Paris, December 2019
Can someone please tell me WHAT is up with Paris?? Like, HOW has Paris become so … agreeable? Seriously, it’s disconcerting.
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Suddenly, salespeople are delightfully helpful. Servers are serving with a smile. Pedestrians aren’t mowing down slow walkers. Children are welcome in restaurants. People reply in French when you speak in French, and in English when you speak in English. Restaurants and stores catering to various diets exist. Smiles abound. Seriously Paris, who are you???
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I feel like i’ve stepped into Paris-lite. … or Paris for Dummies. I’m getting the gist of this remarkable city without the cumbersome details.
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I would hazard a guess that this is a result of the airbnb-instagram-ation of the world. It fosters an ever-accelerating homogeneity of our aesthetic, of our standards, of our interests, of our causes, of our tempers.
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The benefit is that even in the remotest of villages, we will find semblance of the familiar. We will find the food we eat; we will find people who understand us.
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BUT we also lose out big time. With declining distinctions, we lose the transformative facet of travel that comes with being poked, prodded, and rubbed raw by the unusual and obscure.
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Original photo by Liam Gant from Pexels
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