Oscar Wilde said, “When good Americans die, they go to Paris.” After being in Paris for three days, I feel like Paris has become my home. I feel very safe in the city. Yesterday in class, we talked about enclosure. Most of the buildings in Paris are the same distance from the street and are the same height, which is the complete opposite of buildings in New York City and Philadelphia. I sometimes feel flustered and overwhelmed when I visit big cities in America, but Paris makes me feel comfortable and relaxed.
For the next 28 days, a group of seven us and the professor will explore the different parts of the city. Yesterday, we explored the Latin Quarter, which is the medieval part of Paris. The streets are narrow and the height of the buildings are irregular, which is not typical for the rest of Paris. The Latin Quarter grew organically, while the rest of Paris was methodical and planned out. I loved the old cobble stone streets and medieval flare. However, I though the area was lacking green space.
As I walked the streets of Paris, I noticed the extensive Preservation work. Everywhere you look, there is preservation work going on…Notre Dame, the Police Headquarters, the Musee d’Orsay, and even the everyday buildings. But the best part of all this is that Paris keeps the public informed on everything they are doing. There are signs in front of every place they are doing preservation work on and most of the information is in more than one language. C’est magnifique!
Also, I got to walk down to the Louvre today while eating crepes with one of my good friends Girard who is in the Mary Washington French class.