Like it, dislike it, and love it -- my feelings on Paris evolved so over three weekends. Paris first astonished me with her romantic fresh air. I spent my first night at the Left Bank with a friend and his family. As you probably know, this is the Paris of another era; the Paris of artists, writers, and philosophers, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, and dozens of other members of the great artistic community at Montparnasse (see another incoming article "Montparnasse Cemetery").
It was almost midnight. We enjoyed a terrific Japanese dinner and walked along the Seine. Cathedral Notre Dame gracefully stood on Ile de la Cite, looking down at the people who were savoring the sweet noctune. All the scenery looks like a midsummer night's dream, echoing Shakespeare's words:
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."
On the way back I found subway advertising murals in the underground world, which were so different from what I ever saw in NewYork, London, Beijing, and other metropolitan cities. C'est la Paris!
An opera poster, Louis performed at the National Opera of Paris. It's a pity that I didn't get chance to watch an opera in Paris, which has one of the best opera halls in the world.
Advertisement for a contemporary art gallery.
Indeed, l'amour was the theme throughout my journey to France. One of my favorite photos is the following one. I was taking a boat tour on the Seine, while thunderstorm came at the very corner. When the boat was passing through a bridge, I turned around, looked up and caught this picture. The red color sparkled my heart, and was forever engraved in my memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment