Paris-City of Love; City of Light

On September 25th, 2024, the sky was grey and periodically threatened rain. My good friend made his way to my rental condo in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. He wanted to be there to say “goodbye.” I was flying back to Canada, somewhat reluctantly. My reluctance was due wholly to the variety of friends I made, mixed with my love for the language and the multitudes of cultures surrounding me daily. 

During my previous trip in April, I decided that the next time I came back, I would explore living in Paris instead of just visiting it. So, I booked a one-way ticket for August 25th, 2024. Interestingly, I hadn’t realized that I would be present for the Paralympic Games. What timing!!

An Unlikely Event

The parade and opening ceremony were set to take place a few days after I landed. I decided to make my way down to central Paris for a chance to witness some of the revelry. To my surprise, they were allowing all visitors and citizens free access to the parade along the boulevard from the Champ Elysees to the Place de la Concorde, where the opening ceremony entertainment would take place. Of course, free access would only be available on big screens. Meanwhile paying customers had seats in the stands for direct access.

The day was perfect; sunny and warm, unlike the previous Opening Olympic ceremonies on July 26th, 2024. Drizzle, sprinkles then full-on, nonstop rain drenched those ceremonies. However, this didn’t dampen the celebratory mood of all the participants. I recall watching this ceremony on TV and thinking how exceptionally creative and original it was.

Making a Difference

Many aspects of this Paralympic ceremony struck me as unique much like the previous Olympic Ceremony in July. These ceremonies involved unique choreography and music from various artists.

For instance, one of my favorite performances was L’émouvante by Lucky Love. The dance troupe consisted of diverse physically challenged individuals such as people in wheelchairs, amputees, etc. The main singer, Luc Bruyère stage name “Lucky Love”, a former cabaret singer, dancer, drag artist, and musician, is also an amputee. The performance lasted almost 5 minutes, and it was another exquisite production like the performances witnessed in the previous month.

L’émouvante by Lucky Love Publisher France TV September 2024

For me, the ceremonies truly echoed the atmosphere I fell in love with on my first trip to Paris. One which supports the day-to-day practice of inclusivity, diversity, tolerance, and respect for all. By the end of the evening, I felt warm and fulfilled for having been part of the experience.

Image by Theresa K. Howell
Image by Theresa K. Howell

Final Words

The Paris Olympic and Paralympic opening ceremonies showed a world of possibilities in how we can perceive sport, art, culture, diversity, inclusivity, respect, and a love of life. This is why they are in the category of “Changemaker” for us in 2024.  

 In the next installment, we will feature another artist, Richard Poher. He is a French Jazz musician who uses two diverse and distinct instruments: the piano and the digeridoo. With his upcoming debut album, we will talk about his career and instrumental choices. You will discover why he is a changemaker in his field.

Richard Poher performing Zalem YouTube Published in October 2023

EARTH WEEK 2024 – Transportation Around France

Get ready for France’s upcoming international activities! No, I’m not talking about the Olympics. However, the Paris, France 2024 Olympics is monumental. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the last time they held the Olympics. This event and their proactive stance on climate action could explain the recent national and transnational transportation infrastructure investments.

France National Assembly Building displaying Olympic figures

Eye-Opening Moments

During this year’s Earth Week, I want to discuss revelations from my recent Spring trip to Paris, France. This revelation involves France’s focus on transportation. This was my first trip to France, and I naively brought my North American lens of transportation with me. With this, I booked a car for a planned road trip during my vacation. This experience was eye-opening. I soon learned that the electric car I booked was probably not the best choice. The FIAT 500e can travel 240km before needing to be charged. New to this country, the rental agent recommended the same Fiat 500 in the hybrid model. I complied. Well, this wasn’t the first lesson about driving in France.

My first experience, regarding traffic, was when I took an Uber which was cheap and handy from Malakoff to Paris 3 days after my arrival. I got a quick education on Paris traffic that day from the backseat of the Uber. My driver weaved through various streets at noon to avoid huge traffic backups. I observed his mastery at avoiding cars and motorcycles weaving close beside us to gain their respective spot in traffic.

I asked him how he manages his sanity driving in this chaos as a retired citizen. He responded, “I do meditation, every day.” I said, “I can understand how that would help with this type of traffic.”  The traffic is “by no means” synchronized with only lion-hearted individuals taking on this challenge.

Transportation in Paris

I am painting this picture to establish the foundation of why Paris’s public transit system is not only essential but well used. I was already using the Metro from Malakoff, a district outside of Paris Central. However, I never realized how essential the metro is to Paris and the outlying districts until a quarterway through my trip. “It is the second busiest metro system in Europe, also it’s the tenth busiest in the world. It carried 1.498 billion passengers in 2019, roughly 4.1 million passengers a day. This makes it the most used public transport system in Paris. It also transports at least 63% of Parisians daily in opposition to the 11% using vehicles for their commute.

Metro public transportation station entrance in Paris

Transportation around France

Now, let me get back to my road trip. Fortunately, I booked my car from the airport allowing me to avoid that city traffic I mentioned. Once on the road, I paid various tolls that are on most routes. The tolls can cost upwards of twenty euros. This was even different from my experiences in American where tolls are often a few dollars at most.

I soon realized, that if I decided to take the fastest and most direct route, it would require more time than using the trains running regularly between cities and townships around France. For example, my first stop was to Metz, France on my journey. So, I mapped it using Google. By car, the trip took me 3 hours and 20 minutes.  By train, the trip would only have taken me 1 hour and 30 minutes. So, in the end, I could have passively sat and enjoyed a scenic countryside view instead I drove a mundane thoroughfare to my first destination that day.

Roadtrip back from Colmar riding the transportation freeway

It is important to mention that one reason for driving was to give me the freedom to explore the countryside. Another educational moment was driving these freeways, I realized there were very few cars, and most users were semi trucks hauling goods. “The transport (national and international) of goods in France is dominated by road transport, with more than two billion goods transported each year. Road transport of goods is above all practical.”  Unlike North America, they use their rail to move people not goods.

Environmental Advantages

I also noticed how clean and lush the environment was around me. This climate and landscape are like my home province of British Columbia, but it seemed fresher somehow. I saw fields upon fields of vegetation from the yellow rapeseed, used in biofuels, and cereal crops plus varieties of deciduous trees. In contrast, BC conifers intertwine themselves with sprinklings of deciduous trees. BC’s conifer stands are seasonally under attack from climate change forces such as hotter seasons, pests, and wildfires.

Lush varieties of vegetation along the drive back to Paris

So, France is sustaining itself even amidst our changing climates. I suspect their approach to community transportation gives them an advantage as well. As observed, few people drive from city to city instead they use commuter trains and public transit in the major centres. Currently, Europe is discouraging short-range air travel with policies and extra fees to incentivize rail travel instead.

Investment in community and cross-country transport is a priority for France and Europe. Currently, there is a multibillion-dollar project for a transnational commuter train from France to Italy. Additionally, there are steep investments into broadening existing routes nationally and Germany. These extensions are bringing more commuter trains, both rapid and slow, across the country plus using subsidized costs to get people to board trains.

From my trip around France which included Paris, Malakoff, Metz, and Colmar, I learned so much about how a small country is doing huge things about moving people around conveniently and cheaply. France is another shining example of how to approach transportation in a cleaner climate-friendly manner.

By Theresa K. Howell

2024 is my first post since the last updates in SPRING 2022 PART I & PART II. This is my monumental moment. 🙂