LOVE ME

Across from the Louvre is a foot bridge Pont des Artes in the heart of the old city. What began as a public art exhibit using locks with black hearts on them to show numbers of cases of domestic violence in France has taken on a life of its own. The bridge is also visible from the Seine boat cruises.

A little farther along written in 8 foot tall red letters on the stone wall along the river are the words LOVE ME. I’m wondering why that image sticks with me along with that of a beggar who sits with little dog dressed in a yellow rain jacket as I walk to the Metro each day; the lovely elderly gentleman immaculately dressed in jacket, scarf, jaunty hat in the evening as he shuffles along the busy street to purchase a loaf of bread and then slowly shuffles back; the gypsy children who swarm you trying to find a pocket to pick so they won’t be beaten; the sax and violin street and metro car musicians crooning la vie en rose; the large woman with a cane and heavily wrapped knee sitting on a chair at the Chartres labyrinth; people chattering and smoking non-stop at tables outside bistros.

There is a lot to love in Paris – food, art, fashion, entertainment, historic monuments and leading edge design. But as wonderful as it is, it can easily become a hedonistic love.

Paris is a complex organism – a curious mixture of layering of history and iconic artifacts acting as props and diverse cultural groupings that keep it still one of the the most frequently visited city in the world. There is an expectation of romance and glamour. I was able to have several small experiences of that, but today, my last day, it was different.

I ate lunch with friends who live here – the family of two sisters who stayed with us several years ago to practice English For a few hours I was able to experience Paris through their family and places they frequent. They relate to each other in such a loving way and extended that to me as a visitor. It transcended the dark and light and poignent and complex mix of images of a traveler, but now not a stranger in this stop along the way.