Tuesday 10 November 2015

Natalie's Adventures: An Ode to Paris

Tuesday 10 November 2015

Dear Paris,
You've left me confused. You see, I left London thinking that while I would encounter a beautiful city it would be just that and yet in the days that have passed since my return I have found myself dreaming of your architecture, your people, your autumn.

The leaves that fall from trees have never seemed quite as bright as yours and everything in London has since turned into a shade of grey. Maybe I take my city for granted, maybe I have never made an effort to leave the house and watch the sunset, maybe I have become so used to just tapping an oyster card and that being that which in turn left me wary when using the metro. You see, I hardly have to wait for a ticket to pop out at the other end in order for me to pass through, I never have to drag a suitcase through the tiny gates either. And that brings me onto another point. I never have to drag myself OR a suitcase up what feels like thirty flights of steps to switch tube lines in London. Because London has a little thing called escalators. My friend warned me about your habit inaccessibility but I didn't quite believe her, over the years many things that I hear often just ring straight through my head as an exaggeration. This, however, was not. It's no wonder that I hardly saw any wheelchair users during my trip, it's because they can't actually get anywhere. Now I'm sure that you have low obesity rates and, I must say, good for you, but what are the people with pushchairs supposed to do? What are the people with disabilities supposed to do? What was I supposed to do? You had many sights  that I absolutely fell in love with. The Sacre-Coeur and the Arc de Triomphe had some of the most amazing views I've seen (although they were monsters of a climb and I thought I was going to die 36463 deaths). The Louvre was beautiful and yet somehow, The Eiffel Tower was my favourite part of it all (with the only exception of Fajita night and Disney). I hope to see you again soon, Paris. And I hope you will welcome just as well the second time around.


All my love,

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