The City of Lights is not a museum ; people live here, including nice ones. But let’s get back to the beginning.
A few weeks ago, there was a lot of discussion about two videos.
First one, released by the Paris City Council, is “Paris Je t’aime” (“Paris I love you”), a touristic— and cliché — view of the city (see below). Second one, “Paris, on t’aime aussi” (“Paris, we love you too”), released by two local movie directors, is an answer, showing the other side of Paris : its people.
Why would I want to tell you about that ? Because this has to deal with the way travellers can discover the real Paris or just the touristic part. As a welcomer, I’m involved.
After the Paris Terror Attack in late 2015, the City Council launched a new campaign promoting tourism, named “Paris, Je t’aime” (“Paris, I love you”), including a video.
This video shows exactly what feels wrong with actual tourism.
Okay, our museums and monuments are world-famous, and everybody wants to see the Eiffel Tower at least once in his lifetime. But is that all ?
Do you, foreign people, just want to come here to take a few pictures and then go back ?
Or do you want to discover what it’s like to live in the City of Lights, to dive into Paris’ culture, to feel like Parisians for a few days ?
It’s a matter of “touristic Paris” vs “real Paris”.
Stones and art vs vivid neigborhoods ;
The Eiffel Tower vs restaurants and bars ;
The tourist areas vs the places Parisians go to.
First video : “Paris Je t’aime” (“Paris, I love you”)
By Jalil Lespert, released by the City Council.
Notice that everything is inside : ballet, the Eiffel Tower, fashion, the Eiffel Tower, tourists with selfie sticks, the sightseing buses, the Eiffel Tower, fireworks, and ho ! The Eiffel Tower.
From here, it looks like a cliché movie about clichés.
This is a sterotypical view of Paris, only made for tourists to dream. These are the touristic districts where you can gofor days without meeting any Parisian.
Yeah, we never go to the Eiffel tower.
Want to see where we Parisians go ? Watch this one.
The answer : “Paris, on t’aime aussi” (“Paris, we love you too”)
By Max & Leo, two local directors. That’s what we call a pretty good title. It’s like saying “we’re not world famous, or fancy or whatever but we love our city too”.
People in the subway, food, people doing sports, firemen, drinks, people at the markets, dancers, artists, policemen, musicians, kids… See the difference ?
People are the main focus of this video.
Here is what Max & Leo wrote on this video (translated) :
“Paris, it’s not only the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and the Trocadero
It is also Barbès, La Chapelle and the subway
Paris is not only foie gras and snails
It is also a good tajine and a Phở !
Paris is above all the mixture, and diversity
Of course, La Fayette, La Fontaine and Hugo
But also M’Bassa, Nguyen and Hidalgo
What do you think ?
Kisses”
Because we are the ones that makes this city alive. We are the Parisians.
“Meeting locals it is the best way to get to know a place when you travel — after all, people make places.” Anna, from Bonn, Germany
Of course, it’s better to discover both sides.
I’m not writing to lecture you ; when I travel myself, I like to go to the main monuments, places and museums. But then, I always try to meet local people to immerse myself into the place’s culture, to share life experiences and passions with them, to open my mind and heart.
And it seems like I’m not the only one, according to the travellers I meet and welcome in Paris ; there’s loads of us !
But it’s like nobody ever speaks out loud about that, and always focus on the “must see” (I hate this expression, there is no such thing as a “must see” — we wrote a story about the “musto do’s” in Paris. Hint : there are none).
When I meet travellers to make them discover Paris, they never ask for the Tour Eiffel, or Champ Elysées or whatever. They ask (real requests) :
- “I want to see where you and your friends go to chill.”
- “Show me a real Parisian place, where I can smell the real city’s perfume.”
- “Let’s just walk around and talk about La Commune and other history parts.”
Basically, they ask to discover the real Paris with a Parisian. Simple as that.
So, for once, a “cliché” touristic video was smartly answered with another video about the real Paris, and I had to share it with you, travellers.
What do you think about these videos ?
From South Pigalle with love,
JB
I read and reply to every comment on Medium, feel free to answer.
If you want to learn more about our Welcom’ to Paris project for travellers, we have a dedicated publication here.
And here is our landing page, if you want to subscribe to our newsletter (we don’t spam, we don’t sell data) :
(English is not my first language, so if you find typos or mistakes, please tell me.)
