Pomladni Pariz - Paris in Spring

Ne morem verjeti, da je že sredina februarja. Januarja je bilo konec kot bi mignil, še posebej zaradi vseh zadev, ki so se dogajale, odkar sem se vrnila v Pariz prvega januarja. Selitev iz enega stanovanja v drugega (pravzaprav sem potrebovala par tednov, da sem vse svoje stvari od vseh prijateljev, ki so jih shranili zame, prenesla v novo stanovanje), novo pripravništvo, Charlie Hebdo in ves pariški kaos, pomešan z žalostjo, strahom in jezo. Božičnih lučk ni več (hvalabogu, letos jih kar niso in niso sneli!). Malo je snežilo v Parizu, ravno toliko, da so vsi pretiravali z navdušenjem.

Prejšnji vikend je bil čudovit. Prava zima – mrzlo, a sončno. Okej, priznam, da bi moral biti sneg po vseh pravilih v tej zimski enačbi, ampak meni je čisto fino brez. V mislih sem že pri pomladi. Tulipani pripomorejo k temu, dnevi se daljšajo, in ko se vračam domov iz službe, ni več tako temno.

Ko sem zadnjič kolesarila, sem imela flashback mrzle, ampak čudovite pomladi v Kopenhagnu. Kolesarjenje po Østerbrogade, postanek na Gunnar Nu Hansens Plads za latte in tortico na sončku s sončnimi očali in odpetim plaščem, potem pa navdušeno opazovanje cvetličarn s čebulicami na poti, ki vabijo, da jih kupiš in preoblečeš svoje stanovanje v pomladno vzdušje!

V tem trenutku sem se zavedla, da očitno vsako leto enkrat februarja začnem sanjati o pomladi in vsem, kar paše zraven. Lani so me čebulice in sončno vreme spomnili na Kopenhagen pred enim letom, ko sem tudi sama dobila svojo čebulico, in zdi se, da mi je bilo to tako zelo všeč, da zdaj o tem sanjam vsako naslednje leto. Letos sem imela samo tulipane, ampak bom kmalu pogledala za kakšno čebulico, ki jo bom opazovala rasti.

Doma, v Sloveniji, pa se pomlad očitno zdi še kar daleč stran. Na Facebooku in Instagramu mojih prijateljev je nešteto snežnih in zimskih fotk. Zdi se mi precej čudno, če si poskušam predstavljati takšno vzdušje tu v Parizu. No, v vsakem primeru bom morala počakati še kakšna dva meseca, preden Ben and Jerry’s Cone Day pride v Pariz in odpre sezono sladoleda. Ampak veste kaj? Kdo pravi, da je ne morem odpreti sama? Pomlad, pridi kmalu! :)

I can’t believe it’s mid-February already. January has gone by in a flash. This was even more so given everything that has happened since I got back in Paris on the first of January. Moving from one apartment to another one (it took me several weeks actually to get all my belongings from all of my friends who had stored them for me), starting a new internship, Charlie Hebdo and Parisian chaos mixed with sadness, fear and anger. The Christmas lights are all gone by now (thanks god, they kept them forever this year!). It snowed a tiny little bit in Paris, just so everyone got overwhelmed.

The past weekend has been marvellous. The real winter – cold but sunny. Ok, I admit that snow should be in that equation too, but I am pretty happy without it. In my mind I am actually in the spring season already. Tulips contribute very much to that, days are getting longer and it’s not that dark anymore when I come back home from work.

When I was cycling the other day, I had a flashback of cold but beautiful spring in Copenhagen. Cycling down the Østerbrogade, stopping at Gunnar Nu Hansens Plads for latte and cake while sitting on the sun with sunglasses and open jacket, and then passing several flower shops with flower bulbs, inviting to buy them and bring the springish atmosphere in your apartment.

I’ve realised just now that apparently every year at some point in February I start dreaming about spring and all that comes with it. Last year the sunny weather and flower bulbs reminded me of Copenhagen a year before, when I got one for the first time, and it seems like I liked it so much that I dream of it every year since then. This year I’ve only had tulips but I will soon have a look for yet another flower bulb, which I will then watch grow.

Back home, on the other hand, spring apparently still seems far away. Facebook and Instagram feeds of my friends are flooded with snowy photos. It seems so strange to put myself in the wintery mood again, even though those photos are usually super beautiful. Well, I guess I will still need to wait for about two months before the Ben and Jerry’s Cone Day comes in town again and opens the ice cream season. But you know what – who says I can’t open it myself? Spring, come quickly!:)

Jutro v Parizu - Morning in Paris

Danes sem šla v službo pol ure prej kot ponavadi. Prisežem, da sem kolesarila skozi drugačen Pariz kot ponavadi. Kavarne, butiki, trgovine so bili v večini še zaprti. Avtomobili dostavljalcev so bili parkirani na pločnikih (in kolesarskih stezah, khm!), promet je bil precej zgoščen. Zdelo se mi je, kot da sem prišla na zabavo, ki se je še pripravljala in kjer je vladalo vzdušje naglice. Kot da se ponavadi tiste pol ure prej vse pripravi, da lahko lepo odkolesarim v službo. Vse se mi je zdelo drugače. Temperatura, sonce, vzdušje, svetloba.

Pol ure razlike. Nisem mogla verjeti. Edino, kar je bilo enako, je bila polna Velib postaja, kjer sem morala počakati, preden sem lahko parkirala svoje kolo.

Večkrat sem si že rekla, da bom vstala malo prej in izkoristila zgodnje jutro pred službo, ampak mi kar ne uspe. Zdaj, ko vidim, da Pariz diha popolnoma drugače, si želim, da bi se šla kdaj res zelo zgodaj zjutraj sprehodit po ulicah Pariza. Večer je prav tako precej spremenjen, včasih celo mističen, ampak brez te jutranje svežine in nežnega sončnega vzhoda. Za ponoviti vsekakor.

Today I went to work half an hour earlier than usually. I swear that I was cycling through a different Paris than usually. Cafés, boutiques, shops were mostly still closed. The cars of deliverers were parked on the sidewalks (and cycling lanes, khm!), the traffic was quite heavy. It seemed as if I came to a party that was still being prepared and where the atmosphere of a rush was omnipresent. As if usually it takes this half an hour to prepare everything, so I can cycle nicely to my office. Everything seemed different. The temperature, sun, the atmosphere, the light.

A difference of half an hour. I couldn't believe it. The only thing that remained the same was a full Velib station where I needed to wait before I was able to park my bike.

So far I have said to myself several times that I would get up a bit earlier and make the most of my early morning before work, but somehow I rarely succeed. Now that I see that Paris is breathing completely differently, I wish to stroll the streets of Paris at some point very early in the morning. The evening is equally different, sometimes I would even call it mystical, but this freshness and mild sunrise is not there. I will definitely do that again!

Oslo, part 1

Oslo sem si že nekaj časa želela obiskati, pa se je vedno izšlo tako, da sem na koncu potovala kam drugam. Enkrat nekam, kjer je bilo bolj toplo, spet drugič nekam, kjer je bilo ceneje – nekako sem vedno našla izgovor in odločitve nikoli nisem obžalovala, je pa Oslo vedno pri meni zbujalo neko posebno zanimanje, in to še toliko bolj v času, ko sem eno leto živela v Kopenhagnu.

Oslo in Kopenhagen sta se mi vedno zdela skandinavska brata. Norveška in Danska sta bili več stoletij del istega kraljestva, iz česar sledi, da je njun jezik zelo podoben (če berem norveščino, s pomočjo danščine kar dobro razumem kontekst), kultura prav tako, obe državi za plačilo uporabljata krone, krona pa je tudi simbol kraljevih družin, ki še danes obstajata v obeh državah. Seveda pa sta se državi kasneje razvijali ločeno in tudi danes je, na primer, Danska del Evropske unije, medtem ko Norveška več prednosti vidi v tem, da je sama svoj mojster.

Ko sem potovala v Oslo, sem bila torej nekako po svoje prepričana, da potujem v drugi Kopenhagen, ki je eno izmed mojih ljubših mest. Malo sem se uštela pri tem prepričanju. Oslo se od Kopenhagna precej razlikuje, kakor se tudi Norveška od Danske. Narava in površje sta precej drugačna pa tudi arhitektura mestoma res ni skupna, kar pomeni, da je bil moj prvi vtis precej čuden. Zdelo se mi je, da so edine skupne točke krone, bližina morja in simpatične kavarne. Še jezik se mi je zdel precej manj simpatičen od danščine, ko sem ga slišala na ulicah.

Oslo ni najboljše mesto za kolesarjenje. Medtem ko je Kopenhagen ravno mesto (kakor je tudi cela država) in torej zelo prijazno za kolesarjenje, je Oslo valovito mesto. Po hribu gor, po hribu dol, pa spet gor in potem dol. In to včasih na zelo kratki razdalji. Oslo ima poleg metroja še tramvaj, kar da mestu posebno podobo. Hiške na obrobju Osla so bolj podobne tistim, ki sem jih videla na švedskem podeželju in spominjajo na vilo Čira Čara od Pike Nogavičke kot pa kopenhagenskim. Mesto diha drugače.

I have wished to visit Oslo for a while now, but it always somehow turned out I travelled somewhere else. Once somewhere warmer, another time somewhere cheaper – somehow I always found a reason to go somewhere else and I’ve never regretted such decision. Oslo has, nevertheless, always attracted me, and this was even more so during my year in Copenhagen.

I’ve always seen Oslo and Copenhagen as Scandinavian brothers. Norway and Denmark used to be part of the same kingdom for several centuries, and hence their languages are similar (if I read Norwegian, I can actually pretty well understand the context with the help of my Danish skills), as is the culture, both countries use crowns as their currency and the crown is also a symbol of the two royal families that still exist in both countries. The countries have, of course, evolved separately later on and even today, for instance, Denmark is part of the EU whereas Norway prefers to be on its own.

When I traveling to Oslo, I was therefore somehow sure I was traveling to a second Copenhagen, which is one of my favourite cities. I was a bit wrong however. Oslo is quite different from Copenhagen, and so is Norway from Denmark. The nature and landscape are pretty different and so is architecture, which means that my first impressions were quite strange. The only common points seemed to be crowns, the presence of the sea and the nice cafés. Even the language seemed less nice than Danish.

Oslo is not the best city for cyclers neither. While Copenhagen is a flat city (and so is Denmark as such) and therefore nice for cycling, is Oslo a complete opposite. Up the hill, down the hill, and up again and then down. And this sometimes on a very short distance. Apart from the metro, Oslo also has a tramway, which gives the city even another atmosphere. The little houses in the suburbs of Oslo are more similar to those I saw on the Swedish countryside and remind me more of the villa of Pippi Longstocking than anything Copenhagen-like. The city breathes differently.

Po prvem stiku z vsemi temi čisto nepričakovanimi zadevami pa sem Oslu dala novo priložnost. Prisilila sem se, da sem mesto nehala primerjati s Kopenhagnom in ga doživljati kot novo mesto. Takrat sem začela uživati.

Vreme je bilo čudovito, dnevi so postajali čedalje daljši in zemljevida kmalu nisem več potrebovala. Hej, Oslo!

After this first experience, nevertheless, I gave Oslo a second chance. I forced myself to stop comparing it to Copenhagen and experience it as another city. That was the point when I started enjoying it.

The weather was beautiful, the days were getting longer and longer, and soon I didn’t need the map anymore. Hej, Oslo!