Romance in Venice & Paris (Chapter 3 - Paris)

Paris is beautiful and romantic, far more than its English counterpart London. Maybe it is the Haussmann Effect of planned wide boulevards and avenues, large open public spaces, mid-rise similar classical-styled apartments in terms of materials lining the well paved streets. Maybe it is the Arts streets in the old Latin Quarter where many artists and sculptors are at work in their individual shops. Maybe it is the grand Hotels & Cathedrals. Maybe it is because I see many tourists, but I hear still more French. Maybe because I learnt about the French Revolution for my A Levels, and I see many buildings with historical significance, the Place de la Concorde where Louis XVI & Marie Antionette, and then Robespierre were executed, and then the Hotel des les Invalides where Napoleon's body lies. All the maybes aside, I just couldnt stop humming to myself in Paris.

But nothing is hardly perfect. And at the Eiffel Tower, there were many locals trying to sell us mini Eiffel figuirines. Perhaps it is no simple coindence that all of them had African heritage. I wondered to myself how economically foolish it was for all of them to be selling the same thing at the same place within a few metres of each other. There is an obvious lack of demand, and any small demand there might be is competed out among themselves. Do they then share the profits together? They make no attempt to product differentiate in an obvious spatial monopoly scenario. How can they make a profit? or a Living? Despite France's extensive welfare state, there were still many people begging for donations on the streets. Are these illegal immigrants? Or does the welfare state create other worse negatives that lead to even more poverty?

The Lourve was my final destination in France. Mona Lisa. It is actually a rather small painting. But it is placed in a glass wall. In the room it is placed, there is also a huge painting by the Italian Venetian painter Veronese of the Wedding Banquet at Cana. But all eyes were on Mona Lisa. The Lourve allows photo-takiing now. And all the visitors were taking pictures of it. And I wondered why. Did they personally find it special? Or was it simply because it is a famous painting? Because someone else found it special? What was the use of a photograph? To prove that I have been to the Lourve and seen Mona Lisa? Does that photograph capture any emotions and feelings that one can recollect and reminisice in the future? I doubt so, not in all that crowd. To be honest, I did not enjoy my visit to the Lourve too much, and the only reason is, I have not enough knowledge of the invidividual artworks, or history of Europe and the World to fully appreciate them. That was made worse by the fact that the Lourve does not have English explanations for most of the exhibits. Quite shocking to me, considering it is THE museum of the world. But what I did, was buy a book published by the Lourve, that covers the history of Europe and the Middle East, and its individual exhibits. I will read them and return to the Lourve and Paris again soon.

I actually think that Paris carries many lessons for Singapore. From the French Revolution, to a vibrant arts culture, to the possible benefits of planning in creation of space, to retaining local identity. As for romance, yes, it's romantic. And I wish that one day soon, I will not be saying that alone.