Category: Paris

The urbanization of all cities has a good point and bad point to the city. In history government work and make an importance for urbanization and renovation of the cities, but any government in the world didn’t think about the future, they just think about themself and for their day. Recently, I was born in a Paris banlieue and grow up in a banlieue named Saint-Denis, our problem for people who lived in a banlieue is that, we are ejected from the society. In addition, people who lived in a banlieue have a lot of problem to integrate in society, we can’t go in school in Paris, people are looking badly when we walk in a street in Paris, we are ejected from everywhere. It was not because of the politic of today, it was the problem of urbanization of Paris in the past. Therefore, this situation is because of the Haussmann renovation of Paris which create ‘Les banlieues’ of today, secondly the limit or in another word the invisible ‘wall’ between Paris and his banlieue, named ‘Le Boulevard Péripherique’ and finally the design of the banlieue.

First of all, Paris is the center of the history in Europe, this city has experienced a lot of change during the history, but the big and the final change which makes Paris of today is Haussmann. The transformation of Paris lasted 18 years in the government of Napoléon III in 1852. Paris situation was very bad, like the French writer, Victor Hugo, described for us: “Paris is an immense workshop of putrefaction, where misery, plague and diseases work in concert, where hardly penetrate the air or the sun. Paris, it is a bad place where plants fade and perish, where on seven small children it dies six in the year” (Hugo 1837). The project intention is to give a new life in Paris. The project covered all subject of urbanization, new street and boulevards, new public spaces and public monuments was created, the most important of Haussmann work was his new plan of Paris. Haussmann was divided Paris. In the center and west, offices and bourgeois neighborhoods, to the east and the periphery the poorest habitats and industrial activities. After a longue period, the east and the periphery became the place not only for poor people, but the place of the migrant families, the place of the poorest families, and the place which French society doesn’t want to have an information about it. Les Banlieues were created by Haussmann he doesn’t think about the future, now the problem is not just being poor but being migrants was also a problem, his urban and politic intention by moving people here cause an inequality between Paris and his banlieue. People can’t integrate in society because they can’t have any contact with Parisian people.

Secondly, in 1956 French government continue also to develop Paris by also ejecting the ‘banlieue’. The big ring road which are between the limit of Paris and the banlieue named ‘Boulevard Périphérique de Paris’ divided completely Paris in two, this road measures 35 km it has 38 doors between the banlieue and the ring road (France Inter, 2013). But as we are rich or poor the ring road changes face. In the North and in the East, it has a repulsive air to the point that we try above all to avoid it. Paris and his banlieue turn its back, a Parisian or a person from the banlieue (Banlieusard) can’t imagine to walk through this urban monster. “The desire to delimit the border between Paris and the suburbs is underlined as part of the reflections on the design of the peripheral by the Inspector General, head of technical services of topography and urban planning. ‘Aris’, he wrote, ‘must be defined in an elegant and precise manner, so that strangers, approaching the Île-de-France, may say, ‘here is Paris’, without confounding it with Levallois, Aubervilliers, Pantin, Vitry, or Malakoff” (Pinçon-Charlot & Pinçon 2007). When I was child, I never imagine that I passed this road. We are obligated to went to Paris with taking metro or car. There were invisible doors between the metro also, when I passed the sub-metro to Parisian metro, the hygiene was different, people looked you like a monster. “The Périphérique, it’s like a rampart, like a wall – but more or less invisible” (The Guardian 2015). As this report says, ‘Boulevard Périphérique’ was the other reasons why people in the banlieue are alone and ejected.

Finally, urbanization and design in the banlieue was gone in a bad way, many architects like Le Corbusier make a lot of work like in the banlieue to solve the problem of housing. The modernism gives another problem for banlieue. The tradition of a city was forgotten, the street, place and district. They use the banlieue like an architectural sheet, the production of big project without any relation with the city, people who lived here are more and more spread they lost their connection to the city. In Saint-Denis (Banlieu), for example, there is a lot of big forums, or we can say an agora, like the project of Le Corbusier named ‘Les étoiles de renaudie’. People lived in this agora, they work here, they go in school here, they went to the doctor here, they don’t need to go in Paris, and this cause that they lost completely the connection with the city center.

To conclude, the urban problem of Paris was the limit created between Paris and his banlieue, people who lived in Paris banlieue have a lot of problem in life because of the problematic urbanization. Solving the problem without thinking have some bad consequences like here, but as said Henri Lefebvre: “The people of Paris will continue to love Paris, a place of corruption, luxury and lust, this fabulous accumulation of wealth that it has produced and which is economically and culturally discarded by relegating it far from the center radiating from city. By the Commune, by the demonstrations and festivals, by the military action as by the decisions of the Communards, he will reconquer his property, and first his city” (1965, pp. 133-134).

My first trip to Paris was a remarkable experience, which I will never forget. My parents drove from Vitoria to Paris at the cold Christmas weather. We stayed until the New Year in a hotel located in a suburb of Paris and visited the city every day. It was a great feeling to arrive in Paris and see the city of light. I will never forget when I first went through, passing the canals and seeing the monuments. It was like a huge open-air museum. It was love at first sight.

It was dark in the evening, Christmas lights illuminating the whole city. It was bright, almost like daytime. The streets were very busy, full of shoppers marching from one shop to another. I was fascinated seeing the Palais Garnier, which is the Paris Opera House. My dad parked the car in a small one-way street nearby. When we reached the main road, there was an underground station with a big, lit-up sign displaying the word ‘Métropolitain’. He did not make note of the road name, as he thought that the name of the station would be sufficient for finding the car again. We visited the Opera House and walked towards Place de la Concorde. We walked back to find the car. My dad located what looked like exactly the same ‘Métropolitain’ sign that he had noted in his head, but it was not the right street. My dad became anxious and confused. He approached people who were passing and told a French man in English that we were looking for ‘Métropolitain’ station. He pointed towards the station. My mom asked an American couple who were tourists. The guy said, “why don’t you go inside the station and find out?”. My dad approached the woman behind the counter and asked her the same question. She said, “c’ est Métropolitain”. He repeated, “but this is not the same”. She laughed, “Tous sont métros de Paris, ils sont tous le Métropolitain”. She continued in broken English, “All … Métropolitain”. Finally, my dad released of his mistake and understood that the ‘Métropolitain’ sign was the symbol for all metro stations in Paris, not the name of one station! This was just the beginning of our nightmare. How were we going to find the car? It took us nearly over two hours walking through many streets that all looked the same. It was a miracle that my dad finally found the car.

It was late in the evening and we were hungry. We decided to eat in a recommended Lebanese restaurant in a street very close to the Champs-Élysées. We parked close by, so that we could watch the car easily.

We stayed in Épinay-sur-Seine in the north of Paris, 11.3 km from the city center. The next morning, we walked around the small town. It was Christmas and all the shops were closed. We were happy with our hotel, but we decided to check the prices of other local hotels. I saw a very nice building marked ‘Hotel de Ville’. I told to my parents to approach to the building, but the door was closed. After a few minutes a man opened a window. My dad asked him, “how much is it per night?”. He replied, “Qu’est-ce que vous voulez?”. I repeated my question. He simply said, “Il est fermé”. I could not understand him. I asked him again, “I just want to know the prices”. He shouted, “Il est Noël. Le bureau est fermé”, and closed the window. We wondered what kind of hotel this was and left. When we were in the center of Paris, I saw another Hotel de Ville. It was a large building that looked like a palace. I suggested to my mom that it was possibly a five-star branch of the same hotel. It was only when we visited the tourist office to get directions to various sightseeing places that we found out the Hotel de Ville is actually the city’s municipal office!

We stayed in Paris for ten days and had a fantastic time. I loved everything about this romantic city and vowed to never hesitate to come back to experience it again and again. But I promised myself that I would learn the language.

“KOMM KOMM KOMM MEINE DAMEN!” Says the staunch German hotel manager when we were about to catch our bus for the train to France.

FINALLY!… France…I am here! I am walking on the roads of Paris! A modern city with very deep history. I had never been to Paris and my first visit was a remarkable experience, which I will never forget. Experiencing the most beautiful city, “the city of light” as Paris is referred to as it was one of the first European cities to use gas street lighting. I learnt this from Josephine, a lady I met at this old vintage café when we were on our way to the Palace of Versailles. Claudia and I were so intrigued with the stories she was telling us in great detail and depth about her family heritage and her French heritage. All I could really focus on was listening to her speak English with her French accent. Since I was 13 it was always on my bucket list to go tour France with a Barret, styled nicely with my hairstyle and a hot buttery croissant in my hand whilst capturing the most beautiful sunsets by the Eiffel Tower and now I can tick that off.

In the course of 3 action-packed days. My journey began on the 28th August 2019 where I caught a train from Munich to Paris. I managed to take a walk to the Norte Dame but unfortunately did not go and explore inside the Cathedral. As well as cruise the Siene River, go up the Eiffel tower and stand underneath the Arch De Triomph. What excited me so much about traveling to Paris was that we traveled by train. I absolutely love trains. Traveling by train made me feel like I was living in the old days, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of playing cards and making a little picnic with my friends in our carriage in the train. Sightseeing and seeing all the different scenery especially coming into Strasbourg Quartiers Centraux and seeing the different design of architecture was amazing. I arrived in Paris at 12:45. As soon as I stepped foot off that train, the smell of fine French pastries filled the air, manipulating me into buying one immediately. I heard my stomach roaring for these pastries and in less than 30 seconds Hannah and I had followed the comforting smell of the freshly baked pastries and bought a hot buttery croissant which did not touch sides! The day went on for hours, it was amazing because we toured Paris in our Birkenstocks flat. Our feet were aching and blisters were forming but it was worth it.

I have to say that my most exciting experience in France was spending the whole day walking around, gathering bits and pieces of delicious pastries, meats, exotic fruits and sweets for our picnic at the Eiffel Tower that evening. Watching the sun set and seeing all the lights magically appear up on the tower gave it a fantasy feeling which did not feel like life but all a dream. We met a few French teenagers on a cruise that night. They were the funniest and wildest teenagers we met. They made our time there so much better and a lot more fun as we got to learn a lot more about the city like the best places to go and watch the sun sets and enjoy a sweet crunchy Dacquoise. They thought us a bit of the local slang. When you go and visit cities and exotic places, you need to make friends with the locals because they teach you so much about the area that you are in.

It amazed me how different Paris/ Europe is so different to South Africa and how everything works quite differently. This is something I would do again to learn more about different cultures and ways of life.