Making an effort

If I may take a moment today as Harvard and Yale go head to head in the 124th playing of "The Game" to fight for the Icy League championship to say: GO CRIMSON. My first time missing H-Y since becoming a Harvard student, I miss all my fellow Harvard peeps.

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Stefan is here, visiting for a few days. For anyone paying attention, he is the Paris virgin I wrote about yesterday. I love his excitement about the city, and I feel great every time he says: I know why you love it here.

Today, at his wise suggestion, we took a river boat trip along the Seine - we went on the famous, Bateaux Mouches. It is a trip along the Seine with a commentary educating tourists about the sights they are seeing. While I had already visited many of the areas we saw, the trip did take us further afield than I have yet walked, showing us more of Paris. On the western and eastern edges of the boat trip are areas that are obviously more modern, more industrial, more commercial, and generally less stereotypically Parisian.

It makes you realize that not all of Paris is the romantic, idyllic setting featured in most photographs (my own included), and that there has been an effort made to keep downtown Paris looking a certain way. It begs the question of how this was achieved.

As someone who generally disapproves of government involvement in people's lives, the idea of the government clearing away houses to build grand boulevards or only granting building permits upon approval of the architectural and aesthetic design of a building seems initially anathema. However, Paris proves its point: a leader showing some 'tough love' and guiding development in this way does work.

The efforts made here have created a central area of the city - quite large actually - that is surprisingly uniform and maintains a beautiful living and tourist destination. It has created a marketable image of 'Paris' that is predictable and relatively unchanging. It is not old or boring; it is beautiful and, well, Parisian.

It takes patience, money, courage, and an iron will, but Paris proves that it works - and it worth it.