People who visit Paris see the postcard. People who live here see the metro at 8:15, the grey months between November and March, the crowded pavements, the tiny apartments, the rent. After a few years, many Parisians admit they've stopped seeing their city at all.
If that's you, you're not ungrateful. You're just tired, and used to it. Familiarity is the enemy of wonder, in any city. The good news is that wonder can be practiced.
Small rituals to fall back in love
1. Be a tourist for one hour a month. Choose a neighborhood you never visit and walk it with fresh eyes, as if you'd just arrived. 2. Take the long way. Once a week, get off the metro a stop early and walk the rest. 3. Look up. Balconies, carved doorways, chimneys, the sky between rooftops. Paris is most beautiful above eye level. 4. Visit one place you've always ignored. A small museum, a church, a covered passage, a garden you only ever walk past. 5. Sit on a bench by the Seine. Ten minutes, no phone. Watch the water, the light, the people. 6. Go out early on a Sunday. Before nine, the city belongs to bakers, joggers and pigeons. It feels like a village again. 7. Write to someone who loves Paris and doesn't live here. Describe one ordinary moment. Describing your city to an outsider makes you see it through their eyes.
Why it works
Love fades when we stop paying attention, whether to people or to places. These rituals aren't about changing the city. They're about changing how you look at it, so that the Paris you fell for, or always dreamed of, can show up again in ordinary days.
Letters from a fellow city-dweller
The Letter & Magazine subscription sends you a letter and a postcard every month, with a meditation and a story about art, written from Paris, plus a seasonal issue of "(meditating) On Art". Reminders, from someone who also takes the metro at 8:15, that the city is still beautiful.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi