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Paris: place where two opposite worlds meet

Once someone told me there was a big difference between tourist and traveler. In his idea, tourist was the person who went to all touristy places with photos to prove that he/she has already been there; while traveler usually spent more time at each place, learning culture, people’s way of lives, different culture and so on.

For me, I have never really asked myself which category I am fall into. If someone asked me, I guess I would say in between. More or less on each side depends on time, place and the people whom I go with. At least, when I traveled as a backpacker, I got to spend more time wandering down the street, using all means of public transportation and mingling more with local people. So, in my opinion, I would like to say that I fall more into traveler’s side.

My first trip outside Spain was probably one of the most famous attractions, Paris. The downside of going to famous places is you often have perception or picture of the place in your mind before going there. Paris equals glamour, luxury, fashion, etc. However, after traveling through subway, walking along the street while also going to all main tourist attractions, I realized there were two opposite sides right here in this city.

One side is the Paris as we know; the hub of all the famous art galleries, museums, churches, palace and luxurious shopping streets. However, on the other side, under the subway or the streets outside tourist area, it was so dirty and sometimes with the smell that we had to hold our breath or turned our face away. I could somehow feel mixing feeling between hate and love in the eyes of people whom are suppressed and referred as second-class. The reason that I believed they hate this city as they tended to break as many rules as they can, treat the city like garbage; probably to return the favor as this was how they were treated by the local. However, there must be some love toward the city they called home. I could not imagine a person could live in the place where there are full of hate or the place where he/she does not feel belong to.

Anyway, I did enjoy the trip with all my friends, both the old and the new. We spent freezing weekend traveling to many places around Paris and somehow survived with so little French. “Bonjour! Parlez vous Anglais ?” (Hello, do you speak English?) ^-^

Create Date : 16 พฤศจิกายน 2550

Last Update : 16 พฤศจิกายน 2550 17:39:52 น.

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