It's considered a good idea to go to Paris in spring since everything
is in blossom already, although there are not too many tourists yet.
We actually stayed not even in Paris itself but in a town of
Palaiseau where an old friend of mine now lives.
One of the things that really struck me was that Parisian suburbs are
not only liveable but lively. That's hard to imagine for people from
Moscow which is surrounded by dull or even ugly settlements.
Palaiseau is amazing. It has many old buildings and cosy streets with
bakeries and tiny cafés. I was also surprised by how often the
watchword 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity' is used to decorate
facades.
Another impressive thing was the driverless shuttle from Orly
airport. When I thought about such trains, I usually imagined an
empty driver's cab in front of them. Of course, there was simply no
driver's cab --- only ones for passengers.
And the last but not least was sakura trees in the Parc de Sceaux. If
we stayed in Paris, I guess, we would never see them since the park
is located outside of the city but not far from Palaiseau. I remember
Moscow where it was so hard to catch sakura blossom time, the trees
were scarce and fenced, the whole place was overcrowded and the queue
was immense. And here in France, one can see dozens of sakura trees
for free. Unbelievable.
