Aero: Kelsey Castro – France 2015 – City Life
Aero: Kelsey Castro – France 2015 – City Life
Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project
Aero: Kelsey Castro – France 2015 – City Life
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Kelsey Castro
I can still vividly remember the sights and smells I encountered while we were in Paris. If I close my eyes, it isn’t difficult for me to transport myself back to one of the bustling avenues of the city, or one of the quaint Parisian streets I strolled down when we had some free time. Upon our arrival to Paris, the different atmosphere immediately struck me. As someone who grew up in a very small and rural town, I always find it exciting to visit a city (for a period of time, at least). I don’t have a ton of experience with cities, but I have been to both New York City (Manhattan and Brooklyn) and Washington D.C. a few times in recent years. Thus, I naturally compared most of my observations of Paris with New York and D.C.
Paris and New York are both major metropolitan cities, while Paris and D.C. are both National capitals. I found it intriguing to observe the similarities and differences between the three. One thing that immediately stood out to me was how quiet it became at night in Paris. This may have been in part the section of the city our hotel was located (the Latin quarter), but I was really amazed that every night in the hotel I heard practically no traffic or other loud noises after about 10:00pm. When I have stayed in both NYC and D.C., I typically hear traffic and other commotion all throughout the night. In terms of appearance and layout, Paris and D.C. are more similar than I would have thought. While we were walking around the Eiffel Tower, I commented that it reminded me a lot of the National Mall in D.C. I also noticed this when we left the Louvre and walked through the Tuileries Garden. Interestingly enough, the urban plan of Washington D.C. was created by a French engineer named Pierre Charles L’Enfant, and is known as the L’Enfant plan. So, it was no coincidence that I was reminded of the National Mall while we were in these areas. Most of the time we were there, Paris felt very different than NYC to me. However, the day we walked down the Champs-Élysées I did start to feel more of a 5th avenue, Manhattan-esque vibe. Overall however, I believe that Paris has a much more “old world” feel to it.
ML@FLCC France 2015 Flickr Photo Gallery
I am not great with public transportation, but I was just starting to get the hang of the Paris metro system before we left the city. I definitely think I would have been confident navigating by myself, had we spent another week there. It amazed me to see groups of young children getting on the trains to get to and from school. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have that much independence from such a young age. I also noticed how well dressed the children were in Paris, along with the general public. It was very easy to spot tourists by the way they were dressed, especially footwear. Another observation I made was the amount of off-leash dogs I saw in Paris. They weren’t stays; they were always with their owners, walking along side them without a leash. I found that to be very interesting, and it made me wonder if there are no leash laws in Paris. Regardless, Parisian dogs have very nice manners!
Although I had an amazing time in Paris, by the end of the week I was excited to get out of the city and experience another way of life in France. Just like people immediately think of Times Square when they hear New York, people immediately think of Paris and the Eiffel Tower when they hear France. However, there is much more to the country of France, and I feel really fortunate that I was able to experience life inside and outside of the city.
Kelsey Castro
LEAF Contributor
