I want to become Paris

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.

Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast 

The Paris I mentioned is of course the capital of France, the city of Paris. Certainly not the Paris, the prince of Troy, a coward. Though I have never really lived in Paris before, I am lucky enough to have visited Paris, not only once but a few times. And these few times are more than enough for me to start to understand what Ernest meant. 

Each time I went to Paris, I went with different person and each of them is equally important in my life. I went there once with a bunch of new friends, once with my old friends from high school, once with a Parisien, once with my first love and even once alone with nobody. For all these times, Paris has never failed me. Every visit to Paris is a new sensation. 

Ernest considered Paris as a feast but I see Paris as a living man. He has Eiffel Tower as his romantic appearance to face the world ; Arc de Triomphe and Invalides as insignia to a soldier,  to represent his status and power ; his financial capability is relatively strong as he has La Défense ; with Pigalle, he knows very well his sexual side ; he knows literature and art very well too ; he certainly knows fashion, as most of the world recognises him as the edge of fashion. He even has a wild and darker side like the quartier Saint Dénis. 

Paris has many sides. It seems like he knows many things. The more I visit Paris, it is becoming apparent that he really knows many things. 

If Paris is really a human being, I will say he is more like a 40 year-old man, or may be woman. Gender doesn't matter here, since i always think 40 years old is the golden age of human. At this age, a human had seen enough, experienced, mature and also charming. If considering human can live until 70 years old, then 40 years old is like the half way point. I am looking forward to 40 year-old me, eager to achieve the mindset of a 40 year-old. I like Paris so much, most probably because I see the person I want to become. At 40 years old, a person will start to understand the world around him. Probably, he will know a little bit of the meaning of life too.

Unlike the other european cities I had been to, Paris is the only one that I don't mind going back there again and again and again. In my opinion, if considering a city as a human being, Rome with all those thousand year-old rocks is like a very old man ; Venice is too pretentious ; Athens, also fill with ancien rocks, but is more like a dying old man. London is the closest to Paris, but I still think London is a little too modern than Paris, that gives Paris a slight edge. 

At a certain point of my life, I realised, photos nor videos cannot capture the charm of Paris anymore.