What Does Europe Smell Like? 🧐

After I'd dragged my suitcases up to my new apartment on the fourth floor, I video called my parents.

As I opened the big windows for the first time, I said:

"It smells like Europe here."

I know Finland is part of the European Union too, but the world definitely doesn't smell the same there. Finland smells too clean and clinical. The variety of smells in Paris is just as diverse as its inhabitants.

Even the tap water smells different here.

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I head off to the supermarket and discover that the garbage disposal system feels just as disorganized as it did last year. There's often trash just lying around on the sides of the streets, which feels weird compared to how Finns are used to recycling quite diligently in the garbage rooms inside their apartment buildings.

I notice a very dressed-up lady who starts walking in the same direction as me with her bike by her side. She had a 60's style light pink A-line skirt and a sleeveless top of the same shiny fabric. She also wore some sort of red fascinator on her hair and big sunglasses – and very high heels.

For some reason I thought she'd be a young lady, but it turns out she wasn't that young after all when I saw her face! Further on, she hopped on her bike and rode away.

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I look at the buildings around me and my memories come flooding back from when I used to walk these same streets last year. The classic wrought iron balconies look just as ravishing as I remembered.

I almost step on dog poo. Almost.

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"Madame? Where are the cashiers in here?"

A man asks me courteously.

I tell him where the cashiers are, and I realize:

A. How cool is it that I actually knew where the cashier was! (I went to that supermarket often last year.)

B. How cool that the man assumed I speak French AND that I could know where the cashier is!

C. It will never get old how cool it is that people call me "Madame" here. That is the best use of etiquette rules there is!

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I hope you enjoyed these random observations of Paris on the day of my return.

Do you have any fun anecdotes to share about Paris?

Bisous,

Elle