Paris: A trip to the most beautiful city in the world

It’s six o’clock in the morning and Paris is waking up. Bit by bit, the warm lights reflecting through cafe windows cast a warm glow onto the tired faces of their early-morning customers, similar to the first light of dawn that brings the sleepy city back to life.

It’s eight o’clock and Paris has awakened. The great avenues that criss-cross the capital and breathe into it life, bordered by the elegant Haussmannian architecture, start to come alive. On the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, lovers separate and embrace. Doisneau’s photo is constantly replayed: same scenes, different characters. All around, people are either escaping or being swallowed into metro: Châtelet, Palais Royal, Musée du Louvre, Opéra. For the tourist, however, these are the keys to another world, one that natives seem to ignore.

It’s ten o’clock and Paris starts to drain. Now abandoned by the labouring hoards, the city gives itself to the curious. All along its leylines it whispers its story, meeting its old sacred stones: the Louvre, the Concorde, the Champs Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe. And, as if following some chronological frieze, the leylines all lead to la Défense, where stone gives way to iron and glass, where the buildings rise upwards tenderly touch the sky. Like that, the chandelier-lit city of romantic dinners becomes a business village illuminated by advertisement lights.

It's midday; Paris is on the menu: jambon-beurre eaten on the go in a tree-lined park; steak and chips, accompanied by a glass of wine on the terrace of a brasserie; traditional regional recipes, reminding those who have moved to the capital of their roots; and a subtle mix of flavours and exceptional products, skilfully presented by Michelin-starred chefs. Gastronomy in Paris, always innovative, remains its own attraction!

It's two o'clock in the afternoon and Paris is rising. High in the sky, the Eiffel Tower has watched over the city for 120 years. This iron skeleton, whose life was supposed to be mere ephemera, has become the symbol of the city. Notre Dame grows larger as you walk along its square. At its feet, the Latin Quarter displays its meandering little streets, which once upon a time had a sleazy reputation. Today, restaurants, small shops and bookshops delight passers-by.

It's 4 p.m. and Paris rises, culturally this time. The city reveals a whole world where different shapes, letters, colours, sounds, images, and words take form. Theatre, music, painting, sculpture, cinema, poetry, Paris is as beautiful as she is cultured. Centuries of writers have haunted these streets...

It is 6 p.m., Paris is escaping. The bell has rung and the students, finally free, invade the squares and parks.... Surrounded by grey stones, it is in the gardens that natural colours flourish, like an echo of the shop windows nearby. Whether it is the Luxembourg Gardens, the Tuileries Gardens, the Jardin des Plantes, the Floral Park or the Montsouris Park, these islands of green in the very heart of the city are reservoirs of oxygen, calm and children's laughter.

It's 8 p.m., Paris is celebrating. The sun is setting and the Champs-Elysées is adorned with its string of luminous pearls. It has the grace of a diva, the sobriety of upper class. Its carpet of grey flagstones is offered to onlookers; it’s time to descend the metaphorical ladder, each rung a new luxury store. But the Champs-Elysées does not have a monopoly on luxury and taste in Paris. Throughout the city, the names of the great couturiers are displayed in golden letters alongside the great jewellers and luxury hotels!