It’s like walking into a movie...

Being in Paris is like walking into a movie. But, like actually. 


As I’ve walked through this city the past few days, it strikes me just how much of my knowledge of Europe, and particularly Paris, is shaped by film. It seems everywhere I go, little things about Paris evoke movie scenes in my head. It makes me feel like a silly little American, but in a way it’s kind of cool to see the real places that I’ve seen depicted in numerous films, and realize how those films inform my perception of the city.

One of the first things I remember noticing about Paris was on the drive from the airport to our hotel on my second morning in 18 hours. It was the police sirens. Parisian (and I think European in general) police sirens have a particular sound, that is quite distinct from American ones. It was something I instantly recognized though. Those sirens were a sound I’d heard many times over in movie car chases. Several different scenes from the Bourne movie series began playing through my head immediately. 

What does it say about me that the first thing I recognized in Paris were the police sirens that I’d heard in the Bourne movie series?

I know it’s a weird association to be the first that comes to mind, but I think I’ve watched those movies enough times to make Matt Damon racing through the streets of Europe in a bullet-ridden car the thing I associate most with that sound. My dad and I also just watched the second one the day before I left, so that might have had something to do with it.

There are other movies too though, ones that are a little more obvious. I’ve seen the Notre Dame several times now, and even went inside once. Without fail, every time I see it, the song “The Bells of Notre Dame” from the Disney movie of The Hunchback of Notre Dame immediately pops into my head.

Even when someone just mentions the Notre Dame I start to hear that song. And its actually just the chorus that goes through my head, so it’s just the same line (“The Belllllllllls ooooooooooof Nooooootreeeee Daaaaaaaaaaaammeeeeee!!!!!”) over and over again. In fact, it’s going through my head right now. It’s a great song, but at this point I’m quite sick of it. And we’ve still got another day in Paris.

I also saw Midnight In Paris last week, Woodey Allen’s new movie where Owen Wilson plays a writer completely enamored with Paris who magically gets transported back in time to Paris in the 1920s and meets the famous authors of that time. It’s a very cute film and I really enjoyed it. The entire movie is basically about the magic of Paris. As I was walking around the city, I kept expecting to feel like I was in that movie and be swept up in the magic of it all like Owen Wilson was, but it didn’t happen. Paris was definitely pretty, there was no doubt about that, but I didn’t really see the magic, what was so enthralling and spellbinding about the place. It just seemed like another city, only with nicer architecture.

But then, yesterday after all our group touring around was done (imagine a group of 30 + college students wandering around Paris all snapping photos at the same time. yep, we’re those tourists), three friends and I decided to wander around on our own rather than go straight back to the hotel on the group bus from where we were at the Notre Dame (“The bells of Notre Dame!”). We started walking through the nearby streets as the sun finished setting and the sky quickly darkened completely, prompting Paris to light itself up. 

Wandering through Paris at night is a completely different experience than during the day. Everything is well lit, and not just easy to see, but tastefully lit, as if to emphasize the prettiest parts of all the buildings. And the lights of the storefronts and street cafes somehow just fold seamlessly into the whole facade. All the shops and cafes I’d seen earlier that day looked somehow different at night. Things were more vibrant, and the streets seemed to transform into something less ordinary and altogether more memorable. 

There was a moment as I walked out of a corner grocery store onto an empty alley, waiting for my friends. It was just a narrow cobblestone road sloping around a corner completely devoid of people and storefronts, but with pretty buildings and lined with subtly twinkling street lamps. In that moment, I felt it. All that magic of Paris that everyone was talking about, the reason people fall in love with the city, why it’s such an enchanting place--I got it in that moment. I also felt like I had strayed into a scene from Midnight In Paris, and looked out, expecting to see if a magic car that would take me back to the 20s would appear around the corner.

Silly me, it was only 7 o’clock. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try again at midnight.

:)