In Pictures: An Ode to Paris

Last week I found myself munching on a crusty-yet-fluffy baguette as I explored Paris with my friend Camille. Even though my visit sometimes bordered on the cliché—we visited the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre and the likes—the only conclusion I could draw was: god, I LOVE this city. Suffice to say, the timing of my trip couldn't have been better. Music wafted through the air because of the annually held Fête de la Musique, the sun caressed my pale cheeks almost continuously and love-struck couples walked along the Seine, their heads and hearts glued together.

(Tons of people reading Kafka passed my eyes, too. Because that's what you do when in Paris: you dig your teeth into difficult intellectual and philosophical prose, preferably whilst walking or in a smelly train during rush hour.)

Not me. I steered away from Sartre, Camus and Dostoyevsky. Instead, I had a baguette, a friend and a slice of creamy cheese: the perfect ingredients for feeling quite the heroine in my Woody Allen-esque Parisian fairy tale. And as I sat on a bench on the Pont Notre-Dame, I noticed a woman who enjoyed the setting just as much as I did. She walked past, but suddenly stopped and looked over the River Seine and into the pastel-coloured horizon. There, amidst a buzzing crowd, she found her moment of tranquility. A moment during which she soaked up the beauty of Paris, just like I did from my bench.

With my camera I tried to capture it all, the woman and other magical moments — the result of which you can see below. Maybe these images do not make sense as a whole, but they somehow all capture different yet equally stunning sides of Paris.