A Love Letter to the City of Lights

Our Aara edition on the city of lights is very special for many reasons. Paris is a city dear to our hearts, our creative muse as the base for our headquarters, and a city so admired and so often misunderstood. So for that reason, we decided to write to the world and our community to give our take on la belle de mille lumières, the beauty of one thousand lights.

The city has changed a lot in the past decade, it has become more international, more dynamic, more open, and ever-changing as always. Of all European cities, this has definitely become one of the places to be (saying that as a long time ex-Londoner).

As much as Paris can be infuriating and tense for Parisians, Paris is the ultimate muse for beauty or what we like to commonly call in France “le beau”, “the beautiful” quite literally. I have never stopped feeling to this day, as a Parisienne, amazed, touched by the striking details of the city, from the impressive sculptures and architecture, to the colours of the city that change in function of the sunlight, to the carefully decorated and thought through establishments’ front doors, everything is a source of inspiration. It is no wonder that artists throughout time and history have all had their time in the city.

What I hope for Paris is for us to find again our sense of community, living well together, improving the general cleanliness of shared spaces, more soft transport options because cycling in Paris is so precious, maintaining its beauty through time, and cherishing and conserving what made the city famous in the first place: its creativity, its boundless fuel.

As Parisians, we are what we are, and despite the complaints and the stolen “connard” (d*ckhead) from a cyclist to a car driver, Paris is truly the city of effortless beauty.

In other words or in a paraphrase of Angèle: Paris je t’aime.