France, Paris. L’amour, l’amour, toujours l’amour

France, Paris.

L'amour, l'amour, toujours l'amour



Yesterday it was hip and trendy Brits and glamorous financial towers along the Thames; today it’s the City of Love and the art of living along the Seine. Only in Europe can you find two such contrasting cities just a few hundred miles apart. France and its capital city Paris were the 19th stop on Christa Klickermann’s European journey … and a place she was returning to after a 38-year absence. Back then the newly-qualified hotel manager spent a few carefree months at the international language school in Rambouillet, partied out on the streets until well past midnight, chattered away for hours with portrait artists on the steps of Montmartre … and fell in love for the first time. As an homage to those wonderful few months spent here in 1976, she decided to once again make ‘love’ the leitmotiv of her visit – but this time without the rose-tinted glasses. In the narrow streets of Paris, on the banks of the Seine, in quiet museum halls and secluded parks, she goes in search of the legendary French l’art de vivre and discovers just how passionately the French feel about their language, their fine cuisine and their German neighbours.











France, Paris.

L'amour, l'amour, toujours l'amour



Yesterday it was hip and trendy Brits and glamorous financial towers along the Thames; today it’s the City of Love and the art of living along the Seine. Only in Europe can you find two such contrasting cities just a few hundred miles apart. France and its capital city Paris were the 19th stop ...



Europeans at heart is a vivid and colourful series of travel and culture books that brings you closer to Europe’s countries and its people. This eBook is an extended and updated travel account taken from ‘Europeans at heart. A journey of discovery through 28 EU capitals’.



CONTENT



+ The thrill of the unknown

+ France (FR) at a glance

+ L’amour, l’amour, toujours l’amour

+ Christa Klickermann, talking with Adeline Affre

+ Additional Links

+ He who knows nothing, must believe it all: Europe, the key facts

+ In touch with Europe – an authentic journey of discovery



Praise for Europeans at heart:



Interview with Deutsche Welle

“After reading this book, you will find it impossible not to fall in love with Europe.”

Schekker, the German Government’s online portal for young people

“This collection of accounts delivers a brief but brilliant glimpse into life in Europe’s incredibly diverse countries, as well as lots of useful information and fabulous pictures that will fill you to the brim with wanderlust. Having taken a literary voyage through the continent via the pages of this book, I can definitely say that I am European at heart. What about you?”



Polen-pl.eu: online Polish culture portal

“‘The one language that we all understand, and which closely connects all of us Europeans, is the language of the heart: the desire to understand, to empathise, to laugh and find out more about one another.’ And that, according to Christa Klickermann, is the key to living together in harmony. With her book, the author hopes to inspire us and imbue us with a sense of confidence about Europe’s future, and she more than succeeds in doing both. Her approach is so effective in fact that as a reader you feel tempted to take leave and embark on your own European journey of exploration.”



Blog of the author:

www.europeans-at-heart.eu



Paris is, without a doubt, the City of Love. But the French also have a place in their hearts for a few other things, such as their language, their neighbours, their way of life, their food and their capital city – n’est-ce pas?

Yesterday it was hip and trendy Britain, and glamorous financial towers along the Thames; today it’s the City of Love and the art of living along the Seine. Two very contrasting cities located just a few miles apart. This surely is something you can only find in Europe! 38 years ago I came here to Paris as a newlyqualified hotel manager with the aim of spending a few months polishing my French skills so that I would be well-equipped to face the big wide world. For a young country bumpkin (as I was back then), it was overwhelmingly exciting to stay out on the streets and in the bistros revelling until well past midnight, sit on the steps of Montmartre for hours on end, chat away to portrait painters and watch them at work … And the City of Love more than lived up to the cliché: it was here, of all places, that I experienced the thrill of love for the first time. Although the young man in question, who was called Manfred, eventually more than ultemately lived up to his rather mundane-sounding name – he wasn’t a romantic and cool ‘Alain’ or an adventurous ‘Jean Paul’ – we spent much of our time together strolling through the picturesque streets and parks of Paris, along the banks of the Seine or sitting in front of the Sacré Coeur. Today it has been scientifically proven that love is not only blind; it also leads to silly choices. No wonder it didn’t take long before my young and optimistic heart was sent crashing back down to earth; Manfred became nothing more than a nice memory, and my intended international hotel career shrunk to the confines of a small Bavarian town. Well, never mind. Considering all the fond and funny memories I still cherish from those months back in 1976, I’ve decided to make love the leitmotiv of my 2012 visit – but this time without the rose-tinted glasses.



Christa Klickermann has always been passionate about building good relationships both at work and in her private life. For 25 years, she worked on forming effective partnerships with her business clients during her time as a freelance marketing consultant in the field of customer management. Away from work, the 58-year-old Austrian has been happily married for 37 years and is mother to three grown-up children, as well as being a grandmother.



In 2012 she said goodbye to her career and fulfilled a long-held dream by moving with her husband from Bavaria to the very north of Germany. She now lives and works in Hamburg as a freelance author, networker and blogger. On her travels, in her Europeans at Heart book series and in her intercultural panel sessions/readings, she tries to gain a closer understanding of people and their cultures, whilst promoting a peaceful and humane Europe.