like every big city, there are useful shops within walking distance anywhere you are. Cheese shops, little grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, it's so convenient!
• The people are very nice! We were standing by the bus stop, checking the map to find the subway when a Parisian gentleman asked us, in perfect English, if we needed help. REALLY! I was gobsmacked!
• Every inch of the city is just steeped in history. The French Revolution, the Nazi invasion, Napoleon, Monet, Jim Morrison, movies like, "The Bourne Identity," and, "French Kiss," Funny Face," and, "The Da Vinci Code." There is no where in that city, that you can go where it hasn't already been done and been said, by generations of people before you stepped foot in that spot.
• You have not smelled perfume until you have smelled French Perfume. You know that rancid stench of day old perfume on your clothes? French perfume doesn't do that. It smells sweet and decadent and words can't even describe the rich combinations of scents because it simply does not exist in America.

THIS is the perfume I bought in a gift shop in the beautiful Versailles, France, were Marie Antoinette reigned, for a while. Let me tell you a secret about Versailles.  It is beautiful in it's marble floors and glass mirrors but it is colder inside than out.  And you know those fireplaces did not heat up those giant rooms!  I would bet that half the fashion of France was more about staying warm than looking gorgeous, back in the day.  Scent is closely tied with memories and this perfume now makes me think of winter (it was our winter temps, but their spring) clothes and beautiful sights. 

 

When I got back home, I threw away all my other perfumes. All of them, straight into the trash. My daily wear perfume now is all Dior. It is just as good as those heady wonderful scents in Paris and even London!  

 

Notre Dame

"Light My Fire"

Jim Morrison's Grave

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Monet's Bridge in Giverny, France

If you're planning a trip to Paris, please disregard all the nonsense you read from, "world travelers," who insist that no one in Europe wears jeans or sneakers and that scarves are practically mandatory for women. Nonsense.

Although I DID buy a scarf exactly like this one

at Monet's garden in Giverny, France!