Paris – La Ville Lumière

What more needs to be said about Paris that hasn’t already been more poetically said in countless classic movies, books and paintings? The City of Lights, with endless delights and wonders to explore and what sheer joy it was to return to Paris. Above all, I was struck by how, after two horrifying terrorist attacks in 2015, Paris never lost its essence and its identity: that Parisian joie de vivre that stands as firm against the brutality of terrorism as the iconic Arc de Triomphe. 

In my visit to Paris this time, I experienced the full lavishness of French haute cuisine at the 3 Michelin star rated restaurant L’Épicure, a calm walk in the royal gardens of Versailles at sunset, getting lost in the mazelike streets of Montmartre, and as if that wasn’t enough, a midnight ride up the Eiffel Tower with the sweetheart by my side. Paris is a city that inspires and enchants, its streets reverberating with the footsteps of Hugo, Monet, Rousseau and countless other giants of Western culture. As an immortal line from a classic movie once put it: “we’ll always have Paris.”