Paris

This post is less turistic as you may think. It is about people, spirit and connection. Let me explain, back in 1998 when I was still working for a multinational, I had a 2 weeks holiday in Paris. At that time, my impressions where linked to the time spent with my cousin and less about museums or buildings.

Actually I do remember that I felt more interested in watching the recent awarded movies from Oscar than visiting Versailles for instance.

We arrived Tuesday night in a cold Paris, the hotel did not make us the  best impression, the intensity of mold smell combined with lack of heat gave us a false start. The first morning started with a strong coffee and hopes, however the wind made us wonder what is this seasons discussion, we felt like in a late fall. The destinations chosen made us appreciate more the Romanian hospitality, customer service is a foreign language in Montmartre restaurants.

Why do we always have high expectations? Because we visited  other cities like Barcelona and felt much better treated. Slowly we came back in Denfert and found many good restaurants with different people. Tony, for example our neighbor Bistro, was very friendly and explained that they all know each other, I saw them eating together Saturday, even taking a snack on a car of one of the regular clients.

So what is the lesson here?

We belong to communities and when travel is better to lower the expectations and look for normal places, without flashy marketing or intense traffic. If Paris can be number 1 in the world, I wonder if we as Romanians can invite friends from abroad and show them our way.

Just an idea, the action behind this will follow soon in Meschendorf.