All is safe

I realized earlier that something I had said to a person in my hostel (thought I’m not sure I actually believed it at the time) couldn’t be more true: If I can do New York, I can do Paris. They say Paris can be a dangerous city, but I feel rather safe here.


I remember my first image of New York at the age of 9 was a ragged man sitting on the stairs to the metro with a stack of wallets. No one seemed to notice that he sat there separating the cash from the credit cards. You would never see anything of the like here as even the thieves have more respect and sophistication in their mischievous lifestyles. Like New York, however, the metro is the breeding ground for crime, which is why at first I thought I would avoid it as much as possible, but now I have other reasons. Paris is not that big. I don’t know the numbers exactly, but it is much like the size of Long Beach. More importantly, why would a visitor want to spend so much time traveling through the city underground when ever rue and avenue has so much amazing architecture to bear witness to?

With that in mind, I understand that part of the “perks” of staying in a hostel is getting to meet people, but I’m not here to make lifelong friends or to have sex. I hope it was just this one Brazilian who seemed to think it was okay to lecture me about traveling with a boyfriend at home as if hostels are for a place of “hooking up.” Can it just be that I’m a tight-budgeted traveler who wanted to visit this city since I knew of its existence? As well, I do not need a short companion to enjoy what I want from any city, and I think this man’s addiction to that is quite sad. For a city of “love,” these travelling men don’t understand the idea of fidelity and the sanctity of love.

I have lived alone since 20 — I am not one who needs others surrounding me to enjoy life. In fact, I get more joy observing from the outside, such as this moment while I write. I’m sitting alone nibbling away at my pizza as I take moments to watch the workings of the restaurant, giving the occasional smile and nod as necessary. My peace is sitting here alone without having to engage in conversation, and listening to every murmur around me; these are things I wanted to come to this city — and any place for that matter — to witness, and how can one do that without observing?

We could all maybe learn a few more things about each other if we stopped our mouths and opened our eyes wider. Infants are capable of learning so much their first couple years of life. Granted, much of this has to do with biology, but maybe it also has to with their inability to talk. When one isn’t using one of the senses, the others are heightened. Who is to say that speaking can be included in this theory?

The top photo is of the military grounds (which includes a Catholic church) and the photo above is one of the many different types of metro entrances.