Today I go to Paris for a short vacation until Monday. For me it is the fourth time there. This town have a very interesting way of working inside you. When you first see Paris, you are not so impressed. This is because there is a gap between the prefabricated image you came with - made by media, books, stories, movies, artworks etc. But once you are there, a mysterious virus is slowly infecting you, minute by minute, day by day. Back home, after a couple of months, you start missing Paris, like out of nowhere - it is a very intriguing feeling... And one day you just want to take the first plane to Paris, with nothing precise in your head - just to be there. This happened to me, to my wife and many other peoples that I know.I remember that once (in 2000, I think) an old French Lady, (very conservative and very "burgeoisie") asked me like she already knew the answer: "Wouldn't you like to live here forever?". My answer disappointed her deeply: "Well, Madame", I told her, "I'd rather not live here. It is very beautiful, but it is like a Museum. Who would like to live in a Museum? You came, you visit, but then go back home..."
I am still not convinced that I would like to live in Paris. To stay longer - several months, a year - maybe, but not an entire life... But not because Paris (also) feels like a Museum, but because it's charms works like this: you must go away for a while in order to desperately want to come back... Once in Paris, it's virus goes into sleep. Once anywhere in the world but Paris, the virus is awake and working. It is like a Siren song. It is like a fascinating mistress. And you don't live with you mistress, but you go and visit her from time to time...
What do I really like about Paris apart from it's vast historical spaces, old architecture, that "art du vivre" and a certain lifestyle? The big and mortal charm of this town lies above all that, well beyond all these... And it is a mystery you don't want to solve...
And it is also like a perfume you are in love with. You cannot have it in you, on you, every second. Wearing a perfume also means a fine dosage between having it and not. The pauses in wearing a scent are making you to miss it deeply. In the morning, once out from the shower, when your skin is fresh and clean, you suddenly need your perfume on your skin - you need the physical contact. You need that unique combination between your skin scent and the fragrance. Inside the bottle, a fragrance is nothing but an chemical abstraction, an enigma. Once you put it on you, it becomes a mystery you know so well but you cannot put into words. It is like a dream you cannot spell without ruining it's magic. And when you are not wearing it, it's image in your head is so alluring and elusive - it is like the most fascinating and beautiful woman you want to make love with. You can have her but only for a period of time designed to raise your desire more and more, create addiction, only to escape from you again...
Well, maybe this is it: Paris is like a perfume... Because, after all, a perfume is about the image it creates in your head, about the feelings it raises in your soul...
I did this image last time I visited Paris - early this year, in March... I know that one might say it is a cliche - Tour Eiffel... But a true lover of Paris knows: the photographs with your beautiful and beloved mistress are never the same and never enough...
So, back to Paris again... Next week you will see the images...
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