Paris: The City of Light.

wow. I'm so excited to go. We have our plane tickets set; our hotels are great (and not terribly expensive). 2 weeks to explore the city. I find that i'm rather intrigued by Paris. Especially after writing a City Planning paper on it. It's just so fascinating to explore new places. This is how I differ from some of my friends. Some of my friends would rather go to a resort for vacation and sit on the beach or something. Not that i don't like sitting, but I think I would prefer to wander, to learn a new public transportation system, to explore the life of a new and foreign place...

So, 2 weeks in Paris. I was just there last summer with family. We did all the touristy stuff. It will be nice to get to know the city a little more. I'm intrigued by the history of the place and how things that have occurred in the past have come to shape the city as it is today. The great boulevards of Haussman and le Corbusier...How has this design affected the development of areas such as the Montmartre.

Interlude re: the Monmartre
I saw Moulin Rouge today. It was really good. I enjoyed it greatly. I appreciate things that are edgy, new, creative. Moulin Rouge was definitely that. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor play the parts stunningly. The use of all the famous songs...entertaining...captivating...i feel like i'm writing a review. Baz Lurhmann successfully accomplishes what he set out to do - to create an experience for the audience. As if the audience were watching a live musical rather than trying to create the naturalism that movies today try to produce. The audience is not expected to think that that which they are watching is real. Rather, they are to participate with the what they see. To react, to cheer, to cry, to applaud. Quite powerful. i highly recommend the film. In fact, if you want someone to see it with, give me a call. I'd love to see it again. Oh, by the way, the Moulin Rouge is in Montmartre. That's how we got here.

Back to Paris:
I think what makes Paris, and London as well, so fascinating to me is how cosmopolitan they are. These are two of the most internationally recognized places, with high traffic in and out of the city physically and economically. What is even more interesting is how as a visitor, you can peal away layers of the city as you explore to reveal tremendous amounts of history. I think the presence/absence of this history is what makes Paris and London totally mesmerizing for me while New York does not interest me very much.

Maybe I'm just excited to go to Paris.