Paris is a city that gives you a reality check.

You’re reminded how truly small you are…I mean seriously, how many people can actually live in one city? You’re reminded how dirty humans can be. You’re reminded what the rich and wealthy live like, and in the next breath, see the pain and hunger of the poor.

A begging refugee outside Hermes.

Parisian girls smoking cigarettes and eating baguettes in the square.

A drunk man wandering back and forth up the Rue in front of the corner cafe that I sit,

while I drink wine and eat salade de poulpes.

Perspective.

Dictated by your point of view, your current position in the world.

If Paris and all it’s paradoxes weren’t enough, the iconic symbol of this city is what really did it for me.

The Eiffel Tower was something I never was overly eager to see, but was instantaneously humbled when I did. 324 meters tall (~1063 feet) and built in 1887, you could definitely say this structure is worth seeing in person. However, I have come to realize many visitors only come to see the Eiffel Tower from the ground-view. Huge mistake.

Long wait lines is the usual justification for not climbing or riding to the top of one of the world’s largest structures. Luckily, there are tickets you can buy ahead of time to reserve your spot.

I booked a guided tour to the top of the Eiffel tower on Get Your Guide and was able to choose between walking the steps to the top, taking the elevator, and just going to the first floor vs the top.

I highly recommend going to the very top, whether you climb or take the elevator, the view is breath-taking and again, provides so much perspective. I climbed the 674 steps to the top floor. Then you have an option to take the elevator to the Summit, an additional cost, roughly 20 Euros or so.

Looking down at the bustling, crowded city I had just been wandering through was….incredible..?

To be quite honest, there really isn’t a word to describe moments like these. A feeling of pure bliss, but also excitement and extraordinary peace. A feeling I have only felt while traveling, wandering, knowing I am walking my divine path. A moment of complete perspective shift, imparted by seeing the world from multiple angles.

I like to think this is God. Actually, I know it is.

So, thank you, Paris, with all your polarities and imperfections and beauty. Thank you for your pov.

It’s easy to get caught up in your little world, disguised as a big world, the only thing to consider, a world of emotions, pain, pleasure, and everything in between. It’s so easy to just forget your small, yet impactful life you have on this planet. Because this is your world, right? Everything you feel, you experience and love and hate, is all that you truly know. 

Standing below and then atop the Eiffel Tower today, I was reminded of my true size, but how real it feels, this big world of mine, all within me. 

A city like Paris brings to your attention the many big worlds we each live in…the drunk man stumbling down the street, trying to blend in, in desperate need of someone to recognize his world he has internalized as he floats among the hundreds of thousands of big little worlds we are all living…

And what am I? Here with my desires and past reflections and current thoughts. I am too, just floating.

We are all here. Living. Wishing. Experiencing. Moving, but also just stagnant in our big little worlds. 

-Paris, France: December 18, 2021